Ruling 1370.* If one’s father is a believer who has not performed his daily and other obligatory prayers – excluding those prayers that had become obligatory at a specific time on account of a vow – and he could have made them up, in the event that he did not fail to perform them due to outright disobedience, then based on obligatory precaution, after the father’s death his eldest son must either perform them himself or hire someone to perform them. However, if his father intentionally did not perform them, it is not obligatory for his eldest son to make them up. The qaḍāʾ prayers of one’s mother are not obligatory for him to perform, although it is better that he does.

Ruling 1371. If the eldest son doubts whether or not his father had any qaḍāʾ prayers, it is not obligatory for him to perform them.

Ruling 1372. If the eldest son knows that his father had qaḍāʾ prayers but doubts whether or not he performed them, then based on obligatory precaution, it is obligatory for him to perform them.

Ruling 1373. If it is not known who the eldest son is, it is not obligatory for any of the sons to perform their father’s qaḍāʾ prayers. However, the recommended precaution is that they should divide the qaḍāʾ prayers between themselves or draw lots (qurʿah) for performing them.

Ruling 1374. If a dying person makes a will that someone must be hired to perform his qaḍāʾ prayers, and if his will is valid, it is not obligatory for the eldest son to perform them.

Ruling 1375. If the eldest son wishes to perform the qaḍāʾ prayers of his mother, he must act according to his own duty with regard to reciting Sūrat al-Ḥamd and the other surah aloud or in a whisper. Therefore, he must perform his mother’s qaḍāʾ ṣubḥ, maghrib, and ʿishāʾ prayers [by reciting Sūrat al-Ḥamd and the other surah] aloud.

Ruling 1376. With regard to someone who has his own qaḍāʾ prayers to perform, if he wants to perform the qaḍāʾ prayers of his father or mother as well, he can perform any of them first.

Ruling 1377. If at the time of his father’s death the eldest son was not of the age of legal responsibility (bāligh) or he was insane, then when he becomes bāligh and/or sane, it is not obligatory for him to perform his father’s qaḍāʾ prayers.

Ruling 1378. If the eldest son dies before performing the qaḍāʾ prayers of his father, it is not obligatory for the second son to perform them.