1. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims
  2. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

40 Questions

My Shia son wishes to marry a Catholic girl which some scholars allow while others only allow temporary marriage. Is reciting the Nikah necessary in this case?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

Muslim man is not allowed to permanently marry a Non Muslim woman from people of Book. Temporary marriage is permissible under some conditions.

Nikah is the recitation of the marriage agreement whether permanent or temporary which is must.

Wassalam.
My mother didn't pray her Wajib prayers for many years. As her son, and being the only child, do I have to perform her Qada prayers? If so, how should I get started given that I do not know how many prayers she had missed?
Zaid Alsalami

Bismihi ta'ala

Assuming that your mother has passed, besides whether it is wajib for you or not, it would be the most noble and most loyal thing for you to do. Your mother might have forgotten, or unintentionally neglected, or gone through some difficulties, and did not perform her acts of worship. 

You, the loyal son, are able to compensate that and the reward and blessings will not only go to her, but to you as well. In some hadiths it says there are some children who are loyal to their parents while alive, and not loyal when they die. Being not loyal is not doing dua or prayers or good deeds for them. 

If you cannot roughly estimate, or have no idea, you have two options:

1. Pray what you can, as long as you are healthy and have time. The bonus is it's extra 'ibadah for you, which is a wonderful thing. 

2. You can hire someone to do the 'ibadaat on behalf of your mother. There are many poor mu'mineen/mu'minaat who live off doing 'ibaadaat hire. Pay for whatever you are financially capable of. 

With prayers for your success. 
My son who was 18 years old took his life earlier this year. I cannot stop thinking why he did that. Can you please help me to help the soul of my Marhoom son?
Zaid Alsalami

Bismihi ta'ala

It is indeed very sad to hear that your late son took his life. May Allah ta'ala grant him ease in the Next life. Most important for you is not to ponder on why and how, but more on what you are able to do to contribute to helping others around you to avoid repetition of such an incident. 

You experienced this, so you are able to help those around you and the community to bring about awareness. Take this unfortunate incident and use it for positive use. This will not only keep you occupied from having negative thoughts, or, God forbid, falling into depression, or losing hope in your life as well. 

You should try to do righteous deeds and grant its reward to your late son. Do charity work on his behalf, and try to let others remember the good things about him, so they can be insired and learn from all of this.  

Another thing that would be important to do is reach out to a qualified counselor who can give you professional tips to deal with such loss and overcome this difficulty.

With prayers for your success. 
Is the eldest son still responsible for performing the Qadha prayers of his deceased parents if they had not prayed all their lives due to lack of knowledge or negligence? Will they still get rewards for it?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

The eldest son is responsible to perform the obligatory Qadha prayers of his father if it was missed due to a valid reason like illness etc. If the parents did not perform their obligatory prayers for no valid reason, the Qadha is not obligatory on the eldest son. Although, it is very good for him or other children to pay for persons who perform Qadha prayers on behalf of deceased persons to perform the obligatory Qadha prayers of the deceased. This will help the deceased a lot.

Wassalam.