His Eminence Al-Sayyid Al-Hakeem meets with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

His Eminence Al-Sayyid Al-Hakeem meets with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
2020/02/19

His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammed Saeed Al-Hakeem, on 15 February 2020, received representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN in Iraq, Dr. Salah Al-Haaj Hasan and his team.

Dr. Salah Al-Haaj Hasan presented a report on the projects undertaken by FAO, consisting of ways in which agriculture can be improved in rural and semi-urban areas in Iraq, in order to ensure food provision for Iraq and a decent life for farmers.

Day Questions

What is the ruling on doing Dua to the members of Ahlulbait (peace be upon them? Is it allowed to ask them for favors? Or is it better to ask directly from Almighty Allah?

The dua (supplication) is asking Almighty Allah. The Imams of the Ahlulbait are intercessors to Allah and He does not reject their intercession. Nothing is wrong in seeking intercession from the Prophet and his household (peace be upon them). It is mentioned in the Holy Quran: “And if, when they had wronged themselves, they had but come unto thee and asked forgiveness of Allah, and asked forgiveness of the Messenger, they would have found Allah Forgiving, Merciful.” (4:64)

Is it permissible to pray behind an imam who cannot pronounce Arabic correctly? Is the prayer void?

If the person offering the prayer behind the imam knows the correct recitation, then following him in the morning prayers or in the first two rak'as of the Maghrib and Isha prayers is invalid based on compulsory precaution. If he is following the imam in the last two rak'as of the Maghrib and Isha then the prayer is valid. The prayer is also valid if the praying person and the imam make the same mistakes in the recitation. Following such an imam is also valid during the Dhuhr and Asr prayers if the praying person recites for himself.

My mother has Qadha fasts to make up, maybe around 20 years. For those that she missed on purpose, how can she make them up? For those that she missed because she is sick, how will she make them up? And if she cannot make them up now because she is sick or it causes her difficulty, how could she make them up?

She should make up the purposefully missed fasts, in addition to paying the kaffara for each day missed on purpose. She also should make up for the days that she missed when she was sick before the next Ramadan. If she did not make up for them before the next Ramadan when she could have done so then she should make up for those days as well as pay the fidya for each day. An amount of 900 grams of dates, wheat, floor, rice, lentils and the like for every missed fast must be given to the needy people as fidya for each day. If she could not make up the missed fasts, she should put in her will that someone should make up for the missed fasts after her death.