His grandmother is sick and is unconscious; does she have to offer expiation for not fasting?

My grandmother has beensick for nearly a year and a half; she is not
aware of her surroundings and does not speak and does not ask for
food, but when we give her food, she eats. Sometimes she knows who is
speaking toher (which is rare), but she does not tell us what she
wants from us (she does not say: "I want a bath, may Allaah bless
you"). She is sleeping on abed without moving, and her children help
her to move. I want to ask aboutfasting and prayer; shouldwe pay
fidyah on her behalf and do we have to do anything for the time that
is past?.
Praise be to Allaah.
If a person reaches a stage of senility and feeble-mindedness, loses
his or her mental capacity and is no longer aware, the obligations of
fasting and prayer are waived, and he does not have to offer
expiation, because one of the conditions of being accountable is that
one should be of sound mind.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "The Pen
has been lifted from three: from the sleeping person until he wakes
up, from the minor until he grows up, and from the insane person until
he comes to his senses." Narrated by Abu Dawood (4403), al-Tirmidhi
(1423),al-Nasaa'i (3432), Ibn Majaah (2041). Abu Dawood said: It was
narrated by Ibn Jurayj from al-Qaasim ibn Yazeed from 'Ali (may Allaah
be pleased with him) from the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him). He added "andthe senile".
This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani inSaheeh Abi Dawood.
It says in 'Awn al-Ma'bood: Senility refers to when the mind becomes
no longer sound because of old age. What is meant here is the old man
has lost his mind because of old age. The elderly person may become
confused and losehis power of discernment,which means that he is
nolonger qualified to be regarded as accountable, but he cannot be
called insane. End quote.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Fasting is
not obligatory unless certain conditions are met: (i) being of sound
mind; (ii) being an adult; (iii) being a Muslim; (iv) being able to do
it; (v) being resident (i.e., not travelling); (vi) being free of
menses or nifaas (post-partum bleeding), in the case of women.
With regard to the first, being of sound mind – theopposite is loss of
reason, whether it is due to insanity or senility, meaning old age, or
an accident which causes a person to lose consciousness and
feeling.Such a person does not have to do anything, because he is no
longer ofsound mind. Based on this, this elderly person who has
reached the stage of senility does not have to fast or feed the poor,
because he is not of sound mind. End quote from Liqa' al-Baab
al-Maftooh (4/220).
With regard to the past, if she was in this state, and was not aware
and could not understand anything, then she does not have tofast or
offer expiation.
If she was aware and could understand, but shedid not fast because she
was sick, then one of two scenarios must apply:
1. If at that time she was hoping to recover from her sickness,
but the sickness continued, then she does not have to do anything,
because what she had to do was make up the fasts when she recovered,
but she did notrecover.
2. If at that time there was no hope of recovery, then she should
offer expiation for each day, which is feeding one poorperson, half a
saa' of the local staple food. If she did not offer this expiation,
then you must offer it now from her wealth.
We ask Allaah to heal her and make her well, and toguide and help you.
And Allaah knows best.

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Muslims say they do not believe in the Bible. Yet, when it is convenient for them, they quote verses out of context to prove their claims. Isn't this a dishonest wayof going about It?

It is wrong and dishonest to quote anything or any book out of
context, whether it be the Bible or the Qur'an. No Muslim should
resort to such an approach. God wants us to spread the truth by honest
means only. Having said that, it shouldalso be said that Muslims,
Christians and Jews do notbelieve in every single thing that the Bible
says. No reasonable person can do that.
I Samuel chapter 17, verses 23 & 50 says that David killed Goliath. II
Samuel 21:19 says that Elhanan killed Goliath. I Chronicles 20:5 says
that Elhanan killed not Goliath but the brother of Goliath whose name
is given as Lahmi. Obviously, no reasonable person should believe all
three reports.
Knowing this, the editors of the King James Bible decided to fix this
problem by making a slight correction to the Bible. They inserted
three words in II Samuel 21:19 to make it say there also that Elhanan
killed the brother of Goliath. You will notice that the three words
the brother of appear there in italics to distinguish them from
therest of the Bible.
The Interpreter's One Volume Commentary on the Bible calls this
a"conflict of tradition about Goliath" (p.179; seealso p. 212). It
says further that the author of Chronicles changed the story where it
said that Elhanan killed Goliath to make it say that Elhanan killed
Lahmi the brother of Goliath. The same commentary says further that
the statement in I Chronicles is "incorrect" (p.180). So here we have
a Bible commentary writtenby Christians, published by Christians, and
sold in Christian bookstores - yet it openly disagrees with a
statement in the Bible. This was done not because Christians wantedto
disbelieve in the Bible, but because they had to choose, among
different statements in the Bible, which statement is more believable.
Now, this approach to theBible does not mean that Christians cannot
refer to the Bible or quote from it or write commentaries onit.
Likewise for Muslims. Although Muslims, like their Christian and
Jewish neighbors, do not believe in every single thing the Bible says,
students of comparative religion should be allowed to study both the
Qur'an andthe Bible. Every honest student, however, will pay close
attention to the context of what he or she reads, and apply scrupulous
exactitude when quoting from eitherbook.
May God help us and guide us all to understandHis true message
regardless in which book that truth is contained.

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1a] Fasting lasts until the sun sets and is not as some of the Shi’ah say

1a]
Al-Bukhaari (1955) and Muslim (1101) narrated that 'Abd-Allaah ibn Abi
Awfa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We were with the Messenger
of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on a journey and
he was fasting. When the sun set, he said to one of the people: O So
and so, get up and make saweeq for us (mix it with water so that we
can drink it). He said O Messenger of Allah, why not wait till the
evening? He said: Dismount and make saweeq for us. He said: O
Messenger of Allah, why not wait till the evening? He said: Dismount
and make saweeq for us. He said: It is still day. He said:Dismount and
make saweeq for us. So he dismounted and made saweeq for them, and the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) drank it, then he
said: When you see that night has come from here,then let the fasting
person break his fast.
Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
This hadeeth indicates that it is mustahabb to hasten to break the
fast and that it is not permissible to refrain from eating and
drinking for any part of the night at all; rather as soon as it is
established that the sunhas set, it is permissible tobreak the fast.
End quote.
Fath al-Baari, 4/197.
Moreover, the fact that there is consensus among the Muslims regarding
breaking the fast and eating as soon as one hears the muezzin give the
call to Maghrib prayer when the sun disappears is evidence that this
is thetruth and the one who goes against that is following something
other than the way of the believers and has introduced something into
the religion for whichhe has no proof or reportsfrom the scholars.
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Maghrib comes immediately after the sunhas set, and this is something
on which thereis consensus. Something concerning this was narrated
from the Shi'ah to which no attention should be paid and which has no
basis. End quote.
Sharh Muslim, 5/136
In fact, in many of the books of the Shi'ah it mentions that on which
there is consensus among the Muslims concerning this matter. Some of
themnarrated from Ja'far al-Saadiq (may Allah have mercy on him) that
he said: "When the sun sets, it becomes permissible to break the fast
and it becomes obligatory to offer the prayer." End quote.
Al-Baroojardi narrated from the author of al-Da'aa'im that he said: We
narrated from Ahl al-Bayt -- may the blessings of Allah be uponthem
all -- that there was consensus concerning thatwhich we learned from
the reports from them, that the onset of night which makes it
permissible for the fastingperson to break the fast isthe
disappearance of the sun beneath the western horizon without any
barrier which would prevent seeing it such as amountain or wall and
the like. When the disk disappears beneath the horizon, then the night
has begun and it is permissible to break the fast. End quote.
Jaami' Ahaadeeth al-Shi'ah, 9/165
To sum up: what are some of the Shi'ah do now, of delaying Maghrib
prayer and the breaking of the fast until sometimeafter the sun has
set is contrary to what is indicated by the Holy Qur'aan, the saheeh
Sunnah of the Prophet and the consensus of the Muslims.
Moreover it is contrary to what they themselves narrated from their Imams!
And Allah knows best.

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1] Fasting lasts until the sun sets and is not as some of the Shi’ah say

1]
I am asking about the topic of fasting and breaking the fast. I was
speaking to my neighbours who follow the Shi'i madhhab, and they
recited to me a verseof Qur'aan which says thatfasting is from the
time ofthe white thread until night, and it is not until sunset only.
This is what they said to me. I hope that you can advise me, may Allah
reward you with the best of rewards.
Praise be to Allaah.
The time of fasting on which the Muslims are unanimously agreed and
which they have followedfrom the time of the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) and his Companions until the present day
is from the break of the truedawn until when the disk of the sun
disappears completely beneath the horizon. This is indicated by the
Qur'aan and Sunnah and definitive consensus of the Muslims.
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): "then complete your Sawm
(fast) till the nightfall [al-layl]" [al-Baqarah 2:187]. Al-layl
[translated here as nightfall] in the language of the Arabs starts
when the sun sets.
It says in al-Qamoos al-Muheet (1364): al-Layl: from the setting of
the sun until the break of the true dawn or sunrise. End quote.
It says in Lisaan al-'Arab (11/607): al-Layl: comes straight after the
end of al-Nahaar (day), and startswhen the sun sets. End quote.
Al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy onhim) said in his
commentary on this verse:
The words of Allah "then complete your Sawm (fast) till the nightfall"
imply that breaking the fast at the moment of sunset is a shar'i rule.
End quote.
Tafseer al-Qur'aan al-'Azeem, 1/517
In fact some commentators have pointed out that the use of the
preposition ila (till) in this verse also implies hastening, because
that preposition indicates reaching the end and achieving the goal.
Al-'Allaamah al-Taahir ibn 'Ashoor (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Ila al-layl (till the nightfall) means until one achieves that goal
and reaches the night, and thepreposition ila is chosen to indicate
that one should hasten to break the fast when the sun sets, because
the preposition ila means thatthe purpose is achieved then, unlike the
preposition hatta (until). What is meant here is to indicate that the
fast is completed when the night begins. End quote.
Al-Tahreer wa'l-Tanweer, 1/181
All of that is supported by what is narrated in al-Saheehayn from
Ameeral-Mu'mineen 'Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased with
him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peaceof Allah be
upon him) said: "When the night comes from here and the day departs
from here, and the sun sets, then it istime for the fasting person to
break his fast." Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1954) and Muslim (1100).
In this hadeeth the coming of night from the east and the
disappearance of the disk of the sun below the horizon are mentioned
together, which is something that is well known, because darkness
starts from the East as soon as the light of the sun disappears below
the horizon. Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The phrase "when night comes from here" means from the east, and what
ismeant is when darkness becomes discernible. In this hadeeth he
mentioned three things, because even though theyare interconnected in
fact,they may appear not to be connected, and it may be thought that
night is coming from the east when it has not yet come,because
something is covering the light of the sun; the same is also true of
the departure of day. Hence it is clarified by the words "and the sun
sets", as an indication that it is essential to confirm that night has
come and day has gone, and that these events occur because of the
setting of the sun and not for any other reason. End quote.
Fath al-Baari, 4/196
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The scholars said: each of these three things impliesthe other two and
is interconnected with them. Rather he mentioned them togetherbecause
a person may be in a valley and the like in such a way that he
cannotsee the setting of the sun, so he relies on the comingof
darkness and the disappearing of daylight. End quote.
Sharh Muslim, 7/209 ...

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