2] Is he responsible for thedeath of the one who was hurt in this accident?

2]
I am an emergency worker, working for the health department. I was
required to attend the scene of a traffic accident, where the injured
person was lying on the ground. When I reached the injured person – I
was notentirely sure whether he had a pulse or not – I moved him into
the ambulance and administered the necessary first aid, namelyCPR
(cardiopulmonary resuscitation). That was after I had ascertained,
inside the ambulance, that no pulse was present.When I reached the
hospital I handed him over to the emergency department, and they put
him in the resuscitation room. One of the doctors asked me: Did he
have a pulse during transportation from the accident scene? And I
replied No, without thinking. I was not sure about that, whether he
had a pulse or not. The time from the accident site to the hospital
was approximately half an hour, during which time I was doing
resuscitation. I was fasting and I was exhausted because of the effort
I expended during the trip to the hospital. Hardly had I said that
word but they removed all the equipment from the injured person and
declared that he was dead. I have been feeling guilty ever since; if I
had said yes, they would have carried on trying to resuscitate him and
that might have been, after Allah, the means of bringing him back to
life. Now I keep going over it in my mind. The accident happened more
than two years ago. What do I haveto do now? Do I have to offer any
expiation? How can I stop thinking about this matter? Please note that
these worries are giving me sleepless nightsand haunt me every time I
give first aid. I hope that you will answer me as soon as possible.
May Allah reward you with good.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
From asking some doctorsabout your situation, it seems to us that you
are not to blame from a technical point of view; the role of emergency
medical personnel is in the vicinity of the incident, where they are
to do whatever they can to treat those who are injured, and that role
endswhen they hand over the injured persons to the emergency ward
doctor.
The work of the emergency ward doctor begins when the injured person
is handed over to him and he does not havethe right to base serious
decisions on what the emergency worker says. The doctor has to do
whatever he can for the injured person, regardless of what the
emergency worker says, which may be lacking or mistaken.
Removing resuscitation equipment from the patient is not to be based
on the testimony of an emergency worker; ratherit is to be based on
the opinion of a specialist doctor after allowing enough time to hook
the patient up to the resuscitation equipment.
The patient can only have arrived at the hospital alive or dead. If he
was alive upon arrival, the resuscitation equipment should not be
removed except following the decision of three specialistdoctors. If
he was dead onarrival, there is no need for resuscitation equipment in
the first place. These two scenarioshave been discussed in the answer
the question no. 115104 .
Thus it becomes clear thatthe responsibility lies withthe doctor and
not with the ambulance worker.
Based on that, it does not seem that you are to blame for whatever
happened with the patient, so there is no need for anxiety or
distress. We ask Allah to have mercy on the deceased if he was a
Muslim.
You have to do your job well and fear Allah with regard to patients
and accident victims, and to be certain and definitive with your
testimony.
Secondly:
You said that you were fasting and you were exhausted because of
fasting. It should be notedthat if fasting will lead you to fall short
in your work, which may expose accident victims to danger, then you
have to break the fast. This applies if your fast was obligatory. If
it was a naafil fast, then the matter is even more clear.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-'Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy onhim) said:
Whoever breaks the fast in order to save a person who is drowning or
beingburned in a fire and is onewho has to be saved, thenhe should
break his fast and make it up later on. For example, if you see a
house that is on fire and there are Muslim people inside, and you
cannot fulfil the duty of saving them except by breaking the fast and
drinking water so as to have the strength to save these people, then
it is permissible for you – and is indeed obligatory upon you – in
this case to breakthe fast in order to save them. The same applies
tothese who work as firefighters;

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7e] Zakaat al-Fitr

7e]
"It is not permissible to give any part of zakaah to a kaafir, whether
it iszakaat al-fitr or zakaat al-maal… Maalik, al-Layth, Ahmad and Abu
Thawr said: 'They (i.e., kaafirs) should not be given it.'"
Zakaah should be given to the poor, those who have overwhelming debts,
and those whose salaries are not enough to last until the end of the
month,in accordance with the level of their needs.
It is not permissible for the one who gives zakaat al-fitr to buy it
back from the one to whom he has given it.
( Fataawaa al-Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen ).
Payment and distribution
· It is preferable for the person who is giving to share it out
himself. (Al-Shaafa'i said): �I prefer to share out zakaat al-fitr
myself rather than give it to the one who is collecting it.�
· Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: �Al-Shaafa'i said in
al-Mukhtasar : 'Zakaatal-fitr is to be shared out among those to whom
zakaat al-maalis shared out. I preferthat it should be given to
relatives on whom it is not obligatory to spend at all.' He said: 'If
he prefers to give it to the one who is collecting it, this should be
fine, in sha Allaah… but it is better to share it out himself… If he
gives it to the Muslim leader or the collectoror the one who is
collecting the people's zakaat al-fitr, and he is givenpermission to
give it, this is fine, but sharing it out himselfis better than all of
this.��
( al-Majmoo� , part 6).
· It is permissible to appoint a trustworthy person to hand it over to
those who are entitled to it, but if heis not trustworthy, then it is
not allowed.�Abd-Allaah ibn al-Mu'ammal said: "I heard Ibn Abi
Mulaykah, when a man was saying to him, 'So-and-so told me to leave my
zakaat al-fitr in the mosque,' Ibn Abi Mulaykah said, 'He does not
know what he is talking about. You go and share it out (yourself),
otherwise Ibn Hishaam (the governor who was collecting it in the
mosque) will give it to his guards and whoever he wants' (i.e., he
would give it to people who were not entitled to it)."
( Al-Umm : Baab day'at Zakaat al-Fitr qabla Qasmihaa ).
Imaam Ahmad (may Allaah have mercy on him) stated that it is
permissible to share out one saa' among a group of people, or togive
many saa's to one person…
Maalik said: "there is nothing wrong with a man giving sadaqatal-fitr
on behalf of himself and his family to one needy person."
( al-Mudawwanah , part 1, Baab fi Qasm Zakaat al-Fitr ).
If one is giving less than a saa' to a poor person, this must be
pointed out, because he might use it to payhis own zakaat al-fitr.
It is permissible for a poor person, if he receives zakaat al-fitrah
from someone and he has more than he needs, to give it on his own
behalf or on behalf ofone of those who are dependent on him, if he is
sure that the food is OK (i.e., it is the right type of foodand the
quantity is sufficient).
Where to give zakaat al-fitr
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: "As for zakaat
al-fitr, it should be shared out in the country where it became
obligatory, whether a person haswealth there or not, because it is the
reason why zakaat became obligatory…"
( al-Mughni , part 2, Fasl idhaa kaana al-muzakki fi balad wa maaluhu fi balad )
It was reported in al-Mudawwanah Fiqhal-Imaam Ahmad (may Allaah have
mercy on him): "I said: What is the opinion of Maalik on someone who
comes from Ifreeqiyah ('Africa') and is in Egypt on the day of Fitr –
where should he give his zakaat al-fitr? Malik said: [Heshould give
it] wherehe is. Maalik said: if his family in Ifreeqiyah give it on
his behalf, that is fine. (What was meant by Ifreeqiyah/'Africa' in
those days is different from what it means now)."
(Part 1, Baab fi Ikhraaj al-Musaafir Zakaat al-Fitr )
We ask Allaah to accept the worship ofall of us and to join us with
the righteous. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad and all his
family and companions./

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7d] Zakath ul Fithr

7d]
There is a time when it is mustahabb (preferable) to give itand a time
when it is permissible to give it.
The time when it is mustahabb to give it is on the day of Eid, because
of the hadeeth quoted above. For this reason it is Sunnah todelay the
Eid prayer on Eid al-Fitr so as to allow enough time for those who
have to give zakaat al-fitr to do so, and to have breakfast before
coming out. On the other hand, it is Sunnah to hasten the Eid prayers
on Eid al-Adhaa so that the people can go and offer their sacrifices
and eat from them.
The time when it is permissible to give zakaat al-fitr is one or two
days before Eid. In Saheeh al-Bukhaari it is reported that Naafi'
said: "Ibn 'Umar used to give on behalf of the young and the old, and
he even usedto give on behalf of my sons. He would give to those who
took it, and it would be given a day or twobefore (Eid) al-Fitr."
("Those who took it" refers to those who were appointed by the imaam
to collect the sadaqat al-fitr).
Naafi' said: "Ibn 'Umar used to send zakaat al-fitr to the one who was
collecting it two or three days before ('Eid) al-Fitr."
( al-Mudawwanah , part 1, Baab Ta'jeel al-Zakaah qabla huloolihaa ).
It is disliked (makrooh) to delay giving it until after Salaat
al-'Eid; some scholars said that thisis haraam and is counted as
qadaa' (making up a duty that has not been performed on time), on the
basis of the hadeeth, "Whoever pays it before the prayer, it is an
accepted zakaat, and whoever pays it afterthe prayer, it is just a
kind of charity."
(Reported by Abu Dawood, 1371).
It says in ' Awn al-Ma'bood Sharh Abi Dawood : "Obviously, the one who
gives zakaat al-fitr after the prayer is like one who did not give it,
because they have in common the fact thatthey did not give this
obligatory charity. Most of the scholars think that giving it before
Salaat al-'Eid is only mustahabb, and they confirmed that it is OK to
give it at any time until the end of the day of Fitr,but this opinion
is refuted by the hadeeth. With regard to delaying it until after the
day of Eid, Ibn Ruslaan said: "This is haraam by consensus, because it
is zakaah, so the one who delays it must be committing a sin, as is
the case when one delays a prayer."
So it is haraam to delay giving it for no good reason, becausethis
defeats the purpose, which is to save the poor from having to ask on
the day of joy. If a persondelays giving it with no excuse, he has
committed a sin but he still has to make itup.
Zakaat al-fitr has to be handed over to someone who is entitled to it
or someone who has been appointed to collect it, at the right time
before the Eid prayer. If a man wants to give it to a particular
person, butcannot find him or a trustee who can accept it on his
behalf, and he is afraid that time is running out, he has to give it
to another entitled person, and not delay giving it. If a person wants
to give his zakaat al-fitr to a specific needy person, and is afraid
that he may not see him at the appropriate time, he should tell him to
appoint someone to accept it on his behalf, or to appoint him (the
giver) to take it from himself on his behalf. Then when the time
comes, he can take it to him in a bag or whatever, or keep it for him
as a trust until he sees him.
If the one who wantsto give zakaat appoints someone else to give it on
his behalf, he is still responsible for it until he is certain that
his deputy has carried out his instructions.
( Majaalis Shahr Ramadaan: Ahkaam Zakaat al-Fitr , by Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen).
To whom it may be given
Zakaat al-Fitr may be given to the eight categories of people to whom
zakaat al-maal may be given.This is the opinion of the majority.
According to the Maalikis, one of the opinions of Ahmad and the
opinion of Ibn Taymiyyah, it should be given exclusively to the poor
and needy.
· (Al-Shaafa'i said): �Zakaat al-fitr should be divided among those
among whom zakaat al-maal is divided, and it shouldnot be spent
anywhere else… It should be shared out among the poor and needy,
slaves who have made a contractto purchase their freedom from their
masters, debtors, those who are fighting in the way ofAllaah, and
wayfarers.
( Kitaab al-Umm : Baab Day�ah Zakaat al-Fitr qabla Qasmihaa )
· Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, after quoting the
hadeeth of Ibn �Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to Mu'aadh
(may Allaah be pleased with him):"Tell them that they have to give
sadaqah (charity) that is to be taken from their wealth and given to
the poor":

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