My Mother Died While She Was Angry with Me

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My Mother Died While She Was Angry with Me

Question: My mother died about six years ago during Ramadhan. When I was young, I was always arguing with her and talking back to her. When she died, she was angry with me. I became older and more mature and now I am remorseful about what happened between me and her. I cannot do anything now except ask for forgiveness and repent to Allah and pray for mercy for her and forgiveness. Is this sufficient to have Allah forgive my sin and have mercy on me for that deed on the Day that we meet?

Second, we do not fast on her behalf.1 Are we being sinful? Is it allowed for us to fast on her behalf afterwards even though we were not aware of that matter except recently?

Response: Perhaps during the lifetime of your mother you were very young and, at the same time, ignorant and childish. You are excused for what you did during that time. Furthermore, since you are full of remorse after you have become more mature and you have repented to Allah and sought His forgiveness for that sin, Allah willing, that has erased what has occurred. Repentance wipes away what preceded it. Also, the acts of praying for her, asking for mercy and forgiveness for her, charity on her behalf and so forth all are means by which Allah wipes away sins. As for the fasting that she did not do and her breaking of her fast during the days of her illness, she is excused due to her illness that she was suffering and she did not have the ability to make up those days later.

Shaikh ibn Jibreen