Is it permissible to offer a food expiation for the prayers missed by the deceased during his lifetime, based on the hadith: "No one fasts for anyone, and no one prays for anyone, but rather feeds"?

The Hanafī jurists held that if a person dies with prayers due upon them, half a ṣāʿ of wheat should be given as fiṭra for each prayer. This is also a valid opinion among the Shāfiʿīs.

They based this on analogy with fasting, and on a mawqūf tradition from Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) stating: "No one prays on behalf of another, nor does anyone fast on behalf of another; rather, a mudd of wheat should be given as fiṭra for him in place of each day."

However, this mawqūf tradition contradicts the authentic aḥādīth that permit fasting on behalf of the deceased, and it contradicts what is authentically reported from Ibn ʿAbbās himself regarding the permissibility of fasting that became due upon the deceased after their death. Therefore, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: "The narration regarding this from Ibn ʿAbbās is contradictory."