Day Questions

I have hired various persons who are poor and pious believers and mostly careful in Sharia laws to make up for the lapsed prayers of my late wife. Now I have been told that they cannot offer prayers at the same time. Is this true?

It is not a requirement in the prayers on behalf of the deceased that they are not offered at the same time. They can offer the prayers based on their own circumstances and time.

Is it obligatory to pay khums on what is spent on prohibited expenses, such as paying a barber to shave one's beard?

Khums is not obligatory on expenses if they were spent in prohibited ways. However, a believer is expected not to perform any prohibited thing even if he thinks it is small, since it is a disobedience to Almighty Allah.

If a medicine that is used externally such as cream has alcohol in it, can we use it? Also, what should we do for the prayers?

Intoxicating alcohol is najis and when it touches the body or the clothes, they should be purified before praying or the najis clothing must be removed.