Does the Recitation of the Quran and Other Good Deeds Benefit The Deceased?
Shafi'i Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question
Our mother passed away on September 13, 2023, at the age of 67. She was a practicing Muslimah. The hadith of Rasulullah states that when a person dies, their good deeds come to an end, except for three. One of these exceptions is the supplication (Dua) of a righteous child for their deceased parents, benefiting them in the grave.
Now, concerning the act of reading the Quran, specifically Surah Yasin and Surah Mulk, and engaging in other good deeds such as constructing a mosque and providing for students in our madrasa as well as Muslim widows, can our parents receive the benefits of our reading the Quran and other good deeds like constructing a mosque and feeding our madrasa students and Muslim widows?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to what pleases Him. Amin.
May Allah grant your mother a lofty place in Janna, and may her loved ones be filled with patience.
According to an answer by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed, the relied upon position in the Shafi`i School, as affirmed by our later Imams, is that the reward of all good acts, whether prayer, fasting, charity, Quranic recitation, or other acts reaches the dead if the individual makes supplication to donate the reward to the dead person.
Our school’s Imams understand the words of Imam Shafi`i (Allah have mercy on him) to apply when one intends that the action’s reward is for the deceased but does not supplicate that Allah makes the reward reach the deceased.
According to all four Sunni Schools of law, When one supplicates to donate the reward, the reward reaches the dead.
Many Shafi`i Imams, such as Qadi Husain, chose the position that the reward reaches the dead with intention alone, even if the intention is made after performing the action and even without supplication. This is the position of the other three Sunni Schools of law. For further details on this issue, see Tuhfat al-Tullab bi Ahkam al-Qiraa `ala al-Mawta wa Wusul al-Thawab of Allama Sayyid Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Bari al-Ahdal al-Shafi`i.
I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.
Related
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.
