Q141 :If one recites a surah or passage of the
Qur’an and finishes with supplication to Allah to forgive a deceased
relative, is his action correct or not? Two Islamic magazines published
in India have given opposite views on this issue. What is the best way
of doing something to benefit a deceased relative?
A141 : If you finish your recitation of the Qur’an
with supplication, that is perfectly in order. Any act of worship may
be acnetpanied by a prayer or supplication. If you mention a deceased
relative in your prayer, requesting Allah to forgive him and to admit
him into heaven, then such a prayer is answered. You may do this at any
time, even during your obligatory prayers, or after you have finished
them, during a day of fasting, or just before you finished your fast or
when you worship at night, or indeed at any other time. Obviously, when
you have offered an act of worship, whether it is obligatory or
voluntary, then your prayer stands a better chance of being answered,
because it follows a good action on your part. As for prayer for a
deceased person, we do that in the special prayer known as janazah,
which follows the death of a person, just before the deceased is
buried. We can continue to pray for him or her at any time. Evidence
supporting this may be drawn from the hadith in which the Prophet is
quoted to have said: “When a human being dies, all his actions nete to
an end, except in one of three ways: a continuing act of charity, a
useful contribution to knowledge and a dutiful child who prays for
him.” The disagreement in these two magazines you have mentioned may
not be on whether supplication for a deceased person is appropriate or
not, but on the particular case of praying Allah to pass on the reward
of your recitation of the Qur’an to him. This is something over
which scholars have different views. Therefore, if a person does it, we
should not object to his action. Indeed, we hope that Allah may accept
his prayer and reward the deceased person. You can be of benefit to a
deceased person by praying for him, giving sadaqah and asking Allah to
reward it to him, etc. If he did not do the pilgrimage in his life, you
may do it on his behalf. You can pray Allah as often as possible to
forgive him and admit him into heaven.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )