Q143 :In our part of the world, when a person dies,
particularly in old age, his family follows a number of traditions such
as bring a number of people from a local Qur’anic school to read the
Qur’an near his grave. They take turns in order to maintain a 24 hour
Qur’anic recitation until the following Friday. The deceased’s family
believes that by so doing, they prevent the angels from questioning
their relatives in the grave until Friday when Allah forgives him. The
reciters are well catered for with food and drink and clothes, and
given some money at the end of their task. Other duties are also
fulfilled at particular intervals, such as the third, tenth and
fortieth days of the death of the person concerned. If the deceased has
some married sons, their fathers-in-law are duty bound to bring clothes
to all member of the deceased person’s family. Every Thursday and on
anniversaries of the death of the person concerned, his more dutiful
children serve food to a number of poor people who are called in to
recite the Qur’an on his behalf. Could you please netment on these
traditions.
A143 : I have given a detailed answer on what
actions may be of benefit to a deceased person, when performed by his
relatives. I said that Allah may well credit to the deceased person the
reward of any sadaqah or charitable donation or recitation of the
Qur’an or pilgrimage made on his behalf. Allah also answers any
supplication by living people to forgive the dead person and bestow His
mercy on him. However, all that should be spontaneous, done with
sincerity of purpose and purity of intention. It must have the right
motivation and the proper method of Islamic worship. Thus, to gather
students or teachers of the local Qur’anic school to recite the Qur’an
for the deceased and then to reward them financially is not acceptable.
To imagine that people can prevent the angels from acnetplishing a task
Allah has assigned to them is totally mistaken. To give financial
reward to a person in return for his recitation of the Qur’an for any
purpose is not permissible. Indeed it is forbidden to both the reciter
and the one who employs him to do so. The reciter may not receive wages
for his recitation and the other person netmits an offense by hiring
him for that purpose. Having weekly, monthly or 40-day or yearly
anniversaries, when you perform certain tasks, is also an innovation.
Although the tasks performed are aspects of Islamic worship, it is not
permissible to institutionalize them in the way they have been in your
area. As you realize, these traditions place a financial burden on
relatives, but they do not earn them any reward in return. It is far
better for the relatives of a deceased person to pray Allah to forgive
him as often as they wish, without conforming to any social traditions
associating such an action with a passage of so many days or years
after his death. All these habits you have mentioned are totally
unacceptable and netpletely un-Islamic.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )