Can the reward of a good deed and the thawab that will be gained from that good deed be donated to another living person or someone who died?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Charity can be done on behalf of a deceased or living person. In particular, the graves of parents, relatives and friends are visited to pray to Allah for their spirits and to ask forgiveness. It is certain based on sound hadith and ijma (consensus) that the rewards of charity and good deeds done on behalf of the dead will reach them. When visiting the dead, one prays to Allah for their spirits, recites the Quran, and donates them the reward for the good deeds that were done.

The following verse also shows that prayers and supplications are beneficial for the spirits of the dead:

“Our Lord! Forgive us, and our brethren who came before us into the Faith, and leave not, in our hearts, rancor (or sense of injury) against those who have believed.” (al-Hashr, 59/10).

There are many hadiths regarding the issue (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, II/509; VI/252; Ibn Majah, Adab)

- Can the Quran be recited for the deceased?

The Quran does not have only one aspect. As Badiuzzaman Said Nursi puts it,

“It (the Quran) is a both a book of law, and a book of prayer, and a book of wisdom, and a book of worship, and a book of command and summons, and a book of invocation, and a book of thought, and a unique, comprehensive sacred book comprising many books to which recourse may be had for all the needs of all mankind.”1

In other words, the Holy Quran regulates our lives. It shows us our responsibilities to Allah, teaches us the purpose of our existence, what to do, how to worship, and explains the wisdom behind and nature of everything. In short, the Holy Quran is a book of dhikr, thought, prayer and invitation.

The sphere of influence of the Quran is not limited to the world only. The prosperity it gives to the spirits of the believers does not end in the world; it will continue in the realm of grave; it will rejoice our spirits there and will become a light in our graves.  

The Prophet (pbuh) gives the following advice regarding what to read from the Quran for our relatives and ancestors that passed away:

“Yasin is the heart of the Quran. If a person reads it and asks for happiness in the hereafter from Allah, He will forgive him. Read the chapter of Yasin for your dead people.” 2

This hadith indicates that the chapter of Yasin can be recited next to a person who is on his deathbed and for the spirits of the believers who passed away. The following a hadith reported by Abu Bakr (ra) explains the issue:

“If a person visits the grave of his father and mother or one of them on Friday and reads the chapter of Yasin there, Allah will forgive the person in the grave.” 3

Islamic scholars advise saying a prayer to send the thawab of the Quran to the spirits of the dead after reading the Quran for the dead; the Companions acted like that. It is stated in a narration in Bayhaqi that Abdullah bin Umar says verses from the chapter of al-Baqara can be read for the spirits of the dead. 4

Let us learn how al-Fatiha or Yasin that is read for the dead reaches the spirits of all dead people without any decrease from a quote from Badiuzzaman Said Nursi:

“The Wise Creator made the element of air a field and means for the words to spread like lightning and to increase and He enabled the adhan called in a minaret to be heard everywhere and by everybody through radio; similarly, He prepared a lot of spiritual electricity, radios and natural wireless telephones in order to send the chapter of al-Fatiha that is read to the dead believers at once with His endless power and limitless wisdom.”

“When one lamp is lit, it is seen in thousands of mirrors. Similarly, when the chapter of Yasin is recited once and is donated to millions of spirits, each of them will receive one Yasin.” 5

Our relatives in the graves always expect help from us. They know that they will be able to breathe through a prayer, al-Fatiha and al-Ikhlas recited by us. The conditions of the grave are so hard that even a small spiritual help will refresh their spirits. The Prophet (pbuh) states the following in a hadith:

“A dead person is like a person who is about to suffocate and who cries for help. He expects a prayer (dua) from his father, brother or friend. When a prayer reaches him, the reward of this prayer becomes more valuable for him than the world and everything in the world. Doubtlessly, the gifts of the living people for the dead people are their prayers for the dead.” 6

References:

1. Sözler, p. 340.
2. Musnad, V/26.
3. Ibn Adiyy, 1/286; Abu Nuaym, Akhbar al-Asbahan, 2/344-345; Ali al-Muttaqi, Kanzul-Ummal, 1981, 16/468.  Although there are scholars who criticize the chain of narrators of this narration, Suyuti points out that there are witnesses to the hadith and cites some hadith narration examples. (see Suyuti, al-Laali, Beirut, 1996, 2/365)
4. Bayhaqi, IV/56.
5. Şualar, p. 576.
6. Mishkatul-Masabih, I/723.

(see Mehmed PAKSU, Ölüm ve Sonrası)

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