A Subtle Point on Gifting the Reward of Recitation to the Dead

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A Subtle Point on Gifting the Reward of Recitation to the Dead

Praise be to God. This article recalls two fatwas from al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam on whether the reward of Qur’an recitation and other acts of worship can be gifted to the dead.

In the first answer, he states that the reward of recitation belongs to the reciter and does not pass to another person. He cites verses such as “And that man shall have only that for which he strove” and other texts that assign reward to the doer of the deed. On that basis, he argues that assigning the reward of recitation to the dead contradicts the apparent meaning of revelation unless there is a specific legal proof. He also criticizes reliance on dreams in such questions, since dreams are not legal evidence by which rulings are established.

In the second fatwa, he broadens the point and says that if someone performs an act of devotion such as prayer, recitation, fasting, or jihad and then gives its reward to parents or others, living or dead, the reward does not transfer to them. If the act is initiated on behalf of the deceased, it does not count for them except in matters specifically exempted by the law, such as charity, pilgrimage, and certain cases of fasting.

The article then closes with an ironic anecdote reported later in the tradition: al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam was allegedly seen in a dream after his death and said that he found the matter to be different from what he had thought. The point of the article, however, is the juristic value of his stated legal reasoning, not the dream report.

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