Source: Fatāwā Āman Pūrī by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Āman Pūrī
Question
Some people, after the funeral prayer, sit and recite Sūrah al-Fātiḥah and Durūd, then gift its reward to the Prophet ﷺ, the four caliphs, and the soul of the deceased. What is the Sharʿī ruling on this practice?
Answer
This practice is a bidʿah (innovation). Neither the Salaf al-Ṣāliḥīn (pious predecessors) nor the Imāms of Ahl al-Sunnah ever adopted this method of gifting reward to the deceased.
Had this practice possessed any Sharʿī basis or been a means of Allah’s pleasure and approval, they would certainly have observed it.
❀ ʿAllāmah Ibn Rajab (رحمه الله, d. 795 AH) wrote beautifully:
أما ما اتفق على تركه فلا يجوز العمل به لأنهم ما تركوه إلا على علم أنه لا يعمل به
“As for that which the Salaf unanimously agreed to abandon, it is not permissible to act upon it. They abandoned it only because they knew it was not to be practiced.”
(Faḍl ʿIlm al-Salaf ʿalā ʿIlm al-Khalaf, p. 31)
Thus, whatever the Salaf unanimously refrained from must not be practiced.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
(This is what I hold; and Allah knows best what is correct.)
