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Method of Fatiha (Hanafi) You must not neglect your parents if both or one of them has passed away. You must visit their graves and send the reward of good deeds to their souls. Here are 5 merciful sayings of the Holy Prophet  on this important issue:- (1) Reward for an accepted Hajj 'Anyone visiting the graves of one or both of his parents in order to earn reward will earn the reward of an accepted Hajj and if someone visits them in abundance, angels will come to visit his grave (when he dies).' (Kanzul Ummal, V16, P200, Hadith 45536, Dar-ul-Kutubul Ilmiyyah Beirut) (2) Reward for ten Hajj If someone performs Hajj on behalf of his parents, he himself will gain the reward for ten Hajj. (Dar-e-Qutni, V2, P229, Hadith 2587) Subhan-Allah  ! Whenever you perform nafl Hajj you should intend to do it on behalf of your deceased parents as well so that they too can gain the reward for Hajj. This will not affect your Hajj; in fact you will gain ten times as much reward. If either of your parents passed away without performing Hajj, despite them being obliged to perform it, then you should perform 'Hajj-e-Badal' (details of this can be found in my book 'Rafeeq-ul-Haramain').
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| (3) Charity on behalf of one's parents Whenever one donates something in the way of Allah , he should do it on behalf of his parents so that they benefit from its reward. Keep in mind that you yourself will also be rewarded without your share being decreased'. (Shu'ubul Imaan, V6, P205, Hadith 7911, Dar-ul-Kutubul Ilmiyyah Beirut) (4) Being deprived of blessings in one's provisions 'A man's provisions are cut off when he stops praying for his parents.' (Kanzul Ummal, V16, P201, Hadith 45548, Dar-ul-Kutubul Ilmiyyah Beirut) (5) Excellence of visiting graves on Friday One who recites Sura Yaseen at the grave of either or both of his parents on a Friday will be pardoned for his sins. (Ibn A'di fil Kamil, V6, P260, Dar-ul-Kutubul Ilmiyyah Beirut) My Dear Islamic Brothers! The mercy of Allah is endless; His doors of mercy and bounties are kept open for Muslims even after they die. Here is a story about the endless mercy of Allah . Read and rejoice! Shrouds in pieces The Prophet of Allah , Hazrat'e Sayyiduna Armiya  once passed by the graves of some people who were being punished. A year later he passed by the same graves but saw that the punishment was no more. He asked Allah to tell him why the punishment had stopped. He was told, 'Oh Armiya! I pitied them because their shrouds had torn to pieces, their hair was messy and their graves were destroyed, pitying such people is something I (often) do'. (Sharhus sudoor, P313, Dar-ul-Kutubul Ilmiyyah Beirut) |
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| Benefits of sending the reward of good actions
to the souls of the deceased The blessings of Dua (supplication) The Holy Prophet has said, 'The people of my ummah will enter their graves carrying the burden of their sins but when they rise from them they will be sinless because their sins would have been forgiven due to the Dua of the believers.' (Tabarani Awsat, V1, P509, Hadith 1879) Waiting for someone to send reward The Holy Prophet has stated, 'A deceased in his grave is like a drowning man, he waits impatiently for his father's, mothers, brother's, or friends Dua to reach him and when it does reach him he treasures it more than anything else in the world. Allah gives the deceased the reward that is gifted to him by his relatives in the form of mountains. The gift of the living to the dead is 'to ask for their forgiveness'. (Baihaqi Shu'ubul Imaan, V6, P203, Hadith 7905, Dar-ul-Kutubul Ilmiyyah Beirut) Excellence of praying for someone's forgiveness 'One who prays for the forgiveness of all believing men and women, Allah will write a good deed in exchange for each believing man and woman'. (Majma-uz-zawaid, V10, P352, Hadith 17598) An easy way to earn billions of deeds My Dear Islamic Brothers! Rejoice! You have just learnt an easy way to earn millions and billions of good deeds! There are millions of Muslims in the world at this moment in time and billions have passed away (since the beginning of creation, therefore praying for the forgiveness of the whole ummah will earn for us a treasure of billions of good deeds. Here is a Dua that can be used for one's self and every believing man and woman; In'shaa-Allah it will help you earn immense deeds (recite durood 3 times before and after):  (O Allah , forgive me and every believing man and woman)
 One should recite the previous mentioned Dua in Arabic, or Urdu (or English) or both instantly and if possible make a habit of reciting it after each Salaah. Bright garments One saint saw his deceased brother in a dream and asked, 'Does the Dua of the living reach the dead?' he replied, 'Yes (they do), they reach us in the form of bright garments that we then wear'. (Sharhus sudoor, P305) Bright tray When anyone sends the reward of good deeds to a deceased person, Jibra'eel places them in a bright tray and stands with it at the grave and says, 'Oh dweller of this grave! Your family members have sent a gift, accept it'. On hearing this he becomes happy but the dwellers of the other graves feel grieved for being deprived of such a blessing. (Sharhus sudoor, P308) |
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| Reward according to the number of deceased One who recites Sura Ikhlas in a graveyard and sends its reward to the dead will be rewarded for each and every dead person. (Kashful Khifa, V2, P371, mu'assasatur risala Beirut) The dead will intercede The Holy Prophet has stated that if someone passes by a cemetery and recites Sura Fatihah, Sura Ikhlas and Sura Takathur and then does Dua, 'Oh Allah ! Send the reward of whatever I have recited to the believing men and women', then those buried in that cemetery will intercede for him on the day of judgement. (Sharhus sudoor, P311) Reward of Sura Ikhlas Hazrat'e Sayyiduna Hammad Makki  said, 'One night I slept in the graveyard of Makka-tul-Mukarrama, I saw the bodies (alive and) standing in circles in the graveyard, I thought it was the day of judgement, they told me that it was not and that in actual fact they were distributing the reward for reciting Sura Ikhlas that a Muslim brother had sent to them and they said that it had been a year since they had started to distribute it amongst themselves'. (Sharhus sudoor baab fi qira'atul Qur'an lil mayyit, P312) A well for Umm-e-Sa'd  Hazrat'e Sayyiduna Sa'd bin Ubada  asked, 'Oh Messenger of Allah my mother has passed away (and so I want to donate some form of sadaqa (charity) on behalf of her), what sadaqa would be best for her?' The Holy Prophet replied, 'Water'. So Sayyiduna Sa'd had a well dug and said, 'This is for Umm-e-Sa'd (Sa'd's mother).' (Sunan Abu Daood Shareef, V2, P53, Hadith 1681, Dar-ul-Fikr Beirut) My Dear Islamic Brothers! The statement; 'This well is for Umm S'ad', meant that the well was dug to send the reward gained by allowing people to drink from it, to the mother of Sa'd . The previous mentioned Hadith shows that it is permissible for Muslims to associate an animal to be slaughtered with a Saint, by saying things like, 'This is the goat of Sayyiduna Ghous-e-Paak ', because this too refers to the 'reward that will be gained' for sacrificing the animal being sent to Sayyiduna Ghous-e-Azam . Such statements should not really cause confusion amongst Muslims because we hear people referring to the animals that are sacrificed after the Hajj as being 'theirs' anyway! If you see someone coming towards you with a goat or cow (in the Hajj season) and ask who it belongs to, he will obviously say, 'This is my goat', so if there is nothing wrong with him saying this then there shouldn't be anything wrong with saying, 'Sayyiduna Ghous-e-Paak's goat'. Everything really belongs to Allah , and whether the animal is for the ritual sacrifice after the Hajj or for Ghous-e-Paak, it is the name of Allah that is mentioned at the time of slaughtering. May Allah protect us from satanic whisperings. |
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| 17 Madani flowers of sending the reward
of one's actions to someone else (1) The reward for any action whether it be fardh, wajib, Sunnah, nafl, Salaah, fasting, Zakat, Hajj, delivering a speech or dars, travelling in a Madani Qafila, practising the Madani In'aamaat, inviting towards good, studying a religious book or making an individual attempt to accomplish a Madani task etc. can be sent to anyone you please. (2) Arranging public gatherings for this particular purpose on the 3rd, 10th, or 40th day after someone's death, or celebrating their anniversary in this manner are all commendable. The absence of proof forbidding such events is itself proof of permissibility. Praying for the deceased (which is the basic concept behind these gatherings) is proven by the Holy Qur'an (Part 28, Sura Hashr, verse 10): 
Trans (Kanzul Iman): And those who came after them submit,
O our Lord! Forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in the faith (3) The deceased's wealth can only be used to pay for the food that is served in these gatherings if all of the inheritors have reached the age of puberty and every single one of them gives permission to do so, otherwise not (if even one of the inheritors is a child then spending the money will be Haraam). However, the inheritor(s) that has reached this age is allowed to spend from his personal share of the wealth if he pleases. (mulakhkhas az Bahar-e-Shariat) (4) If the family of the deceased cook food on the 3rd day after the death then only the poor can eat from it (not the rich). (mulakhkhas az Bahar-e-Shariat) (5) The reward for actions can even be sent to a one day old baby. There is no harm in organising gatherings on the 3rd etc. for a baby either. (6) It can also be sent to living people as well the deceased, in fact even to those who are not yet born. (7) It can also be sent to Muslim jinn. (8) Celebrating Ghiyarween Shareef, Rajabi Shareef (the death anniversary of Sayyiduna Imam Ja'far Sadiq on the 22nd of Rajab) etc. is permissible. To serve rice pudding in a 'koonda' (vessel used to serve) only in the Rajabi shareef gathering is not necessary; it can be served in other plates too. It can also be taken out of the house. (9) 'Nazr o Niyaz' is the respectful term used to refer to the food served in gatherings in which the reward of actions is sent to Saints. This niyaz is 'tabarruk' (auspicious) and can therefore be consumed by the rich as well as the poor. (10) Inviting guests is not compulsory when such gatherings are held at home, in fact there will be nothing wrong if only the people of the house are present and if they eat amongst themselves. (11) (If one eats with the intention of developing strength in order to worship with ease and comfort then this act of consuming food will earn him reward, therefore) it would be good to send the reward for eating each meal every time you consume food (to anyone you please). For example, when eating breakfast one could say to himself, 'May the reward of this breakfast reach The Holy Prophet and through his mediation, every other Noble Prophet ', and when eating lunch one could say, 'May the reward of the food that I have eaten (or will eat) reach Sayyiduna Ghous-e-Azam and every other Saint  ', and when having one's evening meal one could think to himself, 'May the reward of the food that I am about to eat reach Imam-e-AhleSunnat Imam Ahmad Raza Khan and every other Muslim man and woman'. (12) Sending the reward is acceptable both before and after eating. (13) If possible put aside 1% of your earnings every day and spend this on buying and distributing Islamic literature or any other virtuous act. In'shaa-Allah you will see the benefits of this yourself. (14) 'Dastaan-e-Ajeeb', 'Shehzadey ka sar', 'Das Bibiyon ki kahani', and 'Janab e Sayyida Ki Kahani' etc. are all fabricated and false tales, one must avoid reading them. A pamphlet by the name of 'Wasiyyat Nama' (Will) mentioning the dream of a man called 'Shaikh Ahmad' is also circulated amongst Muslims, this is also fake. At the bottom it mentions the virtues of photocopying and distributing it and the harms of not doing this; one must not trust this either. (15) If you send reward to a large number of people you can hope that Allah will send the complete reward to each and every one of them, without it being divided amongst them. (rad-dul-mukhtar) (16) None of the reward is reduced for the one sending it; in fact he can hope to receive the total of what each and every person has been sent. Let's say for instance that one does an act of piety for which he is rewarded 10 good deeds, he then sends that reward to 10 deceased people, now each one of them will receive 10 good deeds but he himself will receive 110, if he sends it to 1000 people he will receive 10010 and so forth. (mulakhkhas az Fatawa-e-Razawiyah) (17) The reward of one's actions can only be sent to Muslims. Sending it to a disbeliever or renegade (murtad), or calling either of them 'marhoom' (late) after death is disbelief. |
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| Method of sending the reward of one's actions To send the reward of one's actions making an internal intention is sufficient. For instance, if you give a rupee as charity, or recite Durood once, teach someone a Sunnah, invite someone towards good, or deliver a Sunnah packed speech etc. you can say to yourself (in your heart), 'May the reward for the Sunnah that I have just taught reach The Holy Prophet ', In'shaa-Allah it will reach him, in fact it will hopefully reach anyone else that you intend to send it to. Verbally pronouncing your intention as well as thinking it is a practice of the blessed companion's as has been seen in the previously mentioned hadith in which Sayyiduna Sa'd had a well dug and then said, 'This is for Sa'd's mother'. The prevailant method of sending the reward of ones actions The method of sending reward that is commonly practised by Muslims these days is commendable (a description follows). Firstly, the food that will be served, along with a glass of water should be placed in front of one's self (either all the food that will be served or a small portion of each type). Then one should recite  and then the following (once): 3 times: |
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| Once: Once: Once: Once: And then the following five verses:- Now recite Durood: Now raise your hands to do Dua. The person appointed to make the supplication should say 'Al Fatihah' loudly, after which every one should recite the Surah Fatihah quietly. He should then announce, 'My Dear Islamic Brothers! Give me the reward of whatever you have recited'. The attendees should all then say, 'We have given it to you', and then he can send the reward. Before writing the words that should be used for sending the reward, here is a list of the chapters of the Holy Qur'an that Imam-e-AhleSunnat AlaHazrat Maulana Shah Ahmad Raza Khan used to recite before doing fatiha:- |
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Method of Fatiha practiced by AlaHazrat Once: Once: 3 Times: Method of doing Dua at the end O Allah ! Grant us reward, not according to our pathetic worships but according to your immense mercy, for whatever has been recited (if there is food present then you can say) and the food that has been prepared, rather, for every weak and incomplete act of worship that we have performed up to this day, and send it as nazr on behalf of ourselves to the court of Your Beloved . For the sake of our Prophet send it to the presence of all the honourable Prophets  , all the blessed Companions , and all the noble Saints  as nazr. For the sake of our Prophet send the reward to every Muslim human and jinn that have lived between now and the time of Sayyiduna Adam and those that will come until the day of judgement. During this you can mention the name of any Saint that you want to mention specifically. Send the reward to your parents, other relatives and your Murshid (spiritual guide), because mentioning the names of deceased people pleases them. Then finish the Dua as normal (if you had placed small portions of each type of food and water in front of yourself, pour it back into the other food and water). |
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| Warning! If you arrange any type of gathering such as niyaz, and during it the time for Salaah arrives then, providing there isn't a valid reason not to do so, using Infiradi Koshish (individual effort) you must attend the Jama'at in the local Masjid along with all your guests. In fact one should avoid holding an invitation at a time when people are expected to pray their Salaah but will Allah forbid miss the Jama'at. After Salaa-tuz-Zuhr would be an appropriate time for inviting guests in the daytime, and after Salaa-tul-Isha would be appropriate for inviting them in the evening, this would ensure they do not miss their Jama'at. Everyone including the host, the cooks, the people serving the food etc. should leave whatever they are doing and make preparations for the Jama'at. Missing the Jama'at due to a Saint's 'niyaz' is a big mistake. Method of visiting the tombs of pious people One should approach the tomb of a saint from his feet and walk towards his head because if approached from the head, he will be troubled by having to turn his head in order to observe the person arriving. Therefore, one should approach the Saint from his feet and walk towards his head. Stand at a distance of approximately 2 yards, with one's back facing qibla and one's face facing his face, greet him in these words: One should then recite Sura Fatiha once and Sura Ikhlas 11 times (with durood once before and once after) and then raise his hands and pray for the reward to be sent to him using the method explained earlier (mentioning the name of that particular Saint). The book 'Ahsanul Wi'aa' says, 'Supplications are accepted in the presence of Saints'. |
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