Among the innovations is the dropping of the rights owed by the deceased
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Q: What do the true scholars say regarding the matter of the method of dropping (rights) when a man dies and he has in his liability obligatory rights of Allah, and in our country this is widespread: when they finish the funeral prayer, they sit in a circle and place money with the Qur'an and say: "All rights belong to Allah the Exalted, which were obligatory in the liability of this deceased, from obligatory acts, duties, vows, and expiations; some of them were performed by him and some were missed by him, and he is now unable to perform these rights." After this, one of them takes the Qur'an with the money, then another takes it, and so on until the last one, and they believe that the money will increase, then they divide the money among the people. Please clarify the matter with the evidences from the Shari'ah, and whether it is established from the best of the generations or not?
A: The method of dropping the rights of Allah the Exalted owed by the deceased, such as prayers, vows, expiations, and the like, in the manner described in the question, is an invented innovation and a fabricated method with no basis in the Shari'ah. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: "WhoeverSahih Muslim 1718a and in another wording: Sahih Muslim 1718b . The Shari'ah principle is that a Muslim does not worship his Lord except with what Allah has prescribed in His Book or the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus, acts of worship are based on divine text, and it is not permissible for anyone to innovate something for which there is no explicit Shari'ah text. The Shari'ah method for expiating
sins is sincere repentance from the living, charity, seeking forgiveness, and increasing in prescribed acts of worship, returning injustices to their owners and seeking their forgiveness as much as possible, and so on. It is prescribed for the deceased: charity, seeking forgiveness from Allah for him, making du'a for him, and making up what he owes of the rights of Allah, such as zakah, expiations, and fasting Ramadan if he delayed making it up without an excuse, and performing Hajj if he was able to do so before his death but was lenient and did not perform it, and the like. Or rights belonging to people, such as debts, trusts, and the like.
A: The method of dropping the rights of Allah the Exalted owed by the deceased, such as prayers, vows, expiations, and the like, in the manner described in the question, is an invented innovation and a fabricated method with no basis in the Shari'ah. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: "Whoever
'A'isha reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: He who innovates things in our affairs for which there is no valid (reason) (commits sin) and these are to be rejected.
أحدث في أمرنا هذا ما ليس منه فهو ردHe who did any act for which there is no sanction from our behalf, that is to be rejected.
من عمل عملاً ليس عليه أمرنا فهو ردsins is sincere repentance from the living, charity, seeking forgiveness, and increasing in prescribed acts of worship, returning injustices to their owners and seeking their forgiveness as much as possible, and so on. It is prescribed for the deceased: charity, seeking forgiveness from Allah for him, making du'a for him, and making up what he owes of the rights of Allah, such as zakah, expiations, and fasting Ramadan if he delayed making it up without an excuse, and performing Hajj if he was able to do so before his death but was lenient and did not perform it, and the like. Or rights belonging to people, such as debts, trusts, and the like.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.