The Ruling on Sacrificing on Behalf of the Deceased and the Shaykh’s Advice on the Best Deed for the Deceased

Question : Yes. Peace be upon you. And upon you be peace. The goats. Yes, she says she wants to sacrifice for her husband who passed away last year. Does she share it with anyone, or is it for him alone, O Shaykh?

Answer : I say that this sacrifice, which is for the first year in which the deceased died, is called by the common people the "sacrifice of the grave." They claim that no one shares in it with the deceased. This is a bid'ah (religious innovation) with no basis. That is, there is no basis for sacrificing in the first year for the deceased. In fact, there is disagreement regarding sacrificing on behalf of the deceased: does it benefit him or not?
And I say to the questioner and to others who hear this: supplication for the dead is better than sacrificing for them, better than giving charity for them, better than performing Hajj for them, and better than performing 'Umrah for them. The evidence for this is the statement of the Imam of the believers, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), the sincere and trustworthy one: "When a person dies, his deeds are cut off except for three: ongoing charity, knowledge that benefits, or a righteous child who prays for him." The first two are from the actions of the deceased: ongoing charity that a person establishes in his lifetime, and charity after his death. Knowledge is likewise. As for the third, which is from the child, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say, "Or charity that the child performs on behalf of his father, or fasting, or Hajj, or prayer." Rather, he said, "Or a righteous child who prays for him." So why, O people of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), do we turn away from what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) guided us to, toward something he did not guide us to? My advice to my Muslim brothers is that they make acts of worship for themselves, such as charity, sacrifices, fasting, Hajj, and 'Umrah, and that they devote their supplication to their deceased ones. For that is the good, and that is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded. Not everything that is permissible to do is better than other things. We do not deny that a person may give charity on behalf of his father or his mother, or pray two rak'ahs and dedicate their reward to them. We do not deny this. But we say that there is something better and more beneficial than that: it is the supplication to which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) guided us. Why do we strive diligently for matters when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) guided us to something else? May Allah reward you.