What is the authenticity of the hadith: “Instruct your dying ones with Yasin”? And what is its meaning?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : ...and reminding those who are on their deathbeds of the word of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), so that perhaps it will be their final state with a good ending, as happened with that Jewish boy; so, in brief, the hadith is: weak, and even if it were authentic, its meaning is instructing the one who is dying, not the one who has already died and whose deeds have ceased.
The questioner : Okay; as a follow-up: if you recite al-Fatihah, does it benefit the deceased?
The Shaykh : Absolutely, there is nothing that benefits the deceased.
The questioner : Definitively?
The Shaykh : Remove from your mind the idea that you can benefit the deceased in any way; because the verse says:[An-Najm 53:36-39], it is a divine system that He established for the happiness of people in this world and the Hereafter. A person living a material life must eat and drink and clothe himself. If there is a person near you or far away who is going to die of hunger, if you eat and are full and sated, he does not feel your fullness or his hunger, nor does he benefit from any of this fullness that you have obtained. Likewise, say this about quenching thirst, likewise about clothing, and likewise if you purify yourself by obeying Allah, by remembering Allah, by reciting His Book, others do not benefit from you at all, except if you are the cause of that good, as came in the previous hadith: Riyad as-Salihin 949.
The questioner : Okay; does it fall under the category of a righteous child?
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : Does it not fall under the category of a righteous child?
The Shaykh : Who?
The questioner : If the child reads for his father?
The Shaykh : Isn’t that what I am telling you? As for you reading for your son, you reading for your brother, you reading for your neighbor, your friend, your close one; this does not benefit them at all. But the child from the father and mother is from their effort, so it is a trace of their traces; therefore, I liked to draw your attention to this hadith time after time: every person Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1376Sahih (Darussalam); for example, you dug a well in a place where there was no water, so whenever people, livestock, birds, and beasts drink, all of it is good deeds that enter your grave in a continuous manner. You built a mosque, for example, whenever people pray in it, you get its reward; because this is a trace of your work, and so on.
Sahih Muslim 1631; a man left behind books from which people benefit with correct knowledge, or he left behind students of knowledge who spread knowledge among people; these are traces of this scholar, and so on. But if you read al-Fatihah for me, I do not receive anything; because this is not a trace of your reading al-Fatihah. Now reverse the example; the scholar who taught you the Quran, whenever you read from the Quran, he gets a reward; because he was the cause of teaching you, and so on. But this general, comprehensive expansion that Muslims are following, where everyone passes by a cemetery or goes to visit a relative, close one, or friend and reads al-Fatihah at the very least. The people of the cemetery do not benefit at all. If they benefit from anything, it is a righteous supplication from you; because the righteous supplication in the Noble Quran is: [Al-Hashr 59:10].
So supplication may be answered, and if it is answered, it benefits, and if it is not answered, in any case it is drawing near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As for reading khatmahs, alfiyyahs, and I don’t know what things people have expanded upon greatly, these do not benefit people at all; especially when reading has turned into a trade; meaning the deceased dies today; it is necessary that a reader be brought who is famous and has a pleasing voice, and the amount he is satisfied with is paid to him and he reads. Neither the one who attended benefited, nor the deceased for whom the Quran was read over his soul benefited at all. And if this money given to this wealthy reader had been given to a poor person, it would have been recorded as a reward for the giver, and if it was a son, it would reach the parents as well. And so on; meaning this is among the things we hinted at; how people changed the “prescription,” they changed it until it became something else.
The questioner : If you fill the house with poor people, is it considered ongoing charity?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Okay; as a follow-up: if you recite al-Fatihah, does it benefit the deceased?
The Shaykh : Absolutely, there is nothing that benefits the deceased.
The questioner : Definitively?
The Shaykh : Remove from your mind the idea that you can benefit the deceased in any way; because the verse says:
(36) Or has he not been informed of what was in the scriptures of Moses (37) And [of] Abraham, who fulfilled [his obligations] - (38) That no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another (39) And that there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives
أَمْ لَمْ يُنَبَّأْ بِمَا فِي صُحُفِ مُوسَى * وَإِبْرَاهِيمَ الَّذِي وَفَّى* أَلَّا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى* وَأَنْ لَيْسَ لِلإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىWhen a man dies, his deeds come to an end, except for three: A continuous charity, knowledge by which people derive benefit, pious son who prays for him.
إذا ماتَ الإنسانُ انقطعَ عملُه إلا من ثلاث : صدقة جارية ، أو علم يُنتفع به ، أو ولد صالح يدعو لهThe questioner : Okay; does it fall under the category of a righteous child?
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner : Does it not fall under the category of a righteous child?
The Shaykh : Who?
The questioner : If the child reads for his father?
The Shaykh : Isn’t that what I am telling you? As for you reading for your son, you reading for your brother, you reading for your neighbor, your friend, your close one; this does not benefit them at all. But the child from the father and mother is from their effort, so it is a trace of their traces; therefore, I liked to draw your attention to this hadith time after time:
When a person dies.
إذا مات الإنسانhis deeds are cut off except for three: Continuing charity
انقطع عمله إلا من ثلاث : صدقة جاريةrecurring charity, or knowledge (by which people) benefit
صدقة جارية ، أو علم يُنتفع بهOur Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed
رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا وَلِإِخْوَانِنَا الَّذِينَ سَبَقُونَا بِالْإِيمَانِ وَلَا تَجْعَلْ فِي قُلُوبِنَا غِلًّا لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُواSo supplication may be answered, and if it is answered, it benefits, and if it is not answered, in any case it is drawing near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As for reading khatmahs, alfiyyahs, and I don’t know what things people have expanded upon greatly, these do not benefit people at all; especially when reading has turned into a trade; meaning the deceased dies today; it is necessary that a reader be brought who is famous and has a pleasing voice, and the amount he is satisfied with is paid to him and he reads. Neither the one who attended benefited, nor the deceased for whom the Quran was read over his soul benefited at all. And if this money given to this wealthy reader had been given to a poor person, it would have been recorded as a reward for the giver, and if it was a son, it would reach the parents as well. And so on; meaning this is among the things we hinted at; how people changed the “prescription,” they changed it until it became something else.
The questioner : If you fill the house with poor people, is it considered ongoing charity?
The Shaykh : Yes.
Source
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