Is it permissible for a person to perform tawaf and say: “O Allah, make the reward of this tawaf of mine for my father or my mother”?

The questioner : Your Eminence, is it permissible for a person to perform tawaf and say: “O Allah, make the reward of this tawaf of mine for my father or my mother”?

The Shaykh : This is based on the transfer of acts of worship. The question is: Is it permissible for a person to intend to perform an act of worship on behalf of a deceased person?
The answer to this is that we say: Whatever the Sunnah has brought, there is no doubt in its permissibility. Among the things the Sunnah brought is that a person fasts on behalf of a deceased person who died owing fasts, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . There is no difference in this between fasting in Ramadan and fasting a vow. If a person dies owing days of Ramadan, we tell his guardian: It is recommended for you to fast on behalf of this deceased person. If someone asks: What is the evidence? The answer is: The evidence is his saying: .
If someone says: This is regarding a vow, not regarding obligatory fasting?
The answer to that is that we say: This hadith is general , and he did not say: “Fasting a vow.” If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had intended fasting a vow, he would have clarified it for his Ummah.
Then we say: It is not correct to interpret the hadith as being about a vow, because if you interpreted it as being about a vow, you would be interpreting it as a meaning that rarely occurs compared to obligatory fasting. If you asked which is more common: a person dying owing fasts from Ramadan, or a person dying owing fasts from a vow?
The answer would be: A person dying owing fasts from Ramadan. So how do we interpret the hadith as the rare meaning and leave the common meaning?
Therefore, there is no doubt that this hadith indicates that one fasts on behalf of the deceased for what is obligatory by the original law of the Shari'ah without a cause, such as Ramadan; what is obligatory by the original law of the Shari'ah with a cause, such as expiation; and what is obligatory by a vow, such as one who vows to fast two or three days as a voluntary act.
As for righteous deeds for which the Sunnah has not come regarding transferring them to the deceased, the scholars differed on the permissibility of transferring them to the deceased. Some said: It is permissible. And some said: It is not permissible.
The stronger position is that it is permissible, and that all righteous deeds, if a person intends them for the deceased and he is among the Muslims, there is no harm in that. However, the question remains: Is this among the prescribed matters that a person should do, or is it among the permissible and accepted matters?
The answer is: The second or the first? The second, meaning it is among the permissible and accepted matters. The evidence is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order his Ummah to volunteer in worship and make it for the deceased, ever. The utmost of what is there is that the command came for the obligatory thing, such as the fasting we mentioned a moment ago. As for voluntary acts, no hadith came from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that we should volunteer in worship for our deceased, neither in sacrifices, nor in charity, nor in prayer, nor in reciting the Qur'an, nor in anything else. The utmost of what is there is that specific cases came where the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked: Is that permissible? So he permitted it, peace and blessings be upon him. Such as the man who said: . And the permission of Sa'd ibn Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to make his date palm grove, meaning his wall, for his mother to give charity from it for her, so he permitted him. But that he ordered it as a general command, that did not come.
Based on that, I say, and from this place: That a person's supplication for his deceased is better than transferring acts of worship to them, meaning better than transferring acts of worship. So your supplicating for the deceased is better than giving charity for him, and better than performing tawaf for him, and better than performing 'Umrah for him, because this is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) guided to, where he said: .
And it is amazing that many people, especially in the month of Ramadan, read the Qur'an several times, making each complete recitation for one of their deceased. The first recitation, for example, for his mother, the second for his father, the third for his grandmother, the fourth for his grandfather, the fifth for his uncle or maternal uncle or brother, and he does not do even one for himself. There is no doubt that this is an action contrary to what the righteous Salaf were upon. The righteous Salaf did not habitually do such a thing. And you, my brother, will be in need of righteous deeds and will wish that there were an increase of one good deed in your record of good deeds. So do what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) guided you to, which is supplicating for your deceased, and make the acts of worship for yourself. And do not be thereby a wrongdoer or one who severs family ties.