The Ruling on Verbalizing the Intention in Prayer and Dedication of Its Reward to the Deceased
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Question:
The questioner from Jordan says: "Every Friday, after the obligatory prayer, I say: I intend to pray two rak'ahs in obedience to Allah and His Messenger, and I ask Allah to send the reward of this prayer to the souls of my father and my mother."
Answer:
This is not prescribed. Verbalizing the intention is a religious innovation (bid'ah). It is not permissible to verbalize the intention. The place of the intention is the heart. You intend in your heart to pray a voluntary prayer, or an obligatory prayer, or to fast, by intention alone, without verbalizing it. You do not dedicate the reward of recitation or prayer to your parents or anyone else. However, you should make du'a' for your parents, seek forgiveness for them, send blessings upon them, and give charity on their behalf. All of this is good. You may also perform Hajj or 'Umrah on their behalf. All of this is good, if they are deceased, or if they are unable to do so—such as elderly people who are unable to perform Hajj or 'Umrah. There is no harm in performing Hajj or 'Umrah on their behalf due to their inability or their death. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.
The questioner from Jordan says: "Every Friday, after the obligatory prayer, I say: I intend to pray two rak'ahs in obedience to Allah and His Messenger, and I ask Allah to send the reward of this prayer to the souls of my father and my mother."
Answer:
This is not prescribed. Verbalizing the intention is a religious innovation (bid'ah). It is not permissible to verbalize the intention. The place of the intention is the heart. You intend in your heart to pray a voluntary prayer, or an obligatory prayer, or to fast, by intention alone, without verbalizing it. You do not dedicate the reward of recitation or prayer to your parents or anyone else. However, you should make du'a' for your parents, seek forgiveness for them, send blessings upon them, and give charity on their behalf. All of this is good. You may also perform Hajj or 'Umrah on their behalf. All of this is good, if they are deceased, or if they are unable to do so—such as elderly people who are unable to perform Hajj or 'Umrah. There is no harm in performing Hajj or 'Umrah on their behalf due to their inability or their death. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.