What is the ruling on dedicating tawaf to the dead and the living?

Question:
Is it permissible for me to perform tawaf and dedicate the reward of my tawaf to a dead person or a living person?

Answer:
There is scholarly disagreement among the scholars regarding this issue:
Some of them permitted it; a group of scholars said: There is no harm in dedicating the reward of prayer, tawaf, recitation, and other acts to the dead and others.
Others among the scholars said: No, except for what has come in the Shari'ah. The servant is not to dedicate anything except what the Shari'ah has brought, because acts of worship are based on specific texts. This is the more apparent and closer view: that they are based on specific texts, and that one does not perform tawaf on behalf of another, nor recite on behalf of another. Rather, one does what the Shari'ah has brought regarding charity on behalf of another, Hajj on behalf of another, 'Umrah on behalf of another, paying off debts, making du'a for them, and seeking forgiveness for them. This is what benefits. As for performing tawaf for them, or reciting for them, or seeking forgiveness for them, or glorifying Allah for them, there is no evidence for it.