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As for “Quran recitation and charity” and other righteous deeds, the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah do not dispute that the reward of acts of worship involving wealth, such as charity and freeing slaves, reaches the deceased. Likewise, he benefits from supplication, seeking forgiveness for him, the funeral prayer offered for him, and supplication at his grave.

They have differed over whether the reward of bodily acts of worship, such as fasting, prayer, and Quran recitation, reaches him. The correct view is that the reward of all these reaches him. It is established in the two Sahīh collections that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“If someone dies owing fasts, his next of kin should fast on his behalf.”

It is also established that “he instructed a woman whose mother had died owing fasts to fast on her mother’s behalf.”

In al-Musnad, it is related that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ās:

“Had your father embraced Islam, and you then given charity, fasted, or freed slaves on his behalf, that would have benefited him.”

This is the position of Ahmad, Abū Hanīfah, and a group of the followers of Mālik and al-Shāfi‘ī.

As for those who cite as evidence the words of Allah Most High:

“And that a person will have nothing but what he strives for,”

they may be answered as follows: It is established through the mass-transmitted Sunnah and the consensus of the Muslim community that prayer is offered