for the deceased, and you say: “May Allah reward you well, mend your loss, and forgive your departed.” You then beseech Allah’s mercy and forgiveness for the dead. It is also recommended that, if the bereaved family are overwhelmed by their calamity and unable to prepare their own food, a fellow Muslim should cook for them and send it to their home as a gesture of sympathy, assistance, and relief—just as the Prophet ﷺ instructed when the news came of Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib’s martyrdom: “Prepare food for the family of Jaʿfar, for something has occurred that occupies them.”

As for reciting Sūrah al-Fātiḥah for the soul of the deceased, this has no foundation in the Sacred Law; there is no evidence for it from the Prophet ﷺ. What the Qur’an and Sunnah do prescribe is to supplicate for the deceased, seek forgiveness for him, perform the funeral prayer over him, give charity on his behalf, and carry out other acts of righteousness such as ḥajj or ʿumrah for him. By Allah’s permission, should He accept them, these deeds reach the deceased. The same applies to offering an udḥiyah (ritual sacrifice) on his behalf— all of these are matters the Sharīʿah affirms as beneficial to the dead.

Reciting al-Fātiḥah, however, is not among them; there is no proof for it from the Prophet ﷺ. It is merely a habit that some uninformed people have adopted—reciting al-Fātiḥah for “blessing,” for the dead, and on various occasions of their own devising, all without evidence. Al-Fātiḥah is to be recited only where the religion has legislated its recitation: within the prayer and as part of normal Qur’anic recitation. To read it for the dead, for their souls, or as a form of condolence has no basis in the revealed law. And Allah, exalted is He, knows best.