Q. Could you please discuss the practice of holding functions after certain numbers of days of someone’s death, and on its anniversary, to read the Qur’an, with each person reading one para so that they all would read it complete in a matter of an hour or so. They then do some supplication and request God to credit the reward for their recitation to the deceased.
Z. Sohail
A. It is agreed by the majority of scholars that any act of worship that could be done by proxy, such as the pilgrimage, the Umrah and the payment of zakah and charity, could be done on behalf of a deceased person, whether he requests it before his death or not. Reading the Qur’an, or a part of it, is one such act. So, in principle, if one recites a surah or a passage of the Qur’an and prays to God to credit the reward of his recitation to his parents, they earn that reward and he earns a reward for being so dutiful. This does not need to be the whole of the Qur’an, but any reading, short or long would do.
Having said that, I wish to add that the occasions people mark after a person’s death are not an Islamic practice. There is nothing to be associated with any Thursday after the death, or 3rd, 7th, 10th or 40th day, or the anniversary of the death. Such markings are borrowed from other cultures or religions. The Prophet never suggested or recommended such markings, and they were not done by any of the Prophet’s companions or their successors. Hence, it is a bid’at practice, or deviation, that we should remove from our lives.
Spending Time in Mosques
Q. A man was reluctant to allow his wife to do the Sunnah of itikaf at home because she has a baby aged 8 months to look after. She was keen to do it, feeling that if she cannot do it at a mosque in her hometown, then she can easily manage in her own place. Please comment.
M. Rafeek
A. The itikaf is a practice that means devoting one’s time to worship in a mosque. It can be a Sunnah and it can be a duty. It is a duty only when a person pledges to God to do it in a specific way or for a specific time. Like every such pledge, it must be honored. Otherwise, it is a Sunnah, particularly in the last ten days of Ramadan. The Prophet did this Sunnah more than once, but there is no authentic Hadith to speak of its importance. If it is not pledged, it can be terminated at any time. It does not have to be in Ramadan. In fact, it can be at any time a person is staying in a mosque. He may make his intention clear by saying: “I will be in itikaf in this mosque for as long as I am here.” This means that he has to dedicate his time to worship during his presence in the mosque. The itikaf can be done in any mosque. If one makes the intention to do it in a particular mosque, he can change location, provided he moves to another mosque. Only if he specifies the Haram in Makkah, the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah or the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, he must do it in the one he specifies.
A woman should have her husband’s permission to do the itikaf, and he should not refuse such permission without a valid reason. The need to look after a young child, as in this case, is certainly a valid reason. The lady in this case should realize that looking after her baby is a more important duty than doing the Sunnah of itikaf.
Having said that, I advise the woman that she can do as much voluntary worship at home as she wants, but this does not come under itikaf, because that Sunnah must be done in a mosque. Still it earns a great reward. But she must not neglect her duties, such as attending to her young son.