Q. 1. Could you please explain what are the best things that one may do to benefit one’s departed mother, or father, after their death? Is it true that the body of a dead person hears what we tell to that person until the body is buried? Are the souls of dead people kept in a particular place until the Day of Judgment? Do people meet after their death, so that a son would know his parents and be with them?
Q. 2. What is the significance of fasting on the 15th of Shaaban? I am told that we should fast on 14th and 15th of that month. Please comment.
M.M.S.
A. 1. There are several things one may do to benefit a departed parent. The simplest thing that is available to everyone at all times is to pray for our parents and dead relatives. God tells us in the Qur’an that we should always pray for them saying: “Our Lord, have mercy on them as they have brought me up when I was young.” When God, with His infinite grace and limitless mercy, looks at people and weighs their deeds from the same angle, He forgives them all their sins. This is exactly what every one of us needs in order to be certain of a happy new life in heaven.
Perhaps the best thing that one may do on behalf of one’s deceased parents is to offer the pilgrimage or the Umrah on their behalf. It is well known that a goodly pilgrimage, which is free of sin and misbehavior, is rewarded with the forgiveness of all past sins. So, when you offer the pilgrimage on behalf of your deceased mother, or father, God grants them forgiveness of all their sins. Needless to say, you need to offer the pilgrimage on behalf of one of them at a time. You cannot do it on behalf of both at the same time. You may also give money to charity, i.e. sadaqah, on their behalf. If this is of the continuing type, then you ensure a continuous reward for them. You may also read the Qur’an and request God to credit the reward of your recitation to your parents. All such actions ensure a better reward for one’s parents. The Prophet (peace be upon him) mentions that a dead person may find that his position in heaven is upgraded. Such a person addresses a question to God Almighty asking him how come that his position is so improved, and the answer given to that person is: “This increase is due to your child’s prayer for you.”
When we die, we are unable to perform any action. No one may hear what the living are saying, or know what they are doing. God says to the Prophet: “You cannot make those already in the graves hear what you say.” (35: 22) Although the reader is asking about the time before burial, yet even then, the same applies.
After death, souls are in what is called “the life in the barzakh”, which is a status in between this life and the second life that begins on the Day of Judgment. We do not know the details of this life and how it is conducted, but it is a life where no actions are done, and no reward is administered. We only know that the people who have done well in this life, being devout and doing what God requires them to do will be in a happy state, while determined sinners will suffer what is termed as the “torment in the grave.” Whether people will be untied with their loved ones after death, before the Day of Judgment, is unknown, but they certainly do so in heaven.
A. 2. There is no special significance attached to 15th of Shaaban, nor is it recommended to fast. People think that the night preceding it has special significance and that they are well advised to perform night worship, or tahajjud, on that night, but this is not correct. It is based on an unauthentic Hadith that does not even recommend any action to be taken. Nor is it correct to say that fasting should be done on 14th and 15th of Shaaban in particular. What is recommended is something else.
In fact the three middle days of every lunar month, i.e. 13, 14 and 15 are recommended for fasting, and these are known as the “white days”, because the moon is at its brightest on these days. But this is not the reason for fasting. Fasting three days a month gives the reward of fasting the whole month, as a good deed is always rewarded with ten times its value. Thus, if a person is in the habit of fasting on these three days every month, or indeed any other three days, he receives the reward of fasting all the year round.