Question
A person gets the blessings (Sawaab) from God on his past deeds those continue to benefit other humans after his death.
So I wonder; can a person repent on behalf of another individual after that individual’s death?
Can a person ask sincerely for the forgiveness of other person sins and ask for his/her salvation as he/she does for himself/herself?
How effective his prayers will be in the sight of God?
Jazzakallah khairun
Answer
It can be inferred from the life of the Holy Prophet (sws) that seeking forgiveness for the departed souls is a commendable deed. However, it is just a request, which a person makes to God the Almighty, and He is not bound to honor each and every request, nevertheless, keeping in view His abounding mercy we should remain hopeful. He will award forgiveness according to His absolute knowledge, wisdom and with a view to the requirements of justice. Therefore, how effective our prayers would be, cannot be predicted. Prayer (Dua) in itself is a form of worship, it activates a direct link between the seeker and his Lord, therefore, you should continue your prayers for the deceased people, as far as their effectiveness is concerned, it depends upon God’s decision, however, the credit of praying and supplication, I hope, will go to your account.
It may be noted that the concept of transfer of “sawab”1 which is known as “Eesal-e-sawab” is entirely another thing, which is nothing to do with seeking forgiveness. In “eesaal-e-swab” we say that the credit of our good deeds may be transferred to a deceased person, whereas in seeking forgiveness for a deceased, we just beg that God may accept his excuses and may shower His mercy upon him.
Regards,
Siddiq Bukhary
February 19, 2003
- i.e., reward. [↩]