Can I Give Charity on Behalf of Someone Who Has Died?
Yes. It is established by a clear hadith and is one of the most reliable ways to benefit the deceased, alongside dua and settling their debts.
This comes up often enough that it is worth setting out the evidence rather than only the conclusion.
The evidence
A man told the Prophet ﷺ his mother had died suddenly and he thought she would have given charity; he asked if he could do so on her behalf and was told yes (Sahih al-Bukhari 1388).
Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubadah asked which charity is best for his deceased mother and was told water; he dug a well and dedicated it to her.
Scholars agree on charity and dua; they differ over whether the reward for bodily acts such as recitation reaches the deceased.
In practice
- Settle their debts first; that is an obligation before it is a charity.
- An ongoing charity — a well, a copy of the Quran, a school — continues to benefit them.
- The dua of a righteous child is named separately in the hadith of the three continuing deeds.
Read it once more slowly. Most of what is worth taking from a passage like this arrives on the second pass, not the first.
Go deeper. Thousands of answers, searchable by topic and reviewed before publication, are at Islamic Q&A — qa.hisnulmuslimapp.com.
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What Is the Correct Way to Perform the Funeral Prayer?
Four takbirs standing, with no ruku‘ or sujud: al-Fatihah after the first, salah upon the Prophet ﷺ after the second, supplication for the deceased after the third, and the salam after the fourth.
Do I Have to Repeat a Prayer I Prayed Without Wudu by Mistake?
Yes. Purity is a condition for the validity of the prayer, so a prayer performed without wudu is repeated once you realise — but there is no sin for the honest mistake.
Is It Permissible to Combine Prayers While Travelling?
Yes — the majority of scholars permit combining Dhuhr with ‘Asr and Maghrib with ‘Isha while travelling, and it is authentically established from the Sunnah.
What Is the Ruling on Missed Prayers From Years of Not Praying?
Scholars differ. The majority hold that missed prayers are made up; a significant group holds that prayers abandoned deliberately cannot be made up and require sincere repentance and abundant voluntary prayer instead.