Nafahat al-Nasamat fi Wusul Ihda al-Thawab lil-Amwat
- Author died
- 710 AH
- Editions
- al-Dār al-Athariyyah
Nafahat al-Nasamat fi Wusul Ihda al-Thawab lil-Amwat (The Fragrant Breezes on the Arrival of Gifted Rewards to the Deceased) is a legal treatise by the Hanafi jurist and chief judge of Egypt, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Saruji (d. 710 AH / 1310 CE; also reported as 701 AH), examining the jurisprudential validity of dedicating the reward of righteous acts to deceased Muslims .
Background and Theme
Al-Saruji authored the work to substantiate the position held by Abu Hanifa, his companions, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal that an individual may transfer the reward of good deeds—such as ritual prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, charity, and Quranic recitation—to another person, and that the deceased recipient benefits from this gifted reward . The treatise addresses legal objections to the transmission of bodily worship and argues that divine forgiveness and recompense reach the dead through the actions and dedications of the living .
Arguments and Evidence
The work constructs its legal and scriptural defense using multiple lines of textual evidence:
- Hadith reports and traditions: Al-Saruji cites several prophetic traditions, including a narration recorded by al-Daraqutni from Ali ibn Abi Talib regarding reciting Surah al-Ikhlas eleven times at graveyards, a report related by Abu Bakr al-Khallal from Anas ibn Malik regarding the recitation of Surah Ya-Sin over graves, and a narration through Abu Hafs al-Tabari stating that charity, pilgrimage, and supplication reach the deceased and bring them joy . He also adduces the Prophet's sacrifice of two rams on behalf of himself and his community, as well as narrations preserved in Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili's al-'Aqibah and al-Lalaka'i's Sharh Usul I'tiqad Ahl al-Sunnah .
- Interpretation of Quran 53:39: To resolve the apparent conflict with the verse وَأَن لَّيْسَ لِلْإِنسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَىٰ ("And that there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives"), al-Saruji presents eight classical scholarly explanations: that it was abrogated by Surah al-Tur (52:21) according to Ibn Abbas; that it applied specifically to the nations of Ibrahim and Musa according to Ikrima; that "man" in the verse denotes the disbeliever according to al-Rabi' ibn Anas; that it operates according to divine justice while divine grace allows additional bestowals as stated by al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl; that striving means intention according to Abu Bakr al-Warraq; that it concerns worldly recompense for disbelievers as mentioned by al-Tha'labi; that the preposition li bears the meaning of 'ala ("against"); or that an individual's striving includes the direct causes he established during life, such as righteous companions and offspring who pray for him, citing Ibn al-Jawzi .
- Consensus and rational analysis: The author argues that continuous communal practice across eras—where Muslims assemble to recite the Quran and gift its reward to their deceased without interdiction—constitutes consensus (ijma') . He further analyzes the hadith إِذَا مَاتَ ابْنُ آدَمَ انْقَطَعَ عَمَلُهُ إِلَّا مِنْ ثَلَاثٍ ("When the son of Adam dies, his deed ceases except from three"), explaining that the cessation of the deceased person's own deeds does not entail the cessation of deeds performed on his behalf by others . The text concludes with Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi's explanation of the Prophet placing fresh palm branches over two graves to lighten their punishment, drawing an analogy to the greater benefit of Quranic recitation .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of the treatise are preserved in several collections, including the Zahiriyyah Library in Damascus (MS 4377), the Hagia Sophia collection in Istanbul (MS 2968), the Munich Library (MS 884/3), and the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh . The work was published in 2009 (1430 AH) by al-Dar al-Athariyyah within a compendium of classical treatises on the ruling of dedicating Quranic recitation to the dead, edited and annotated by Shawkat ibn Rifqi Shahaltugh .
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