📍On a Person Benefiting from the Deeds of Others
◾️Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbās Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
📥Whoever believes that a person only benefits from his own deeds has broken the consensus (Ijmā'), and this is false for many reasons:
▫️The first: A person benefits from the supplication of others, and this is benefiting from the deed of others.
▫️The second: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) will intercede for the people standing at the gathering place (al-Mawqif) on the Day of Judgement, and then for the people of Paradise to enter it.
▫️The third: He will intercede for the people of major sins to be taken out of the Hellfire, and this is benefiting from the effort of others.
▫️The fourth: The angels pray and seek forgiveness for those on earth, and this is a benefit from the deed of others.
▫️The fifth: Allah, the Exalted, will bring out of the Hellfire those who never did any good purely by His mercy, and this is benefiting without their own deed.
▫️The sixth: The children of believers will enter Paradise due to the deeds of their fathers, and this is benefiting purely from the deed of others.
▫️The seventh: Allah, the Exalted, said regarding the story of the two orphan boys: ("And their father had been righteous") (Surah Al-Kahf: 82). So, they benefited from the righteousness of their father, which was not from their own effort.
▫️The eighth: The deceased benefits from charity given on his behalf and from manumission (freeing a slave), according to the explicit texts of the Sunnah and the consensus, and this is from the deed of others.
▫️The ninth: The obligatory Hajj is waived for the deceased if his guardian performs Hajj on his behalf, according to the explicit text of the Sunnah, and this is benefiting from the deed of others.
▫️The tenth: A vowed Hajj or a vowed fast is waived for the deceased by the deed of another, according to the explicit text of the Sunnah, and this is benefiting from the deed of others.
▫️The eleventh: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) refrained from praying the funeral prayer over a debtor until Abū Qatādah paid off his debt (1), and ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib paid off the debt of another, and they benefited from the prayer of the Prophet (pbuh), which is from the deed of others.
▫️The twelfth: The Prophet (pbuh) said to a man who had prayed alone: "Would that a man give charity to this one by praying with him?" (2). Thus, he obtained the virtue of congregation through the action of another.
▫️The thirteenth: A person is absolved from the rights of others (financial obligations) if someone else settles them on his behalf, and this is benefiting from the deed of others.
▫️The fourteenth: If someone has obligations and injustices against others, and they forgive him, they are lifted from him, and this is benefiting from the deed of others.
▫️The fifteenth: A righteous neighbor benefits (his neighbors) in life and after death, as has been narrated, and this is benefiting from the deed of others.
▫️The sixteenth: The companion of people engaged in the remembrance of Allah (Dhikr) is shown mercy because of them, even though he was not one of them and did not sit for that purpose, but due to a need that arose. Deeds are according to intentions, so he benefited from the deed of others.
▫️The seventeenth: Praying over the deceased and supplicating for him during the prayer is a benefit for the deceased through the prayer of the living for him, and it is the deed of others.
▫️The eighteenth: The Friday prayer is valid by the gathering of a prescribed number, and likewise the congregational prayer is enhanced by a larger number. This is some people benefiting from others.
▫️The nineteenth: Allah, the Exalted, said to His Prophet (pbuh): ("But Allah would not punish them while you are among them") (Surah Al-Anfāl: 33). And He said: ("If it were not for believing men and believing women") (Surah Al-Fatḥ: 25). And He said: ("And if Allah did not repel some people by means of others") (Surah Al-Baqarah: 251, Surah Al-Ḥajj: 40). Indeed, Allah has averted punishment from some people because of others, and this is benefiting from the deed of others.
▫️The twentieth: The Zakāt al-Fiṭr (Charity of Breaking the Fast) is obligatory on the young child and others whom a man supports. So, the one on whose behalf it is given benefits from it without any effort on his part.
▫️The twenty-first: Zakāt (obligatory alms) is due on the wealth of a child and an insane person, and reward is recorded for it without any effort on their part.
Whoever contemplates religious knowledge will find countless examples of a person benefiting from what he did not do.So how can it be permissible to interpret the noble verse contrary to the clear text of the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Ummah?
📑(1) Narrated by Al-Bukhārī (2289, 2295) from Salamah ibn Al-Akwa‘.
📑(2)Narrated by Aḥmad (3/5, 45, 64, 85), Al-Dārimī (1375), Abū Dāwūd (574), and Ibn Khuzaymah (1632) from Abū Sa‘īd Al-Khudrī.
🔖Jāmi‘ al-Masā‘il (5/203-206)