Title: Making Sadaqah e Jaariyah (Continuing Charity) for a Dead Question: A 21 years old brother has died about five or six months ago. His mother is asking now, can she make " Sadaqah Jariyah " (ceaseless charity) for him after his death?. And which money should she use for that purpose? The money of her dead son (which she gained as her share of inheritance of her son), or her own money, or his father's money, or brothers' money? Finally, What is the best " Sadaqah Jariyah " she can make? Jazak Allah khair, Answer: Before answering your specific question, I would request you to kindly take a look at one of my previous responses to a related question titled: " Can we Benefit the Dead with any Good Deeds? " . It is clear from the Qur'an as well as sayings ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh) that the accumulation of 'good' as well as 'bad' deeds of a person in his 'deed record' ceases at his death. A person shall be rewarded (as well as punished), in the hereafter, only for the deeds that he himself performed or intended to perform. Just as a person cannot be held responsible for the 'wrong' that was committed by someone else, he cannot be rewarded for the 'good' that was performed by someone else. Thus, after the death of a person, only such of his own deeds continue to bring him reward, the benefit of which continues for a longer time. For instance, if a person had constructed or installed a water stall for the thirsty, his reward shall be accumulated for as long as his action benefit the thirsty. Nevertheless, the important thing to note here is that the person rewarded is actually the person who installed the water stall. All that can be done for the benefit of a person after his death is to pray for the forgiveness of his mistakes. Prayer for the forgiveness of a brother is our request to the Almighty to deal mercifully with the mistakes of our brother. Such prayer and supplication is not only a desirable action on our part but is also one of the rights that our dead brother has upon us. In view of the above explanation, it is clear that after the death of the brother (referred to in your question), whatever his mother spends - whether out of her share of inheritance from the brother's wealth or out or her independently earned wealth - shall be recorded as a 'good' deed of the mother, the reward of which cannot be transferred to the dead brother. However, there is nothing wrong in requesting as many people as possible for praying for the forgiveness and salvation of a person. I would therefore suggest that the mother use a part of her money in something that can, in some way, benefit the needy (for instance, install a water stall in a hot dry place). She can then put something like the following inscription at the place: 'If this water stall has helped you in quenching your thirst, thank God for it and pray for my and my son's forgiveness'. I am sure that God will not turn down the prayer of a thankful heart. The decision regarding the best Sadaqah-e-jaariyah is related to one's social environment. In a place like Pakistan, for instance, where most of the people lack the availability of basic amenities, one may be tempted to spend all his charity in providing clean drinking water to the people. The case of developed countries would, obviously, be quite different. 19 th May 2000