Please contribute generously in order to ensure the continuity of our website InshaAllah.
There is something that has become very common on social media, which is: a man records a video himself, and says: To whoever watches this video, I ask Allah to forgive you and to help you attain all that you want. And that may be in some virtuous place or at some virtuous time, in which case he says: I ask Allah in these last ten days (of Ramadan). Or he films himself in front of the Ka‘bah and says: I ask Allah in this blessed place. My question is: will this supplication benefit everyone who watches the video? What is the ruling on doing this? There is a similar thing that they do, which is that they give a large amount of money in charity, and say: This is charity on behalf of everyone who forwards this video, then it spreads like wildfire. The aim may be to promote or advertise a charitable organisation.
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
There is nothing wrong with offering supplication for others, even if it is on condition that they do something, such as saying: O Allah, forgive whoever watches this video, and the like. In the Sunnah there are examples of offering supplication for those who do a certain action, such as when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “May Allah make radiant the face of a man who hears something from us and conveys it as he heard it, for perhaps the one to whom it is conveyed may understand it better than the one who heard it directly.” Narrated by at-Tirmidhi (2657), Abu Dawud (3660) and Ibn Majah (230). Al-Albani classed it as sahih in Sahih at-Tirmidhi.
Al-Bukhari (2076) narrated from Jabir ibn ‘Abdillah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “May Allah have mercy on a man who is easy going when he sells and when he buys and when he asks for a debt to be paid to him.”
Ahmad (7410), Abu Dawud (1308), an-Nasa’i (1610) and Ibn Majah (1336) narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “May Allah have mercy on a man who gets up at night and prays, and wakes up his wife, and if she refuses, he sprinkles water on her face. May Allah have mercy on a woman who gets up at night and prays, and wakes up her husband, and if he refuses, she sprinkles water on his face.” Al-Albani classed it as sahih in Sahih Abi Dawud.
There is nothing wrong with offering supplication for everyone who watches the video, for example, and if Allah answers the supplication, it will reach them all.
Secondly:
There is nothing wrong with sharing the reward of charity with others, whether that is without qualification, such as saying, “This is charity on behalf of all the Muslims,” or it is subject to a condition, such as forwarding the video, for example.
Al-Bahuti said in Kashshaf al-Qina‘ (2/147): Regarding every righteous deed that a Muslim does, if he dedicates its reward, or some of it – such as one half or the like, or one third, or one quarter – to another Muslim, alive or dead, that is permissible and it will benefit the other person, because the reward will reach him.
Concerning any voluntary righteous deed or obligatory deed that one may appoint someone else to do on one’s behalf, such as Hajj and the like, or fasting in fulfilment of a vow, or that cannot be done on behalf of someone else, such as prayer, supplication, seeking forgiveness, giving charity, freeing slaves, offering sacrifices (udhiyah), paying off debts, fasting, reading Qur’an, and so on, Ahmad said: All good may reach the deceased, because of the religious texts which speak of that. End quote.
Ibn ‘Aabideen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: In at-Tatarkhaniyyah, quoting from al-Muhit, it says: The best for the one who gives supererogatory charity is to intend that it be on behalf of all believing men and women, because it will reach them without anything being detracted from his reward. End quote from Hashiyat Ibn ‘Abidin (2/357).
Shaykh Ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: I want to give charity on behalf of my parents, who are deceased, no matter what kind of charity it is, such as building a mosque or a religious academy for teaching Qur’an, or other similar kinds of charity. Is it permissible to include them both in one project, or do I have to do a separate project for each of them?
He replied: There is nothing wrong with including them both in one project, and including yourself also with them. You can include yourself with them or whoever else among your relatives you want to include. Praise be to Allah, the matter is broad in scope and the bounty of Allah is immense. So there is no reason why the project should not be behalf of your father or your mother, or both of them together, or for yourself along with them. It is all good."(Fatawa Nur ‘ala ad-Darb 14/302).
And Allah knows best.