Gathering in the house of the deceased and offering a collective du’aa’ for him

Among
the fatwas issued by the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas is the
following:

We
do not know of any evidence (daleel) from either the Qur’aan or Sunnah
to indicate that it is prescribed to recite any soorah of the Qur’aan
in any place, or in the house of the deceased. We do not know of anyone
among the Sahaabah or Taabi’een or Taabi’ee al-Taabi’een [i.e., the
first three generations of Islam] from whom it is reported that he did
that. The basic principle is that this is not allowed, because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “Whoever does any action that is not in accordance
with this matter of ours [i.e., Islam], will have it rejected.” (Narrated
by Muslim, al-Aqdiyah, 3243). With regard to gathering and making
du’aa’ for him, du’aa’ is an act of worship, and acts of worship are
based on the principle of tawqeef [i.e., to be based solely on the saheeh
texts, with no room for adding or taking away anything]. It is not reported
that the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) made du’aa’ with his companions for any deceased
person after he had completed the (funeral) prayer. It was reported
that he used to stand by the grave after the ground had been levelled
over its occupant and say, “Pray for forgiveness for your brother, for
he is being questioned now.” From the above we know that the correct
thing is not to offer a collective du’aa’ after offering the funeral
prayer, and that this is bid’ah.

Fataawa
al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 9/16

So
pray for your deceased each one of you individually. It is OK to make
du’aa’ for him during salaah and at other times, at the times when du’aa’s
are answered, such as the last third of the night, the last hour of
‘Asr, Fridays, between the adhaan and ‘iqaamah, etc. You should be sincere
in your du’aa’. When the du’aa’ is only between you and Allaah, you
will feel more khushoo’ and will feel more sincere than when
you make du’aa’ simply to please others, as when people recite du’aa’
collectively to please the family of the deceased. May Allaah help us
and you to do all that is good.