Giving the reward for acts of worship to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)

The correct view is that giving the reward for acts of worship to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is an innovation (bid’ah). The evidence for that is as follows: 

1 – There is no need for this giving, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) will have the equivalent of the reward of his ummah, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest. It is proven in al-Saheeh that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward like that of those who follow him, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest.” Narrated by Muslim, 2674). And he said: “Whoever sets a good precedent in Islam which is followed after he is gone, will have a reward like those who acted upon it, without it detracting from their reward in the slightest.” Narrated by Muslim, 1017. 

He (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) showed all the ways of guidance to his ummah, so for a person to give the reward for his deed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is redundant, in fact the one who does this is losing out on the reward for himself without it benefiting anyone else. He loses the reward for his deed, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) has an equivalent reward without him having to give it. 

2 – The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not prescribe this for his ummah. Rather he said: “Whoever does an action that is not in accordance with this matter of ours will have it rejected.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2697; Muslim, 1718 – this version narrated by Muslim. 

3 – The salaf – including the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the rest of the Sahaabah and Taabi’een – did not do that, and they knew best what is good and were more keen to follow it. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I urge you to adhere to my Sunnah and the way of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. Adhere to it and cling firmly to it. And beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation (bid’ah) and every innovation is a going astray.” Narrated by Abu Dawood, 4607; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

See the essay, Ihda’ al-Thawaab li’l-Nabi (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him). 

Ibn al-‘Ata’, the student of al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on them both) was asked: Is it permissible to read Qur’aan and give the reward to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and is there any report concerning that? 

He replied: 

Reading the Holy Qur’aan is one of the best acts of worship, but with regard to giving it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), no reliable report has been narrated concerning that. Rather that should not be done, because it is an action that is not prescribed. Moreover the reward for reading will reach him anyway, and all the good deeds of his ummah will be weighed in his balance. End quote. 

Al-Sakhaawi narrated from his Shaykh, al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him), that he was asked about one who read some Qur’aan and said in his du’aa’: O Allaah, add the reward for what I have read to the honour of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). 

He replied: 

This is something that has been invented by later generations. I do not know of any precedent for that. End quote from Mawaahib al-Jaleel, 2/544, 454. 

Moreover there is a difference of scholarly opinion with regard to reading Qur’aan and giving the reward to the dead. See questions no. 70317 and 46698. But even if it is said that that is permissible, it is not permissible to give it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), because all that is achieved by that is depriving the one who did it of the reward, without it benefiting anyone else. 

And Allaah knows best.