Salam
Those in the UK from an Indo-Pak background will be familiar with the Khatam al-Quran events where the family hosting at times have to “hire” the local Hafiz sahib or Imam to attend towards the end of the gathering so that the reward of the recital can be rewarded to the soul of the deceased. How prevalent the “hiring” of above mentioned figures is I do not know, but it is of concern to me that families seem totally unprepared regarding how to go through the “ritual” of donating reward of recitation. What should be clear is that it is something which in essence a very simple matter and does not require the service of experts to conduct the service.
With that in mind I was happy to find a number of texts authored by scholars of traditional Islam under the genre of Dua Khatam al-Quran, which consist of prayers both for the donation of recitation to a particular deceased person and generic comprehensive prayers regarding good in this world and the next. In the document below you will find the following:
1. Prayers relating to donating the recitation of the Quran to the deceased from the works of: Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Mulla and Shaykh Abdullah al-Khatib al-Jafari, both hailing from the city of al-Ahsa.
2. An inclusion of a few comprehensive prayers from the above mentioned texts which are not related to donating reward, but rather asking for goodness in this world and the next.
3. Inclusion of the Arabic text of the prayers which were available to me at the time of translation. It is clear that the Arabic text is need of revision and tidying up, InshAllah when this happens we will accordingly update the attached file.
4. This text can still be read for any donation of reward of recital, even if a complete Khatam al-Quran has not taken place. A very slight change in the wording at the beginning might be needed though.
5. The translation was undertaken in haste in order for recitation at a gathering of Khatam al-Quran in Ramadan. It is hoped that it will be reviewed in the near future inshAllah.
6. The Quranic verses at the beginning were included by the authors due to their immense virtue and have been included here. The prayers have been translated in to English, and readers have the option of just reading the translation of the prayers in gathering should they so wish.
7. Being that the time of the Khatam al-Quran is also a blessed time where supplications are accepted, readers might also wish to combine the prayer linked below with the text Beneficial Prayers of Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Mulla which can be found on this site.
It is hoped that the text linked to below (in red) will enable people to donate reward of recital to the deceased with ease and peace of mind, whether individually in private or in gatherings.
Wassalam