What is the ruling on reciting the Quran for the deceased, and does "knowledge from which benefit is derived" in the Hadith refer to printing and distributing religious books and tapes on behalf of the deceased?

Scholars have reached a consensus that the benefit of charity and supplication reaches the deceased, and only innovators have dissented from this.

Scholars have differed regarding the reaching of the reward of other voluntary acts, such as fasting and reciting the Qur'an, to the deceased. Ahmad, Abu Hanifa, and some Shafi'is held that it does reach them, while Malik and Al-Shafi'i held that it does not.

Those who maintained that it does not reach the deceased cited the verse: "And that man will not have but what he strove for," and the hadith: "When the son of Adam dies, his deeds cease except for three." The first group responded that the verse means that a person owns only his own endeavor, but it is permissible for him to gift the reward of his deed to others. They also explained that the hadith specifically refers to the deeds of the son of Adam and does not preclude benefiting from the deeds of others.

The correct view is that the reward of reciting the Qur'an reaches the deceased. Some Shafi'is hold that if the recitation is followed by a supplication dedicating its reward to the deceased, then this is permissible.

The knowledge from which the deceased benefits is the beneficial knowledge he left behind. Printing books and tapes falls under ongoing charity (sadaqah jariyah), and its reward reaches the one for whom it is intended.

The scrutinizing scholars are of the opinion that whoever performs a deed and fulfills the conditions of acceptance may gift its reward to whomever he wishes, as long as the recipient is not a disbeliever.

Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen held the view that it is permissible to dedicate the reward of recitation to the deceased and that it reaches them. However, he forbade gathering at graves and reciting over them, and he also forbade using phrases that became common among some innovators, such as "Al-Fatihah for the soul of so-and-so."