The Prophet (S) said that on the route to the battle field...

The Prophet (S) said that on the route to the battle field he had seen that the soldiers were thirsty and there was a dire need of water. The Prophet suggested that the best charity was to dig a well on the road so that caravans would benefit from the supply of water and it would also be a continuous form of charity for years to come. That was what Saad did. [^5] The fast reaching charity! Sayyid Husayn Muddarrisi relates that one of his female relatives had seen his dead father in a dream.

His father’s face was illuminating with light and beside him was a woman who was folding beautiful and smart clothes the likes of which she had never seen in this world before. When asked where the clothes had come from, the woman replied that they were for his father and that they had been sent by his sons for him. This woman who had seen the dream asked all his dead father’s relatives whether they had done any special good deeds for their father.

One of the Sayyid’s brothers was taken back and admitted that he had prepared for some clothes to be given to orphans but he had not actually distributed them. The Sayyid was so surprised to know that a deed had been rewarded when only a decision was made on his part and the charitable act had not taken place yet. So this proves that any charitable act done for the dead reaches them immediately, as soon as you make the intention. [^6] Respect the charity!

One great scholar Allama Muhammad Husayn Al Husayni At-Tehrani says that when we do an act of charity or a good deed for the dead, it should be with respect. He relates a real life event as told to him by another great scholar of Islam Agha Buzurgh ATahraani who said that when he was small he lived with his family in Tehran. It was a few days after the death of his grandmother and he was with his mother in the kitchen while his mother was cooking some food.

A beggar knocked on the door and Agha Buzurg decided to give the beggar some food as an act of charity on behalf of his grandmother so that she would get a reward. Well, because he didn’t find a suitable vessel in which he could put the food he quickly grabbed a cup which they used in the bathroom and put the food in it and gave it to the beggar.

That night his father dreamt a strange dream and woke up in the middle of the night and related to his mother that he had seen his mother and she was annoyed, because she had received some charity in a bath cup and her friends had all made jokes of this.