Can a Muslim devote his Prayer (Sunnah) to his father, mother, etc., who is already dead. Is it permissible or it is Bid'aa? Please explain with Daleel.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

The scholars have differed regarding the ruling of offering the reward of the prayer for the dead and whether or not the reward reaches them. Some of them are of the view that the reward reaches them; however, the Shaafi'ee and Maaliki Schools are of the opinion that it does not reach them. Their evidence is the saying of Allaah (interpretation of meaning): {And that there is not for man except that [good] for which he strives.}[53:39], and the saying of the Prophet who said: "When the son of Aadam dies, all his good deeds cease except for three: charity with a continuous effect, beneficial knowledge, and a righteous son who prays for him." [Muslim]. They argued that the only deeds that reach the dead are those which are mentioned in a text, like the three deeds that are mentioned in the above narration, and fasting which is mentioned in the narration reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim and narrated by Ibn ‘Abbaas and pilgrimage and alms. All of these acts are reported in authentic narrations. But there is no text (in the Qur'aan or narration of the Prophet) about praying and intending the reward for the dead and it does not reach them. We advise the questioner to supplicate as much as possible for his parents and to give charity on their behalf, and perform Hajj on their behalf, if he can, after performing his own obligatory Hajj, as there is a great good in it. Still, our preponderant opinion is that the reward of any act of worship can reach the dead whatever its kind because whoever does an act of worship fulfilling the conditions of its validity, correctness and acceptance, gets its reward, and whoever gets the reward, it is permissible for him to offer it as a gift as long as there are no objections, such as the person for whom the reward is offered had become a non-Muslim, or the act of worship is an obligation on the donor himself.

Allaah knows best.