Asking God’s mercy, forgiveness and blessing for a deceased is encouraged by the Prophet. Indeed, he often visited the cemetery and made dua for them. Making dua for the dead ones is like giving them gifts. The analogy for asking forgiveness of God for the dead is that how a person whom we give gifts become happy and delighted similarly when we make dua for specific people who passed away they become so happy. Especially, if they are close relatives we should remember them in our duas more often. However, the question here is dua for none-Muslim relatives. There are different opinions on this issue. Some argue that it is not permissible for Muslims to make dua for none-Muslims even if they are their close relatives. My personal opinion is that today a lot of none-Muslims do not know Islam in real sense and it is not their fault, because usually Islam in the media is presented with bad images, thus, whenever they hear about Islam all negative things come to their minds. Moreover, contemporary Muslims do not represent Islam in a good way which none-Muslims can see the beauty of our religion. All these obstacles cause me to think that most of none-Muslims today are “ahli-fatrah” which means people who live in a time no Prophet sent to them. In other words, they are not warned by God through sending them revelation and messengers. Since they could be considered as ahli-fatrah it is permissible to make dua for them. It is up to God to accept our duas for them. But, as relatives we should make dua for them and ask God’s forgiveness, mercy and compassion for them.
