Isal al-thawab by children

Question

What do the scholars of religion and the muftis of the firm Shari‘a say about the following matter? In our area, for isal al-thawab (gifting reward) to a deceased person, children are made to recite the Qur’an. After the Qur’an is completed, the teacher tells the children: “Give all your reward to us so that we may convey it to the deceased”, and he gives this argument: because they are not of age, children are not competent to make a hiba (gift), and isal al-thawab is nothing but a hiba.

Answer

If it is impermissible for minor children to gift [the reward] after reciting the Qur’an because it is a hiba (gift), then why did presenting it to the teachers not become a hiba, and how was that judged permissible? The dispositions of a minor are of three kinds: first, pure benefit; second, pure harm; third, those that waver between benefit and harm.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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