According to Islamic custom, the night belongs to the day that follows it

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

There is no report in the
Prophet’s Sunnah to suggest that there are specific surahs or verses or
adhkaar which, if the living recite them over the dead, they will have any
effect such as making the deceased steadfast when he is questioned in al-barzakh,
or that they will protect the deceased from the punishment of the grave.
That which benefits the deceased most at that time, of actions on the part
of the living, is their offering supplication (du‘aa’) for him and praying
for forgiveness for him.

There are a number of answers on
our website which highlight the weakness of all the reports that have been
narrated about the virtue of reciting Surah Yaa-Seen in particular. Some
people believe that this surah has a particular effect in making things
easier for the deceased in his grave, and they recite it over the grave
after the burial, even though there is no proven report to support that in
the Prophet’s Sunnah. Please see the following answers:
6460, 82800, 75894 and
72201

Secondly:

According to Arab custom and
Islamic teaching, the night belongs to the day that comes after it, not the
day that comes before it. There is a great deal of evidence to support that,
but the clearest evidence is what the people say on occasions of worship,
such as the following:

-1-

Sighting the new moon of
Ramadan, which indicates that the blessed month has begun. It may be noted
that this night is regarded as part of Ramadan and the people pray Taraweeh
on that night.

-2-

Sighting the new moon of Eid al-Fitr,
which indicates that Ramadan has ended and the month of Shawwaal has begun.
On that night the Muslims stop praying Taraweeh.

When an Islamic text mentions
the night of Friday, or the night of Eid, and so on, what is meant is the
night according to the Islamic custom mentioned above.

The same applies with regard to
Laylat al-Qadr. There is a saheeh hadeeth which clearly indicates that the
morning belongs to the night that comes before it. This is the hadeeth of
Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) according to which the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to
observe i‘tikaaf during the middle ten days of Ramadan. He observed i‘tikaaf
one year then, on the night of the twenty-first – which was the night on the
morning of which he would come out of his i‘tikaaf – he said: ‘Whoever was
observing i‘tikaaf with me, let him observe i‘tikaaf for the last ten days,
for I was shown this night (Laylat al-Qadr), then I was caused to forget it.
I saw myself prostrating in water and mud on the following morning (lit. on
its morning). So seek it in the last ten days, and seek it on every
odd-numbered night.” It rained that night, and the mosque was covered with
palm branches and the mosque leaked, and my own eyes saw the Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) with marks of water and mud
on his forehead on the morning of the twenty-first.

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (2027)
and Muslim (1167)

Think about the words “the night
on the morning of which he would come out” and “on the morning of the twenty
first”– this indicates that the morning belongs to the night that has just
passed.

Imam al-Qurtubi (may Allah have
mercy on him) said, in his commentary on the verse in which Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “And We appointed for
Moosa (Moses) thirty nights and added (to the period) ten (more), and he
completed the term, appointed by his Lord, of forty nights” [al-A ‘raaf
7:142]:

The verse also indicates that
the date starts with the night, not the day, because Allah, may He be
exalted, says “thirty nights”. That is because the night is the beginning of
the month. This is also how the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them)
spoke of days. It was narrated from them that they used to say: We fasted
five with the Messenger of Allah. But the non-Arabs did it differently and
based their counting on days, because their calendar was solar.

End quote from al-Jaami‘ li
Ahkaam al-Qur’an (7/267)

Thirdly:

Thus it is clear that if a
person dies at 1 a.m. on Saturday, then according to Islamic custom he died
on “the night of Saturday” and not on “Friday night.” So he is not included
in the marfoo‘ hadeeth of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr ibn ‘Aas, “There is no Muslim
who dies on the day of Friday or the night of Friday but Allah will protect
him from the trial of the grave.”

Narrated by at-Tirmidhi (1074);
classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Tirmidhi

However it should be noted that
there is a difference of opinion among the scholars of hadeeth as to whether
this hadeeth is saheeh or da‘eef. The majority are of the view that it is
da‘eef.

For more information on its
isnaad, please see the following link:

http://www.alukah.net/publications_Competitions/1008/38

And Allah knows best.