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

                My father died two days ago, may Allah have mercy on him. I want to know which are the surahs concerning which it is narrated that they will benefit the deceased in his grave and protect him from punishment. He died at 1 o’clock on Saturday morning. Is this regarded as Friday night, i.e., before dawn, because the period before dawn is called “the last third of the night”? Or is Friday night the end of Thursday? This matter also always confuses me with regard to Laylat al-Qadr in Ramadan. Every year I get confused: is Laylat al-Qadr the night after its signs appear in the morning? The hadeeth mentions the signs of Laylat al-Qadr and speaks of its morning – does its morning mean after Laylat al-Qadr has ended and morning comes with these signs so that we know that Laylat al-Qadr has ended, or is it a signal that that night is today, and that its morning is before Laylat al-Qadr?
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.