All praise is due only to Allaah. We laud Him and beseech His

Mas`alah
If the parents are Muslim, then it is obvious that one may make 
dua for mercy upon them, but if they are kaafir, then such a dua 
may be made whilst they are alive with this intention that 
Allaah Ta`ala make their worldly life peaceful and comfortable 
and also that Allaah Ta`ala grant them hidaayah to accept 
Islaam. However, when they have passed away (as kaafir) then 
it is not permissible to make dua for mercy for them. 
A wonderful anecdote
Qurtubi relates a narration from Hadhrat Jaabir bin Abdillah 
(radhiallahu anhu) that a man came to Nabi (sallallahu alayhi 
wasallam) and claimed that his father had taken his wealth. 
Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) told him to go and fetch his 
father. In the meanwhile, Hadhrat Jibraeel (alaihis salaam) 
descended and informed Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) to 
ask the father when he comes, what the words are that he keeps 
in his bosom, which his own ears have not hard. When the man 
arrived with his father, Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) asked 
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the father what the problem was regarding the complaint laid 
by his son. The father told Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) to 
ask his son whether he spends that wealth on anyone else 
beside himself and his sister (the complainant’s paternal aunt). 
Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) then said, 
Eeh
(implying that he now understood everything). Nabi (sallallahu 
alayhi wasallam) then asked the father, 
“Tell me what those 
words are which you keep in your heart that even your ears 
have not heard?”
The man exclaimed, 
“O Rasulullah 
(sallallahu alayhi wasallam)! In every matter, Allaah Ta`ala 
causes our Imaan and faith to increase in you.”
(Implying that 
since no one had heard these words of his, it is clearly a miracle 
of Nabi (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) that he knows thereof). 
The man then said that there were some couplets which he 
recites in his mind, that he has never uttered loudly. Nabi 
(sallallahu alayhi wasallam) asked him to recite them, and he 
began, 
I had fed you when you were young, and even saw to your well 
being when you were a youth, all your eating and drinking was 
through my earnings. 
When on any occasion you were ill, then I would remain awake 
the entire night restless, 
It was as though your illness had afflicted me and not you, 
which resulted in me crying the entire night, 
My heart feared your destruction, whereas I was aware that 
death only comes at its appointed time, neither sooner nor 
later, 
And then when you had reached the age when I began having 
hopes and aspirations (on you), 
Then you had rewarded and recompensed me with stern and 
curt speech, as though you are showering me with favours and 
bounties, 
Alas! If you cannot fulfil the rights due on me as your father, 
then the least is that you treat me as an honourable neighbour, 

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The at least you would have fulfilled the rights of a neighbour 
on me, and you would not have been miserly on me with my 
own wealth.
Upon listening to these couplets, Nabi (sallallahu alayhi 
wasallam) took hold of the son’s collar and exclaimed, 
“You 
and your wealth belong to your father.”
[Tafseer Qurtubi, page 
246, vol.10 / Ma`ariful Qur`aan, vol. 5, page 468]