The Faculty of hearing of the Dead
Taken from Mysteries of the Soul Expounded by Abu
Bilal Mustafah al-Kanadi
www.ahlalhdeeth.com
One often wonders about the soul's faculties in the
barzakh (the stage between death and the
Resurrection). Can it hear? Can it see? Does it have
knowledge of certain things going on in the world? In
order to answer these and other questions, one must
carefully scrutinize the quality of the evidence
presented in support of certain claims made by
scholars in this field.
THE DECEASED'S FACULTY OF HEARING
It is a common concept among some scholars[1] and
others that the dead in their graves have the ability
of hearing a visitor's greeting, his supplication,
talk, etc.. Such a concept is unfounded, for it has no
proof from clear texts of the divine shari'ah. In
fact, it is in open contradiction to the
unchallengeable texts of the Quran and the authentic
traditions of the Prophet (saws) which deny the
possibility of the dead possessing this faculty.
PROOF FROM THE QUR'AN AND THE SUNNAH NEGATING IT
There are two unequivocal texts from the Qur'an which
deny the possibility of the dead in their graves
possessing the faculty of hearing. Allah, the Blessed
and Exalted, states :
"Verily you cannot make the dead hear and you can not
make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs
and retreat." [Surah an-Naml 27:80]
"The living and the dead are not alike. Allah makes
whoever he wishes hear, but you cannot make those in
the graves hear." [Surah Fatir 35:22]
In the first verse Allah addresses His messenger,
Muhamad (saws), reminding him that he cannot make the
disbelievers hear the invitation to Islam, for they
are like the dead, who do not hear either. In the
second verse Allah points to the difference between
the living and the dead - they are not all alike. He
further clarifies to His prophet that he cannot make
the rejectors of faith hear the message (for they are
dead in heart and in spirit) any more than he can make
those in the graves hear what is spoken to them![2]
Just as the Qur'an denies the possibility of the
deceased possessing the faculty of hearing, there are
a number of texts in the sunnah which arrive at the
same conclusion. One such hadith follows:
Ibn Mas'ud reported that the Prophet (saws) said:
"Allah has angels who travel about the earth; they [do
and will] convey to me the peace greeting from my
ummah." [Authentically reported by Abu Dawud]
This hadith clarifies that the Prophet (saws) does not
hear the greetings of peace from Muslims when they
pronounce it upon him, for if he could hear it
directly, there would be no need of angels to convey
it to him. Therefore, it follows that the Prophet
(saws) cannot hear other forms of conversation
directed to him either;[3] and it stands even more to
reason that the deceased, being lesser than the
Prophet (saws), also cannot hear the salam (greeting
of peace) or any other form of speech.[4] Thus
contrary to a popular misconception, because the
Messenger (saws) cannot directly hear either one's
invocation of blessings[5] or one's salam addressed to
him, such greetings may be conveyed to him from
anywhere, regardless of the distance or proximity of
the greeter to the Prophet's grave. The erroneous
belief that the Prophet (saws) hears these greetings
directly disregards the previous hadith whcih
specifies that the greetings are conveyed to him by
the angels, and it is based on a forged tradition
whose text follows:
It has been narrated that the Prophet (saws) said:
"Whoever asks blessings for me at my grave, I hear
him, and whoever asks blessings upon me from afar, it
is conveyed to me." [This tradition was mentioned by
al-'Uqayli in his book, adh-Dhu'afa and by al-Khateeb,
Ibn 'Asakir, et. al., and they all agreed that it is a
forged (mawdhu') hadith. See al-Albani's al-Ahadith
adh-Dha'eefah, vol.1, hadith no.203]
ALLEGED EVIDENCE AND ITS REFUTATION
In order to refute the allegations which claim that
the deceased in the grave possess the faculty of
hearing, it is essential to analyze them and discover
the means by which such allegations are dependent upon
weak and forged traditions and/or due to erroneous
interpretattions of various texts.
There are a number of authentic narrations relating
the Prophet's address to the corpses of the mushrikeen
(polytheists) of Quraysh who were slain by the
believers in the Battle of Badr and then thrown into a
dried well. The following two examples suffice for the
purpose of the present discussion:
Abu Talhah reported: "On the day of the Battle of
Badr, Allah's Prophet (saws) ordered that the bodies
of twenty-four leaders of the Quraysh be thrown into
one of the foul, abandoned wells of Badr. On the third
day after the battle the Prophet called for his mount
and saddled it. Then he set out, so his companions
followed him. They said amongst themselves, "He must
be going to something important." When the Prophet
(saws) arrived at the well[6], he stood at its edge
and began addressing those therein by calling upon
them by their names, "O so and so, son of so and so;
and you, so and so, son of so and so! Would it not
have been easier to have obeyed Allah and His
Messenger? We have found that which our Lord promised
us to be true[7]. Did you find what your Lord promosed
you to be true?[8] Thereupon 'Umar said, "O Messenger
of Allah, what are you saying to these bodies without
souls?! Do they hear? For Allah, the Majestic and
Mighty, says, "Verily, you cannot make the dead
hear."[Surah an-Naml 27:80] The Prophet (saws)
answered, "By Him in whose hand lies the soul of
Muhammad, you did
not hear better than them and what i just said."
Qatadah[9] added: "Allah brought them back[10] to life
(momentarily) in order to make them hear as a means of
scorn and belittlement and [so that they would feel]
regret and remorse." [Authentically related by
al-Bukhari and Muslim]
In another narration of this incident there is a
slight variation in the wording of the text which
follows:
"Ibn 'Umar related: "The Prophet (saws) stood at the
edge of a well[11] at Badr and said, "Did you find the
promise of your Lord to be true?" Then he added,
"Verily at this moment they hear what I am saying."
Later on[12], this was mentioned to 'A'ishah[13],
whereupon she commented, "What the Prophet (saws)
meant was, "Now they know that what I used to tell
them is the truth." Then she recited, "Verily you
cannot make the dead hear,"[Surah an-Naml 27:80] up to
the end of the verse."[Related authentically by
al-Bukhari and others]
Some often misconstrue the texts of the two
aforementioned hadiths as proof for the contention
that the dead can hear. However, the following
argumentation refutes such a claim. This miraculous
circumstance in which the corpses of the slain Quraysh
were made to hear the Prophet's address to them is a
special case - an exception to the general rule that
the dead do not hear.[14] By a miracle, Allah, the
Almighty, made them hear the scolding from the Prophet
(saws) - only for the moment he spoke to them![15]
This is clearly proven by the second narration itself,
for their hearing was said to be conditioned by the
moment when the Prophet (saws) called out to them in
scorn and rebuke. He said, "At this moment they hear
what I am saying." Furthermore, in the first narration
the Prophet (saws) does not
deny 'Umar's sound understanding of the verse's
general ruling that the does do not hear. Rather, the
Prophet (saws) merely clarifies for 'Umar that what
occurred at Badr was a divine miracle and, therefore,
an exception to the general ruling of the verse.[16]
Another text often quoted by those who believe that
the dead can hear is the following tradition:
Anas bin Malik reported that Allah's Messenger (saws)
said: "After the deceased is placed in his grave and
his companions[17] turn to leave, he hears the
shuffling of their feet as they walk away. Then there
comes to him the two angels."[Part of an authentic
hadith related by al-Bukhari and Muslim]
This text is not valid evidence for the general claim
that the dead can hear; rather, this tradition only
specifies another exception to the general rule. In
this case, the deceased hears the shuffling feet of
those who attended his funeral as they walk away. This
is a momentary possession of the faculty of hearing
which is terminated at the point at which the two
questioning angels[18] come to him[19].
>From what has preceded, it is abundantly clear that
the deceased generally do not have the faculty of
hearing, for they are beyond the barrier (barzakh)
which separates our world from theirs. This proves the
gross error in the thinking of those who attempt to
carry on "conversations" with the dead, or worse,
petition them for certain things. Petitioning the dead
is shirk, and this is indeed the greatest of all sins.
FOOTNOTES :
(1) Among those who erred in this matter are Ibn
Abi-Dunya, Ibn 'Abdul-Barr, al-Qurtubi, Ibn al-Qayyim
and ash-Shanqeeti.
(2) See Tafseer at-Tabari, vol.21, p.36 and
al-Qurtubi's al-Jami, vol.13, p.232
(3) Thus it is absolutely foolish for one to attempt
to converse with the Prophet (saws) or others at their
graves. To ask them for any form of help is blatant
shirk. Such is the misguidance spread by Sufis, who
have gone astray.
(4) See al-Ayat al-Bayyinat of al-Alusi, p.37,
Published by al-Maktabah al-Islamee [1982]
(5) In Islam, it is encouraged to invoke blessings
upon the Prophet (saws) and this commonly follows the
mention of his name in one form or another.
(6) Into which the bodies of the slain Quraysh had
been thrown earlier.
(7) That is, that the believers would have victory
over their enemy, the Quraysh. See al-Qurtubi's
tafseer, al-Jami'u li Ahkam al-Qur'an, vol.7, p.370
regarding the information about Surah al-Anfal,
8:7-10.
(8) This is a reference to the Quraysh's supplication
asking their Lord to bring a painful punishment upon
them if what Muhammad (saws) was preaching was the
truth. See Surah al-Anfal, 8:32.
(9) A famouse tabi'ee and a narrator of this hadith
(10) The slain Quraysh who bodies were in the
abandoned well.
(11) The same well mentioned earlier into which the
bodies of the slain Quraysh were thrown.
(12) Most likely after the Prophet's death.
(13) The beloved wife of the Prophet.
(14) See al-Alusi's Ruh al-Ma'ani, vol.6 p.455
(15) This is confirmed by many of the dependable
commentators and jurists. For example, see al-ayat
al-Bayyinat, pp.29, 56 and 59.
(16) See al-Ayat al-Bayyinat, pp.30-31
(17) His friends and others who attended his burial.
(18) There names are Munkar and Nakeer, and their
fearful appearance has been described earlier in this
treatise.
(19) See al-Ayat al-bayyinat, pp.38 and 56.
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