Asma Bint Shameem
When someone dies, we’re encouraged to make *duaa* for them and seek Allaah’s forgiveness for them.
Once a person dies, he passes on to the realm of ‘al-Barakah’ which is the time period between death and the Day of Resurrection.
The life of al-Barzakh is part of the Unseen and we can only say anything regarding the Unseen that which has reached us through the Qur’aan and authentic Sunnah.
The basic default is that generally speaking, the dead cannot hear us.
Allaah says:
“Verily, you cannot make the dead to hear” [an-Naml 27:80].
And He said:
“Verily, Allaah makes whomever He wills to hear, but you cannot make hear those who are in graves.” (Surah al-Faatir:22)
However, there are ahaadeeth that mention the dead hearing.
For example, the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said: "When (Allah's) slave is put in his grave and his companions return and he even hears their footsteps, two angels come to him and make him sit and ask …" (al-Bukhaari, Muslim)
Also at the time of Badr when the Muslims had defeated the Kuffaar:
"When he halted at the edge of the well, he addressed the corpses of the Quraish infidels by their names and their fathers' names, "O so-and-so, son of so-and-so and O so-and-so, son of so-and-so! Would it have pleased you if you had obeyed Allah and His Apostle? We have found true what our Lord promised us. Have you too found true what your Lord promised you? "
Umar radhi Allaahu anhu was surprised that the Prophet ﷺ was talking to the dead.
So he said, "Yaa Rasool Allaah...You are speaking to bodies that have no souls!"
The Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said, "By Him in Whose Hand Muhammad's soul is, you do not hear, what I say better than they do" (al-Bukhaari, Muslim)
The scholars explain that these are “special circumstances” when Allaah allows the dead to hear only “some” of the times.
They might hear in a given situation and not hear in other situations.
And even during this time, their hearing is not like the way you and I hear in the dunya. But generally speaking, they don’t hear us nor are they able to respond to us or do anything about it.
Qutaadah said:
“Allaah brought them back to life so that they could hear what he was saying, so that they might be rebuked and feel regret and shame.”
(al-Bukhaari, 3976; Muslim, 2875)
(See Fath al-Baari, 7/304)
The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas said:
“The dead in general, including the Prophets Alaiyhimus-Salaam cannot hear those who call them in the sense of responding.
They cannot answer the one who calls upon them or comply with whatever he tells them or forbids them to do.
This is something that Allaah has stated does not happen, as He says: “Verily, you cannot make the dead to hear” [an-Naml 27:80].
With regard to what is mentioned in as-Saheehayn about the deceased when he is placed into his grave, and the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said:
“He can hear the sound of their sandals when they turn to leave him”; and what the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said to the slain mushrikeen on the day of Badr when they were dragged and thrown into the dried well of Badr, and he said to them:
“Have you found what your Lord promised you to be true?” and he said: “They can hear what I am saying now”; and like the deceased’s hearing the two angels when he is placed in his grave and they ask him about his religion and his Prophet etc; and other things that are narrated in the shar‘i texts, that is the hearing of al-barzakh, and Allah knows best what its real nature is.
The deceased cannot hear all the time; rather it is only at these particular times, and his hearing is not like his hearing in the life of this world; rather it is particular to the circumstances of al-barzakh, and no one knows how it really is except Allaah.
This hearing does not result in any benefit for the deceased or any harm for the living, because no one has power over that except Allaah, may He be glorified.
As for what is narrated about the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam saying: “No one sends greetings of salaam upon me but Allaah will restore to me my soul so that I may return his greeting of salaam,” that is something that is unique to him Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam and that does not result in the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam benefitting or harming the living person who does that, apart from the reward that Allaah, may He be glorified, bestows upon the one who sends blessings and peace upon the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam.
And one should not ask of him Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam when he is in his grave anything that was asked of him in this world of meeting needs and solving problems, because the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them) did not ask any such thing of him, because they knew that it is not permissible.“ [Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah, vol. 2 (2/456-457)].
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said:
“The deceased cannot hear if he is called upon or invoked in such a way as to respond to the one who calls upon him.
This is what is meant by the verse: “Verily, you cannot make the dead to hear” [an-Naml 27:80].”
(Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb)
Shaikh Salih al-Munajjid said:
“With regard to the hadeeth which describes the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam addressing the dead bodies of the mushrikeen on the day of the battle of Badr, it is to be understood that this was a UNIQUE case, where Allaah brought them back to life so that His Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam might rebuke them and humiliate them.
(a) It was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar radhi Allaahu anhumaa said:
“The Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam stood over the well of Badr [into which the bodies of the mushrikeen had been thrown] and said,
‘Have you found the promise of your Lord to be true?’
Then he said,
‘They can hear what I am saying now.’” (al-Bukhaari, 3980; Muslim, 932)
(b) It was narrated that Abu Talhah said: “ ‘Umar said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, why are you speaking to bodies that have no souls?’
The Messenger of Allaah Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam said:
‘By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, you do not hear what I am saying any better than they do.’”
Qutaadah said:
“Allaah brought them back to life so that they could hear what he was saying, so that they might be rebuked and feel regret and shame.”
(al-Bukhaari, 3976; Muslim, 2875. See Fath al-Baari, 7/304)
The relevant point here is that Allaah caused the people in the well to hear the words of His Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam so that they might be humiliated.
But it is not correct to deduce from this hadeeth that the dead can hear *everything*, because this applied only to the people in the well.”
(Islamqa Fatwa # 10547)
And Allaah knows best
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