Speaking to the Dead
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Fatwa No. ( 5965 ):
Q: I have read in some of the books of the Shaykh al-Islam regarding speaking to the dead , where it is mentioned that this is done by Shaytan, who comes out of the grave and speaks to the one who visits it, and so on. Is the story of Mutharraf mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim of this type? And what is the dividing line between speaking to the dead, whether it is from Shaytan or not?
A: The nearness of the souls of the dead to their graves on Friday or its night, and their knowledge of who visited them or passed by them and greeted them, is greater than their knowledge of them on days other than Friday or its night. The meeting of the living and the dead on that day, all of this is among the matters of the unseen (ghayb) which Allah has kept knowledge of to Himself, so it is not known except by revelation from Allah to one of His prophets. As far as we know, no hadith has been established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding this, and dreams are not sufficient for knowing this, for they err and they hit the mark. Therefore, to assert this and rely on it is conjecture about the unseen. Second: What you read in the book [Zad al-Ma'ad] by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) on this topic is based on what Abu Bakr Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ubayd ibn Abi al-Dunya narrated in his book [Al-Qubur] - Chapter on the knowledge of the dead regarding the visits of the living - from unauthentic hadiths, athar, and dreams. The following is a mention of that with its critique. Ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Muhammad ibn Unayn narrated to us,
Yahya ibn Yaman narrated to us, Abdullah ibn Suman from Zayd ibn Aslam from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . In its chain is Yahya ibn Yaman , and Ibn Hajar said in [Al-Taqrib]: ( Yahya ibn Yaman al-'Ajili al-Kufi is truthful, a worshipper, makes many mistakes, and has deteriorated). Also in its chain is Abdullah ibn Ziyad ibn Sulayman ibn Suman al-Makhzumi al-Madani , and Ibn Hajar said in [Al-Taqrib]: (He is abandoned; Abu Dawud and others accused him of lying). And Ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Muhammad ibn Qudamah al-Jawhari narrated to us, Ma'n ibn Isa al-Qazzaz informed us, Hisham ibn Sa'd narrated to us, Zayd ibn Aslam from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: . In its chain is Muhammad ibn Qudamah al-Jawhari al-Ansari Abu Ja'far al-Baghdadi , and Ibn Hajar said in [Al-Taqrib]: (He has weakness), and also in its chain is Hisham ibn Sa'd al-Madani Abu 'Abbad or Abu Sa'd al-Qurashi , and Yahya ibn Ma'in and al-Nasa'i weakened him, and Harb said: Ahmad was not pleased with him, and Ibn 'Abd al-Barr mentioned him in the chapter on those who are attributed to weakness among those whose hadith is written down, and Ibn Sa'd said: He was a lot of hadith, was considered weak, and was a Shi'i, and Ibn Hajar
said in [Al-Taqrib]: He is truthful but has errors, and was accused of Shi'ism. And Ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Muhammad ibn al-Husayn narrated to us, Yahya ibn Bustam al-Asghar narrated to me, Mas'ud, narrated to me a man from the family of 'Asim al-Juhdri who said: (I saw 'Asim al-Juhdri in my dream two years after his death, so I said: Have you not died? He said: Yes. I said: Where are you? He said: I am, by Allah, in a garden of the gardens of Paradise, I and a group of my companions. We gather every Friday night and its morning with Bakr ibn Abdullah al-Muzani to receive news of you. He said: I said: Are your bodies or your souls? He said: Far from that, the bodies have perished, and only the souls meet. He said: I said: Do you know about our visiting you? He said: Yes, we know about it on the evening of Friday, all of Friday, and the night of Saturday until the sun rises. He said: I said: How is that and not all the days? He said: Because of the virtue and greatness of Friday). In its chain is an ambiguous man, and in its chain is Yahya ibn Bustam , and Ibn Hajar said in [Lisan al-Mizan]: Abu Hatim said: He is truthful, and Ibn Hibban said: It is not permissible to narrate from him; because he is a caller to the doctrine of Qadar; and because there are anomalies in his narrations, and al-'Uqayli mentioned him in [Al-Du'afa], and Abu Dawud said: They abandoned his hadith. Ma'mar ibn Sulayman said to him: Are you a Qadari? He said: Yes. Even if this were authentic in its chain, it would not be a valid basis; because it is a dream from one who is not infallible, so it does not constitute a proof.
And Ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Khalid ibn Khudash narrated to us, Ja'far ibn Sulayman from Abu al-Tayyakh who said: Mutharraf used to go out early, and when it was Friday he would set out very early. He said: And I heard Abu al-Tayyakh say: It reached us that light would shine in his whip. So he came one night until he was at the graves of the people, and he was on his horse, and he saw the people of the graves, every owner of a grave sitting on his grave, and they said: This is Mutharraf coming for Friday. I said: Do you know Friday with you? They said: Yes, and we know what the birds say. I said: What do they say? They said: They say: Peace, peace. Khalid ibn Khudash is Abu al-Haytham al-Muhabbi and their freedman from Basra, and Ibn Hajar said about him in [Al-Taqrib]: He is truthful but makes mistakes. Then this narration is a dream, so it does not constitute a proof that contradicts the established principle and the cosmic law of Allah which is established that the dead do not speak to the living and that the living do not hear the speech of the dead except as a miracle for a prophet from the prophets (peace and blessings be upon them). Likewise, they do not come out of their graves except on the Day of Resurrection, as He the Exalted said:[Al-Mu'minun 23:15-16] . As for returning the greeting, a weak hadith has been reported regarding it, and the Shaykh Ibn 'Abd al-Hadi mentioned it in [Al-Sarim al-Manki]. And even if we assumed the truth of the dream, it would not indicate
the correctness of what Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in what was previously quoted from him; because it is a report from one who is not infallible about an unknown matter. And success is from Allah. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: I have read in some of the books of the Shaykh al-Islam regarding speaking to the dead , where it is mentioned that this is done by Shaytan, who comes out of the grave and speaks to the one who visits it, and so on. Is the story of Mutharraf mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim of this type? And what is the dividing line between speaking to the dead, whether it is from Shaytan or not?
A: The nearness of the souls of the dead to their graves on Friday or its night, and their knowledge of who visited them or passed by them and greeted them, is greater than their knowledge of them on days other than Friday or its night. The meeting of the living and the dead on that day, all of this is among the matters of the unseen (ghayb) which Allah has kept knowledge of to Himself, so it is not known except by revelation from Allah to one of His prophets. As far as we know, no hadith has been established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding this, and dreams are not sufficient for knowing this, for they err and they hit the mark. Therefore, to assert this and rely on it is conjecture about the unseen. Second: What you read in the book [Zad al-Ma'ad] by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) on this topic is based on what Abu Bakr Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ubayd ibn Abi al-Dunya narrated in his book [Al-Qubur] - Chapter on the knowledge of the dead regarding the visits of the living - from unauthentic hadiths, athar, and dreams. The following is a mention of that with its critique. Ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Muhammad ibn Unayn narrated to us,
Yahya ibn Yaman narrated to us, Abdullah ibn Suman from Zayd ibn Aslam from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
There is no man who visits the grave of his brother and sits with him but that he finds comfort in him and he returns the greeting to him until he stands up.
ما من رجل يزور قبر أخيه ويجلس عنده إلاَّ استأنس به ورد عليه حتى يقومWhen a man passes by the grave of his brother and recognizes it, he greets him and he returns the greeting to him and recognizes him. And when he passes by a grave he does not recognize and greets it, it returns the greeting to him.
إذا مر الرجل بقبر أخيه يعرفه فسلم عليه رد عليه السلام وعرفه، وإذا مر بقبر لا يعرفه فسلم عليه رد عليه السلامsaid in [Al-Taqrib]: He is truthful but has errors, and was accused of Shi'ism. And Ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Muhammad ibn al-Husayn narrated to us, Yahya ibn Bustam al-Asghar narrated to me, Mas'ud, narrated to me a man from the family of 'Asim al-Juhdri who said: (I saw 'Asim al-Juhdri in my dream two years after his death, so I said: Have you not died? He said: Yes. I said: Where are you? He said: I am, by Allah, in a garden of the gardens of Paradise, I and a group of my companions. We gather every Friday night and its morning with Bakr ibn Abdullah al-Muzani to receive news of you. He said: I said: Are your bodies or your souls? He said: Far from that, the bodies have perished, and only the souls meet. He said: I said: Do you know about our visiting you? He said: Yes, we know about it on the evening of Friday, all of Friday, and the night of Saturday until the sun rises. He said: I said: How is that and not all the days? He said: Because of the virtue and greatness of Friday). In its chain is an ambiguous man, and in its chain is Yahya ibn Bustam , and Ibn Hajar said in [Lisan al-Mizan]: Abu Hatim said: He is truthful, and Ibn Hibban said: It is not permissible to narrate from him; because he is a caller to the doctrine of Qadar; and because there are anomalies in his narrations, and al-'Uqayli mentioned him in [Al-Du'afa], and Abu Dawud said: They abandoned his hadith. Ma'mar ibn Sulayman said to him: Are you a Qadari? He said: Yes. Even if this were authentic in its chain, it would not be a valid basis; because it is a dream from one who is not infallible, so it does not constitute a proof.
And Ibn Abi al-Dunya said: Khalid ibn Khudash narrated to us, Ja'far ibn Sulayman from Abu al-Tayyakh who said: Mutharraf used to go out early, and when it was Friday he would set out very early. He said: And I heard Abu al-Tayyakh say: It reached us that light would shine in his whip. So he came one night until he was at the graves of the people, and he was on his horse, and he saw the people of the graves, every owner of a grave sitting on his grave, and they said: This is Mutharraf coming for Friday. I said: Do you know Friday with you? They said: Yes, and we know what the birds say. I said: What do they say? They said: They say: Peace, peace. Khalid ibn Khudash is Abu al-Haytham al-Muhabbi and their freedman from Basra, and Ibn Hajar said about him in [Al-Taqrib]: He is truthful but makes mistakes. Then this narration is a dream, so it does not constitute a proof that contradicts the established principle and the cosmic law of Allah which is established that the dead do not speak to the living and that the living do not hear the speech of the dead except as a miracle for a prophet from the prophets (peace and blessings be upon them). Likewise, they do not come out of their graves except on the Day of Resurrection, as He the Exalted said:
(15) Then indeed, after that you are to die. (16) Then indeed you, on the Day of Resurrection, will be resurrected.
ثُمَّ إِنَّكُمْ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ لَمَيِّتُونَ (15) ثُمَّ إِنَّكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ تُبْعَثُونَthe correctness of what Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned in what was previously quoted from him; because it is a report from one who is not infallible about an unknown matter. And success is from Allah. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.