Combining the calling of the people of the well with the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Indeed, you cannot make the dead hear”

Question : Honorable Shaykh, we heard at the beginning of the lesson that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to call out to the people of the well at Badr, and he informed that they hear. How do we reconcile this with the saying of Allah the Exalted: ?

Answer : The answer to this is from two angles. The first angle is that many of the exegetes said that the meaning of His saying “you cannot make the dead hear” is that the dead person does not hear the supplication of the living. So if you were to come to a person’s corpse and say, “O so-and-so, fear Allah, leave off sins, and do righteous deeds,” he would not hear. They said that the intended meaning of “hearing” is hearing in response, meaning that no matter what you say to the dead person, he does not hear in a way that leads to a response. Similarly, those whom you called are in the position of the dead; they will not respond. This is the most correct opinion.
The second opinion is that “you cannot make the dead hear” means that if you went to the cemetery to call out to them, you would not make them hear. If that is the case, then this generality is specified by the people of Badr, and it is also specified by the people of the well, the people of the well of Badr, and it is specified by the person at the time of his death when he is buried. Indeed, when a person is buried and his companions turn away from him, he hears the striking of their sandals as they depart from him.