Do the dead hear the living, and if so, how do you explain the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “Teach your dying ones to say: There is no god but Allah”?

The questioner : If my brothers allow me, I would like to ask another question as well. The same man, our Shaykh, says: Do the dead hear the living? If so, how do you explain the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): “Teach your dying ones to say: There is no god but Allah”?

The Shaykh : If this person said this to me, I would say: Do you have a relative who died recently or long ago? He would certainly answer, “Yes.” I would say: If you go to them, do you teach them to say: There is no god but Allah? He would say, “No.” I would say: Then you are the one who contradicts the hadith.

The questioner : But, our Shaykh, a discussion took place regarding this analogy. We told him: Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: He said: “Okay, what is the meaning of the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in Sahih Muslim: ‘Teach your dying ones to say: There is no god but Allah’?” We told him: The scholars said it is for those who are dying, and that is its meaning. He said: The apparent meaning of the hadith says otherwise. I passed by a hadith that says: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was with the noble Companions, and it seemed there was a conversation there, and he said to them: “By Allah, or in the sense that, you hear the sound of your sandals” or something like that. So I do not know how, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : I am not going to repeat what you want to quote from him. I have summarized the matter, but what am I to do? You did not follow me.

The questioner : Okay, our Shaykh, what about this last statement? He said they hear the sound of your sandals.

The Shaykh : I told you that this hadith, even in its first interpretation, “Teach your dying ones,” is contradicted by it.

The questioner : There is no god but Allah

The Shaykh : But you did not notice that he contradicts it; he does not act upon it.

The questioner : Of course, he has to contradict it.

The Shaykh : Where is he still speaking from? The apparent meaning, O Abu 'Abdullah, has turned against you.

The questioner : He told me that it is contradictory to what he is saying. That if he believes that the dead hear, he must go and tell his dead: “Say: There is no god but Allah.”

The Shaykh : Did he do this in his life, even once?

The questioner : No, it is not possible.

The Shaykh : Not once. Why? Because he is one of two people: either he is ignorant, or he is arguing. And Allah knows best; I do not know. He is arguing, because if he were ignorant, it would be easy to make him understand. And you tried to make him understand because you considered him ignorant. What did you tell him? You told him that the scholars say “your dying ones” means those who are dying. What was his response to you?

The questioner : He said: “No, in this hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘By Allah, they hear the sound of your sandals.’”

The Shaykh : If he did not accept the scholars’ statement, then he has his own opinion. So how do you want to crush his opinion by doing it? You visit graves, yes. Have you ever in your life said to your father: “Say: There is no god but Allah”? He never did it.
The Shaykh: As for the second story, he (peace be upon him) said: “When the people turn away from the dead man, he hears the sound of their sandals as they turn their backs and depart.” I have a book titled *Al-Ayaat al-Bayyinah fi 'Adam Sma' al-Amwaat 'Inda al-Hanafiyyah* (The Clear Signs Regarding the Dead Not Hearing According to the Hanafis). It is a specific book. The author is a Hanafi scholar from Iraq, and he is the brother of the great scholar Mahmud al-Alusi, the author of the famous tafsir called *Ruh al-Ma'ani*. This is his brother, named Nu'man. He composed this book in response to some ignorant people who attended his lessons in Baghdad. He had lessons, whether fiqh or tafsir, it is not clear. On one occasion, the topic of the dead hearing came up, so he denied it. Then the noise and the common people there rose up. And there are people, as you know, who always pretend to have knowledge and stir up fitnah. So this group rose up against him. He bent down and placed the Hanafi books in front of him and began to quote what is transmitted from the Hanafi school. The books of the schools of jurisprudence in general are mostly concerned with rulings, stripped of evidence, except for what is rare. All the books of the four schools are like this. So when he gathered the statements of the Hanafi scholars on this issue, they are indeed explicit, because the dead do not hear. And some of them cite, like that verse:
The Shaykh: and so on... Some of the commentators expand a little and speak, so most of the book that this Nu'man wrote...The Shaykh : Nu'man, we say, regarding the Hanafi scholars first, and then mentioning some hadiths second. I came across a manuscript copy of the book during one of my trips to Hajj or 'Umrah in the library of the Islamic University. When I read the book, I found that its subject matter, not its style, is very important. The subject is that the dead do not hear. The subject is in the Hanafi way, quoting repeated phrases, words, and meanings from different sources from Hanafi books. So I had the idea to edit this book and comment on it and write an introduction. I would strike the sensitive chord: he raised the issue there based on what is established in the Hanafi school, that the dead do not hear, in contrast to... But this is a matter upon which a belief is built. If we imagine today that the Muslim world’s belief is based on this book, that the dead do not hear, I have not seen a Muslim go to a grave and call out to the deceased other than to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. But he believes that he hears. Do you understand? Especially if he is from the awliya (close friends of Allah), especially if he is from the prophets. So I planned in my mind to write an introduction linking the topic of the dead not hearing. So why the istighathah (calling for aid) to these people who do not hear? So I wrote an introduction in which I achieved two goals. The first goal, for which the book was written, I included the evidence and answered the problems and doubts, including this hadith. And the second goal, which I mentioned earlier, is that since the dead do not hear, why do the masses of ordinary Muslims come to the dead and call out to them other than to Allah, when they do not hear? Among what I mentioned: If anyone heard the words of the living from the dead, it would be the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), because he is the master of all mankind. Then, if he heard anything of the words of the world, it would be the best thing of the words of the world, which is the prayer upon him. Yet he explicitly says: “I do not hear.” In his saying: “Allah has angels who travel about, conveying to me the greetings of my Ummah.” They convey to me, I do not hear. So if anyone heard, the Messenger would hear. And what would he hear? The noise and clamor of people and their words... He would hear the prayer upon him. He does not hear the prayer upon him.
The Shaykh: Therefore, a joke happened to me in my time. For the first time, may Allah write for me that I performed Hajj to Mecca, the first Hajj. It is a long story, but we have no story about it. A transaction with an officer, who apparently has faith in Islam. He saw that the visa from the embassy was from Saudi Arabia to al-Madinah al-Munawwarah. He said to me: “Are you traveling to al-Madinah?” I said: “If Allah wills.” He said: “I want to entrust you with a trust.” I said: “Please.” He said: “But when you get there, convey my greetings to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).” These people always do this. I said to him: “Shall I show you a way faster than lightning and more certain by a million? Because I am indeed going through a transaction, and it may not be possible for me to travel for one reason or another. And I may arrive there and forget what you or anyone else entrusted me with. But this is a matter that is certain and guaranteed now. You pray upon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) now, and it is conveyed to him.” I mentioned this hadith to him. Although he was an officer, and the government is supposed to have no culture, he was shocked by this answer.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, a note on the same topic: His saying (peace and blessings be upon him) “They convey to me the greetings of my Ummah” — this just clarifies for us how, meaning, the conveying.

The Shaykh : There is no “how” in matters of the unseen. The point of the hadith is that he does not hear; they convey. As for how, Allah has given us the news of it. How, for example, does the angel come and whisper to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in his ear, or... or from where? It is not from here and the news reaches there, like you are speaking on the phone. Everything is possible, but we may be speaking... about the unseen in matters of the unseen, which is not permissible. The important thing is that he does not hear anything from the words of humans. And therefore, the angels, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, honored His Prophet and singled him out.