How to respond to those who argue for the permissibility of seeking intercession from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) while he is dead by claiming that the prophets are alive in their graves?

The questioner : May Allah reward you. A questioner asks: Some of those who seek intercession from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) while he is dead argue by saying that the prophets are alive in their graves, and that Moses was seen by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and that his death (peace and blessings be upon him) is not like the death of all other people. How do we respond to them?

The Shaykh : The response to them is easy. The response to them is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is dead without a doubt, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: and His saying: Pay attention, pay attention and because the Companions unanimously agreed that he was dead, and they washed him, shrouded him, and buried him. Is it possible for the Companions to unanimously agree to bury their Prophet while he is alive? Glorified is Allah, this is impossible, and not even the insane would do this. So he is dead without a doubt. But there is another life, a barzakh life, which is established for the martyrs and the prophets, and a fortiori. Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said: Life with Allah the Mighty and Majestic; what is worldly life? to the end of the verses. So this is a barzakh life, the knowledge of which is with Allah; we do not know its modality. Therefore, the dead person does not need air, water, food, or anything else in it. This is our answer to those who say that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is alive in his grave. We say, yes, he is alive, but it is not like worldly life, in which a person can work, obey, bow, and prostrate, and so on. As for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) seeing Moses, that is also from the visions whose modality we do not know. He saw him praying in his grave, but we do not know how that was. And we now see in dream visions some of the dead who are volunteering in worship for Allah the Mighty and Majestic. Perhaps you see your father or your brother or one of your relatives in a dream praying while he is dead. These matters are unseen matters, and they are not judged by the ruling of the living. It is well known that in the hadith of the Night Journey, the prophets were gathered for the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), and he led them in prayer as imam. Do we say that they were in that state as they were in worldly life before they died? No, these are unseen matters, and it is not for us to say or believe except what has come from the Shari'ah only.