Explaining that the response of the deceased to the living is not exclusive to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and explaining the reality of this life, and refuting the grave-worshippers in their reliance on this
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
" This is the arrival of our Prophet’s greeting from *** one who comes with a greeting accompanied by excellence
That is not exclusive to him either *** "
Meaning that when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was greeted, Allah returned his spirit to him so that he could return the greeting. Ibn al-Qayyim says that this is not exclusive to him, but rather " *** the one sent with the Qur'an said it "
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Rather, " *** the one sent with the Qur'an said it
Whoever visits the grave of a brother of his and comes *** with a greeting to him, and he is a person of faith
The Divine responds to him truly with his spirit *** so that he may return a clear response "
This hadith was narrated by Abu Dawud, and Ibn 'Abd al-Barr said that its chain of narration is valid. When a person stands at the grave of a Muslim he knew in this world and greets him, Allah returns his spirit to him so that he returns the greeting. But does this response imply that he is alive as he was alive on the surface of the earth? The answer is no; rather, he is alive with the life of the barzakh (the interval between death and resurrection), and we do not know its nature. You are alive in your sleep now, but it is the life of sleep, a life of sleep, and it is a death in the grave. He will be alive with the life of the barzakh, and you are dead with death. The spirit has a great status in its connection to the body that no one can grasp, no one can grasp it. So the correct view is that this hadith is valid, even though some later scholars attributed it to weakness and said it is not valid. Undoubtedly, they intended by this to repel every shubhah (doubtful matter) that the corrupt ones rely on regarding the people of graves, saying that they hear and that we come to them to ask them to intercede for us with Allah, and the like of that. But this does not necessitate that we weaken the valid hadiths that have no connection to this. The fact that the spirit of the deceased is returned to him to return the greeting does not necessitate that his spirit remains so that this greeter can address him in everything he wants. The hadith was only reported because, what is it? He returns the greeting only. So we limit ourselves to this and say, no, after this he cannot do anything. The original principle regarding what is claimed about the hearing of the people of graves is to revert to the text, because it is among the unseen matters. If the deceased hears the striking of their sandals when they leave him at the burial, it does not necessitate that he hears it when they come to him another time, is it not so? Why? Because the deceased is dead, and we do not establish of his conditions except what has come in the text. So if someone comes to the cemetery and walks by the graves with his sandals, can we say that the people of the graves hear the striking of the sandals as the one who was buried hears it? The answer is no. And so, in all unseen matters, one must limit oneself to the text. So we say that repelling the mafsadah (harm) of the people of graves relying on the hadith of the return of the spirit to the one greeted so that he returns to the one who greeted him can be done by saying that the text only came in, what is it? In returning the greeting only, and you have no connection to anything beyond that. For this reason, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) was decisive here and validated it, and he transmitted from Ibn 'Abd al-Barr his validation in the book of the Spirit, and no refutation was recorded against him.
" Whoever visits the grave of a brother of his and comes *** with a greeting to him, and he is a person of faith
The Divine responds to him truly with his spirit *** so that he may return a clear response "
" This is the arrival of our Prophet’s greeting from *** one who comes with a greeting accompanied by excellence
That is not exclusive to him either *** "
Meaning that when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was greeted, Allah returned his spirit to him so that he could return the greeting. Ibn al-Qayyim says that this is not exclusive to him, but rather " *** the one sent with the Qur'an said it "
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Rather, " *** the one sent with the Qur'an said it
Whoever visits the grave of a brother of his and comes *** with a greeting to him, and he is a person of faith
The Divine responds to him truly with his spirit *** so that he may return a clear response "
This hadith was narrated by Abu Dawud, and Ibn 'Abd al-Barr said that its chain of narration is valid. When a person stands at the grave of a Muslim he knew in this world and greets him, Allah returns his spirit to him so that he returns the greeting. But does this response imply that he is alive as he was alive on the surface of the earth? The answer is no; rather, he is alive with the life of the barzakh (the interval between death and resurrection), and we do not know its nature. You are alive in your sleep now, but it is the life of sleep, a life of sleep, and it is a death in the grave. He will be alive with the life of the barzakh, and you are dead with death. The spirit has a great status in its connection to the body that no one can grasp, no one can grasp it. So the correct view is that this hadith is valid, even though some later scholars attributed it to weakness and said it is not valid. Undoubtedly, they intended by this to repel every shubhah (doubtful matter) that the corrupt ones rely on regarding the people of graves, saying that they hear and that we come to them to ask them to intercede for us with Allah, and the like of that. But this does not necessitate that we weaken the valid hadiths that have no connection to this. The fact that the spirit of the deceased is returned to him to return the greeting does not necessitate that his spirit remains so that this greeter can address him in everything he wants. The hadith was only reported because, what is it? He returns the greeting only. So we limit ourselves to this and say, no, after this he cannot do anything. The original principle regarding what is claimed about the hearing of the people of graves is to revert to the text, because it is among the unseen matters. If the deceased hears the striking of their sandals when they leave him at the burial, it does not necessitate that he hears it when they come to him another time, is it not so? Why? Because the deceased is dead, and we do not establish of his conditions except what has come in the text. So if someone comes to the cemetery and walks by the graves with his sandals, can we say that the people of the graves hear the striking of the sandals as the one who was buried hears it? The answer is no. And so, in all unseen matters, one must limit oneself to the text. So we say that repelling the mafsadah (harm) of the people of graves relying on the hadith of the return of the spirit to the one greeted so that he returns to the one who greeted him can be done by saying that the text only came in, what is it? In returning the greeting only, and you have no connection to anything beyond that. For this reason, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) was decisive here and validated it, and he transmitted from Ibn 'Abd al-Barr his validation in the book of the Spirit, and no refutation was recorded against him.
" Whoever visits the grave of a brother of his and comes *** with a greeting to him, and he is a person of faith
The Divine responds to him truly with his spirit *** so that he may return a clear response "