Is bringing the dead back to life impossible?

It is mentioned in Seeratun Nabawiyya on the authority of Dalaail-e-Baihaqui, etc. that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) invited a person to Islam.  He said:  If you raise my daughter from the dead, I will accept Islam.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Okay, show me her grave.  He did so.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) called her by her name and she replied:  Labbaik Wa Sa’adaik.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Do you want to come back into this world?  She said:  By the Lord Almighty!  I don’t want to return.  I have found the Lord Almighty to be more than my parents and have found the hereafter to be better than the world.

 

In Khasaais-e-Kubra, there is a Hadith narrated on the authority of Hadhrat Ka’ab bin Malik (May Allah be well pleased with him).  He says:  Once Hadhrat Jabir bin ‘Abdullah (May Allah be well pleased with him) came to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and saw that there were signs of strain on His blessed face.  He promptly returned to his own house and told his wife:  I have sensed some strain in the blessed face of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and I think the reason is nothing but hunger.  Do you have anything to eat?  She said:  By the Lord Almighty!  Except a goat and some wheat, we don’t have anything else.  She got up and slaughtered the goat and ground the wheat and prepared Roti and curry.  They put all this in a big vessel and presented it to the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Send people in small groups.  Thus, one group would come, eat to their heart’s content and leave and the other group would come.  At last, everyone had their fill and the quantity that was brought was still left over in the vessel.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) would tell those who ate:  Have meat, but don’t break the bones.  When everybody had eaten, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) gathered the bones, placed His blessed hand upon them and said something which I couldn’t catch.  Immediately, the goat got up swinging its ears.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) told him to take this goat.  When he returned home, his wife asked him: What goat is this?  He said:  By Allah!  This is the same goat that we had slaughtered.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) supplicated to Allah and raised it from the dead.  The wife said:  Indeed!  She is the Prophet of Allah.

 

People who don’t believe in these things consider themselves to be intelligent but have no faith in the power of Almighty Allah.  They consider this illogical because it is against what generally happens.  People see that nobody comes back to life after dying.  If they separate logic and custom, they will understand that custom doesn’t have anything to do with logic.  If someone shaves his beard completely and if his beard grows, will it be considered illogical?  That thing will be considered illogical whose existence supposes something impossible.  If logic is considered to something which doesn’t go against the conventional, then why would we call it logic?  We would call it blind belief instead.

 

Whatever.  Those who hold unconventional to be illogical believe that even if Allah Most High wants to, He can’t resurrect the dead.  Thus, Almighty Allah has informed us of such people in the Holy Quran.  But those people who have testified that illogical and unconventional are not related, they believe that Almighty Allah has the power to resurrect the dead and they have no doubt in the establishment of the Day of Judgment.

 

In the later Muslims, the same doubts have sprung up that a dead being coming to life is impossible.  If they deny the Day of Judgment also, we wouldn’t be concerned as we are talking to believers.  If they consider the Day of Judgment and life after death to be correct, then why do they object to these kinds of narrations?  This resurrecting is also done by Almighty Allah who will resurrect the dead on the Day of Judgment.  Is it logical that if someone can resurrect at a particular time, He can’t do so at other times?  Thus, if one has absolute faith in the power of Almighty Allah, the mind will convince one that He has power at al times and nothing can go hinder it.

 

That the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) resurrected the dead is not surprising.  He is Beloved of the Lord of all worlds.  Even His followers have raised people from the dead.

 

In Khasaais-e-Kubra there is a Hadith on the authority of Hadhrat Anas (May Allah be well pleased with him).  He says:……….A lady emigrated and she had a son who had reached adulthood.  Only a few days had passed that the boy fell ill and died a couple of days later.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) closed his eyes and ordered that the last rites be performed.  When the boy (i.e. his body) was about to be bathed, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) ordered that his mother be informed of this.  Hadhrat Anas (May Allah be well pleased with him) says that he himself informed the mother.  She came and sat between the legs of the boy.  She supplicated:  O Allah!  I embraced Islam for your pleasure and abandoned the idols.  I emigrated towards you with much fervor.  O Allah!  Don’t let me be mocked at by the idolaters.  Don’t give me such a hardship that I can’t bear.  Hadhrat Anas (May Allah be well pleased with him) states on oath:  These words were not yet articulated properly that the boy moved his legs and removed the cloth from his face.  He remained alive until his mother passed away after the passing away of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

 

It is also narrated on the authority of Hadhrat Anas (May Allah be well pleased with him): We called upon a Madinite Companion who was sick.  His mother was old and blind.  We remained sitting for a long time.  So much so that he passed away.  We closed his eyes, covered his face with the shroud and told his mother to exercise patience.  She asked:  Did he die?  We said:  Yes.  She raised her hands to the skies and started supplicating.  Hadhrat Anas (May Allah be well pleased with him) states on oath that after some time, the boy removed the cloth from his face and sat up.  He had some food and we also ate with him.

 

This obviates that the old women of the Ummah of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) have this honor that they bring back the dead to life with their supplications.