Do the dead hear?

Do the dead hear?

 

Hadhrat Shaykh Ul Islam (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) writes in the exegesis of the verse:  Fee Sudoorin Naas:

 

This physical body which is termed as a “human being” by those who see it, it is in fact a natural covering of a human being, whose breakage and decay doesn’t affect the human being.  In fact, it remains as it is, safe and sound…those who practice mesmerism practically demonstrate it that the human body remains at its place and the human being can go to a place a thousand miles distant and get information from there.

 

Modern sciences are confirming what the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said 1300+ years ago.  Just see!  It is well established through all the books of Hadith and biography that in the Battle of Badr, when the disbelievers were routed and the bodies of their dead had decayed. The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) ordered that their bodies be put in a well.  Thus, all the bodies were put in an unused well.  That night, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) addressed those dead and said:  O people of the well!  O ‘Utba, O Shaiba, O Ummayya, O Abu Jahl!  Did you find the promise of your Lord Almighty (the promise of punishment on disbelief) to be true?  I have found the promise that My Lord made to Me to be true.

 

The Companions said:  O Prophet of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam)!  Are You calling out to such a nation whose bodies have decayed?  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Whatever I am telling them, they hear it in a way that you can’t hear more than them, but they cannot answer Me.  Thus, Hadhrat Hassaan bin Thabit (May Allah be well pleased with him) also composed an ode on this occasion which has 2 couplets which suggest this.

 

Just see!  The Companions had thought that it was illogical to talk to those bodies which had decayed and discomposed, but the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) indicated that the physical body is not the human being.  The body is like a covering, the outside husk.  There is no change in the real human being, who hears.  The way they listen in their life, in the same way, they listen after death.  The Companions were strong in faith and accepted.  However, as it appears illogical, many people try to explain it away.

 

[Excerpted from Maqasid Ul Islam, Vol. 8]