Question: Is
the Prophet alive in his grave or not? And does he know what is happening in
the Dunya? If someone believes in this, does this mean he is doing Shirk?
Many of the
scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah have explained that the prophet is alive in his grave
in the sense of the life of Barzakiyyah, or the life that exits in the grave,
we don’t know how this is and this knowledge is with Allaah, the Most High. It
is not like the life of the Dunyaa, rather it is a form of life in which that
the Prophet lives in pleasure in which he hears the Salaam/ Salutations of the
Muslims, at which point his soul is restored periodically by Allaah, the Most
High, so that he may respond. All of this has been narrated in narrations, such
as the one narrated by Aboo Dawood with an Isnaad which is Hasan;
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah [May Allaah
be Pleased with him] that the Messenger of Allaah [Peace and Blessings of Allaah
be Upon him] said: “There is no one who sends salutations/Salaam upon me but
Allaah will restore my soul so that I may return his salutations/Salaam.”
[Classed as Saheeh in Saheeh Sunan Abee Dawood by Shaykh al-Albaanee (1795)]
It is also been
reported al-Bazzaar with an Isnaad which is Hasan on the authority of Ibn
Ma’sood [May Allaah be Pleased with him] that the Prophet [Peace and Blessings
of Allaah be Upon him] said, “Verily, Allaah has Angels that travel through the
land and they deliver the Salaam or the salutations that my Ummah send upon
me.” [Narrated by al-Nasaa’ee (1282) and Classed as Saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani
in Saheeh al-Jaami’ (2170)]
And [Peace and
Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] said,
“Do not take
your houses like graveyards and do not take my grave as a place of you
repeatedly visit; send Blessings upon me because your greetings will reach me
no matter where you are.” [Narrated by Aboo Dawood (2042) and classed as Saheeh
by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’ (7226)]
And there are
many other narrations. The point being that he is now living a life of the
Barzakh which is a life which is even more perfect than that of the martyrs
about which Allaah, the Most High, describes:
“Think not of
those who are killed in the Way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive, with
their Lord, and they have provision.” [Aal-Imraan 3:169]
And
“And say not of
those who are killed in the Way of Allah, "They are dead." Nay, they
are living, but you perceive (it) not.” [Baqarah 2:154]
The soul of the
Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] is more virtuous than the
souls of the martyrs in status with Allaah, the Most High, therefore this makes
his life in the Barzakh even more complete and pleasurable than those who have
been accepted as martyrs.
However, just
because he has this perfect life in the Barzakh, it doesn’t mean he knows the
unseen or that he knows the affairs of the Dunya, rather he has died and his
connection to the Dunya has also ceased. This is based on the statement,
“When a man
dies, all his good deeds come to an end except three: ongoing charity;
beneficial knowledge; and a righteous son who will pray for him.” [Narrated by
Muslim (1631)]
And he [Peace
and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] said:
“I will reach
the Cistern ahead of you. Whoever comes to it will drink and whoever drinks
from it will never thirst again. Some people will come to me whom I will
recognize and they will recognize me, but then a barrier will be placed between
me and them.” Abu Haazim said: al-Nu’maan ibn Abi ‘Ayyaash heard me narrating
this hadeeth and said: “Is that how you heard Sahl say it?” I said, “Yes.” He
said: “I bear witness that I heard Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri add: and he [meaning
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)] said: ‘They are from
me.” And it will be said; “You do not know what they did after you were
gone.” And I will say, “Away with those who changed after I was gone!”’”
[Narrated by al-Bukhaari
(6528) and Muslim (4243) from the Hadeeth of Sahl (May Allaah be Pleased with
him)].
There are other
Ahadeeth which are similar to this all explaining that the Prophet doesn’t know
the unseen during the time he was alive, then how about after he has died?
Allaah, the
Most High, commands His Messenger to tell the people:
“Say (O
Muhammad): ‘I don't tell you that with me are the treasures of Allah, nor
(that) I know the unseen; nor I tell you that I am an angel. I but follow what
is revealed to me by inspiration." Say: "Are the blind and the one
who sees equal? will you not then take thought?’” [An’aam 6:50]
And,
“Say (O
Muhammad): ‘I possess no power of benefit or hurt to myself except as Allah
wills. If I had the knowledge of the Ghaib (unseen), I should have
secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me.
I am but a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings unto people who believe.’” [A’raaf 7:188]
And the
evidences to prove that he doesn’t know the unseen are many. If this is case
for the Prophet, then this is even more so applicable others from the creation;
that they don’t know the unseen either.
Whoever
believes and calls the people to this belief, that the Prophet knows the
unseen, then he is attributing a lie to Allaah as A’aishah [May Allaah be
Pleased with her] has reported in saying. The incident revolving around this
statement that she made occurred when some people left out for an expedition
and some of the hypocrites and those following them started to spread rumours
that A’aishah (al-Ifk) had done something bad and clarity and her declaration
of innocence didn’t come until Aayaat were revealed concerning her
blamelessness. Had the Prophet known the unseen then her innocence would have
been declared by the Prophet and he wouldn’t have waited until Aayaat were
revealed about her. This incident had begun when A’aishah lost her necklace and
she quested to find it and she returned only to find that the camp had left
without her and the necklace was in the place where her camel had been resting.
Had the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] known the unseen,
then he would have known that she was left behind and that she had lost her
necklace.
And there are
many narrations that prove that he didn’t know the unseen but what I have
mentioned should be sufficient, if Allaah Wills.
[Majmoo Fataawa
of Shaykh ‘Abdul-‘Azeez bin Baaz (2/386/388)]
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