Do the dead people hear the calls or supplications of living people?


A: Basically, the dead do not hear the calls or supplications of the living people, as Allah (Exalted be He) says (what means): ...but you cannot make hear those who are in graves. Nothing in the Qur’an, or the authentic Sunnah indicates that it is a characteristic of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to hear every invocation or call of humans. But it is reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that only the invoking of Allah’s blessings and peace upon him reaches him, no matter where the person is, whether near his grave or away from it. It is authentically narrated on the authority of `Aly ibn Al-Husayn ibn `Aly (may Allah be pleased with them all) that: He saw a man coming to a gap that was near the Prophet’s grave in which he entered and supplicated. ‘Aly ibn Al-Husayn forbade him from doing this and said, “Shall I inform you of a Hadith which I heard from my father on the authority of my grandfather who quoted the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saying: ‘Do not take my grave as an often-visited place (i.e., a place which you visit repeatedly) and do not make your houses graves (i.e., devoid of worship). And invoke Allah’s blessings upon me, for your greeting of peace will reach me wherever you may be. . (Part No. 1; Page No. 473) As for the Hadith: Whoever invokes Allah’s blessings on me at my grave, I hear him; and whoever invokes Allah’s blessings on me from afar, I am informed about it, it is classed as Da‘if (weak) by the scholars. .As for the Hadith narrated by Abu Dawud with Hasan Isnad (sound chain of narrators), on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: No one greets me with peace except that Allah restores to me my soul, so that I may return his greeting of peace, it does not explicitly declare that the Prophet (peace be upon him) hears the greetings of the Muslims who greet him with peace. He (peace be upon him) may return their greetings when the angels inform him of them. Even if we suppose that he (peace be upon him) hears the greetings of the Muslims who greet him, this does not entail that he hears other calls and invocations.


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