Musnad Humaydi

Benefit:
This hadith proves that the dead do not hear our words. Mawlana Abdullah Bahawalpuri rahimahullah writes: The reality is that when the soul of the dead has departed, the pulse has stopped, all faculties have ceased, even sensation has left, then how can he hear? A dead person is not someone who has the ability to hear but not the ability to speak; rather, a dead person is one who cannot do anything at all. The Noble Qur’an has depicted the state of the dead in this verse:
«أَلَهُمْ أَرْجُلٌ يَمْشُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ أَيْدٍ يَبْطِشُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ آذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا» (Al-A'raf: 195)
“Do they have feet with which they walk, or hands with which they grasp, or eyes with which they see, or ears with which they hear?”
The meaning is that after death, even though a person retains these limbs, he cannot do anything because the body has no soul. And if even the limbs do not remain, if fire or earth consumes them, then the question of hearing or speaking does not even arise, for then with what would he hear and with what would he speak? Allah Ta’ala can indeed make him hear even in this state, but the question of the dead speaking or hearing comes to an end, because there are neither ears nor a tongue. That is why Allah Ta’ala has said in the Noble Qur’an: «فَإِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَىٰ وَلَا تُسْمِعُ الصُّمَّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا وَلَّوْا مُدْبِرِينَ» (Ar-Rum: 52) O Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam! You (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear when they turn their backs and flee.
A deaf person has ears but does not have the ability to hear; when a deaf person cannot hear, then how can a dead person hear, who has neither the ability to hear nor the organ of hearing? Yes, Allah Ta’ala can make even his particles hear in this state, but no one else has the power to do so. Allah Ta’ala’s statement is: «إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَن يَشَاءُ وَمَا أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِي الْقُبُورِ» (Fatir: 22) Indeed, Allah Ta’ala makes whom He wills hear, but you cannot make those who are in the graves hear (i.e., the dead). Now, after such clarity, can anyone say that the dead hear? (Mas’alah Sama’ Mawta, pp. 9, 10)