That Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, is present and watching at the time of questioning in the grave beside every deceased person is not established even by a da’if (weak) hadith, let alone by a sahih (authentic) hadith. None of the righteous predecessors held this view, so it is an innovated and misguided belief.
Three questions are asked of the deceased in the grave, and one of them is this:
ماكنت تقول فى هذا الرجل . . . .
“What did you used to say about this man?”
Some people say that the word هذا is used to point to something near, which shows that the Prophet ﷺ is present in the grave beside every deceased person. To draw this ruling from this hadith is a distortion of the religion and an act of ignorance, as in the following:
➊ Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that when the news of the Prophet’s ﷺ mission reached Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him), he said to his brother:
اركب إلى هذا الوادي، فاعلم لي علم هذا الرجل الذى يزعم أنه نبي .
“Go to this valley and find out for me about this man who claims to be a prophet of Allah.”
In this hadith Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) refers to Makkah with the words هذا الوادي and to the Prophet ﷺ with the words هذا الرجل. How far the tribe of Ghifar is from Makkah! Can any sensible person say that Makkah was present before Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him)? Or that the Prophet ﷺ was present and watching, and that he kept sending his brother to Makkah to learn about the Prophet ﷺ?
➋ Amr ibn Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates:
كنا بماء ممرالناس، وكان يمربنا الركبان، فنسألهم ماللناس، ماهذا الرجل، فيقولون : يزعم أن الله أرسله، أوحي الله كذا .
“We used to live by a watering place on the people’s thoroughfare, and caravans would pass by us. We would ask them, ‘What is the news of the people? What is this man?’ They would reply, ‘He claims that Allah has sent him, and that He has revealed such and such to him.'”
Amr ibn Salamah and others used to ask the caravans about the Prophet ﷺ using the words هذا الرجل. Was the Prophet ﷺ present and watching there?
➌ Heraclius asked Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) and the disbelievers of Quraysh about the Pure Prophet ﷺ:
أيكم أقرب نسبا بهذا الرجل الذى يزعم أنه نبئ . . . إني سائل عن هذا الرجل . . .
“Which of you is nearest in lineage to this man who claims to be a prophet?… I will ask about this man…”
There are dozens of examples of this in the body of hadith literature.
The Prophet ﷺ is not present in the grave at the time of questioning, because:
Proof No. ➊
The deceased is asked:
ما كنت تقول فى هذا الرجل، لمحمد صلى الله عليه و سلم فأما المومن فيقول : أشهد أنه عبده و رسوله
“What did you used to say about this man, that is, Muhammad ﷺ? The believer says: I bear witness that he is the servant of Allah and His Messenger.”
In this hadith, هذا الرجل is clarified by saying “Muhammad ﷺ”. If he ﷺ were present there, what need would there be for this clarification?
Proof No. ➋
It is narrated from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her):
فيقال : ما هذا الرجل الذى كان فيكم ؟ فيقول : محمد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه و سلم جاءنا بالبينات من عند الله عز وجل فصدقناه . . . .
“(In the grave, at the time of questioning) it will be said: Who was this man who was sent among you? He (the believer) will say: He was Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who came to us with clear signs from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and we believed him…”
↰ This explicit hadith is proof that, regarding the Prophet ﷺ, the deceased in the grave is only asked; he ﷺ is not seen in the grave.
Proof No. ➌
It is narrated from Asma bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that it is said to the deceased:
ما ذا تقول فى هذا الرجل، يعني النبى صلى الله عليه و سلم ؟ قال : من ؟
“What do you say about this man, that is, the Prophet ﷺ? He (the disbeliever and wrongdoer) says: Who?”
In the words of this same narration, it is said to the deceased:
ماذا تقول فى هذا الرجل ؟ قال : أى رجل ؟ قال : محمد .
“What do you say about this man? He says: Which man? He (the angel) says: Muhammad ﷺ.”
↰ This hadith clearly proves that the Prophet ﷺ is not present in the grave at the time of questioning. Otherwise, what would من and أى رجل mean?
Evidence No. ➍
It is narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: the dead person is told:
أرأيتك هذا الرجل الذى كان فيكم، ماذا تقول فيه، وما ذا تشهد به عليه ؟ فيقول : أى رجل، فيقال : الذى كان فيكم، فلا يهتدي لاسمه، حتي يقال له : محمد . . .
“What is your opinion of this man who was sent among you? What do you say about him, and what do you testify about him?” He will say, “Which man?” It will be said to him, “The one who was sent among you.” He will not recognise his name, until it is said to him, “Muhammad (ﷺ)…”
↰ Imam Ibn Hibban
graded this hadith “sahih” (authentic), and Imam al-Hakim (may Allah have mercy on him)
graded it “sahih” on the condition of Imam Muslim. Hafiz al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) agreed with him.
Hafiz al-Haythami (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
وإسناده حسن . “Its chain is hasan (good).”
↰ This blessed hadith has made it as clear as broad daylight that, in the grave, the Prophet ﷺ is only asked about; he ﷺ is not present in the grave.
Allamah Ahmad al-Qastallani (may Allah have mercy on him) says in explaining هذا الرجل:
عبر بذالك امتحانا لئلايتلقن تعظيمه عن عبارةالقائل، قيل : يكشف للميت حتي يرى النبى صلى الله عليه و سلم، وهى بشري عظيمة للمؤمن إن صح ذلك، ولا نعلم حديثا صحيحا مرويا فى ذلك والقائل به إنمااستندلمجردأن الإشارة لاتكون إلا للحاضر، لكن يحتمل أن تكون الإشارة لمافي الذهن فيكون مجاز .
“The Prophet ﷺ is referred to as هذا الرجل as a test for the dead person, so that he cannot grasp his veneration from the words of the speaker (the angel). It is also said that the veil is lifted for the dead person until he sees the Prophet ﷺ, and if this is correct it is a great glad tiding for the believer, but we do not know of a single sahih hadith narrated about this. Those who hold this view have relied only on the argument that pointing is made only to someone present, but it is also possible that the pointing is to what is present in the mind, so it would be figurative.”
Hafiz al-Suyuti (may Allah have mercy on him) writes:
وسئل : هل يكشف له حتي يرى النبى صلى الله عليه و سلم ؟ فأجاب أنه لم يردحديث، وإنما إدعاه بعض من لايحتج به بغيرمستند سوي قوله : فى هذا الرجل، ولاحجة فيه، لأن الإشارة إلى الحاضرفي الذهن .
“Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Is the veil lifted for the dead person until he sees the Prophet ﷺ? He (may Allah have mercy on him) replied that no hadith has been reported about this; rather, it is an unsupported claim of some people who are not relied upon. Their only argument is that the words هذا الرجل occur in the hadith, but there is no proof in these words, because the pointing here is to what is present in the mind.”
↰ It is proven that deriving from هذا الرجل the argument that the dead person is made to see the Prophet ﷺ in the grave is an utterly false notion. Despite this, Mr. Zakariya Tablighi Deobandi writes:
“After death, the first thing in the grave will be the visit (sight) of Sayyid al-Kawnayn ﷺ.”
Likewise, Mr. Muhammad Ya’qub Nanotvi Deobandi says:
“Instead of coming to our funeral, the Prophet will come to the grave itself.”
Their statement is refuted by the statement of Mr. Anwar Shah Kashmiri Deobandi, who says:
يكفي العهد فقط، ولادليل على المشاهدة .
“Here the meaning of mental reference alone is sufficient; there is no proof for actual witnessing.”
It is proven that, according to Shah Sahib himself, the statements of Zakariya Sahib and Ya’qub Nanotvi Sahib are without evidence and without basis. A statement without evidence is not worthy of attention.
من فارق الدليل، فقدضل عن سواء السبيل !
(Whoever is devoid of evidence strays from the straight path.)
Under هذا الرجل, Allamah al-Sindi al-Hanafi writes:
أي الرجل المشهوربين أظهركم، ولايلزم منه الحضور، وترك ما يشعر بالتعظيم لئلا يصيرتلقينا، وهويناسب موضع الاختيبار .
“That is, the man who was well known among you; it does not necessarily follow from this that (the Prophet ﷺ) is present (in the grave). Not mentioning his ﷺ name is so that veneration is not shown and so that it does not become prompting; this is what suits a test.”
An important benefit: It is narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that a black woman used to sweep the mosque. When the Prophet ﷺ found her missing, he asked about her, and the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) said that she had died. Then he ﷺ said:
أفلاكنتم آذنتموني ؟ قال : فكأنهم صغروا أمرها أمره، فقال : دلوني على قبره، فدلوه، فصلي عليها .
“Why did you not inform me?” It was as if they had considered her matter insignificant. He ﷺ said, “Show me her grave.” The Companions showed him ﷺ her grave, and he ﷺ prayed the funeral prayer over that woman.
↰ If the Prophet ﷺ were present in the grave of every dead person at the time of questioning, why would he ﷺ not have known of the death of this woman?
In sum: The Prophet ﷺ is not present in the grave at the time of questioning.
