Seeking the help of the servants of Allah Pt 1.

Seeking the help of the servants of Allah
By Mufti Muhammad Ibrahim Qadri
Translated by Abu Hanzala
The original work, Dus gumrah kun sawalat ke iman afroz jawabat can be read
 

 
All Muslims must realise that the real remover of all difficulties, the seer, the hearer and the knower is only Allah. And by His granting, his chosen people are given knowledge, the power to remove difficulties and to hear and see. For example, he made our parents helpers in removing our difficulties. The Qur’an says:
 
My Lord! bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood.(17:22)
 
Sayyidina ‘Isa ‘alaihis salam would cure the blind and lepers and give life to the dead. This is removal of difficulties and fulfilling needs of the highest order as the Qur’an declares:
 
I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead, by Allah's leave.(3:49)
 
Seeing and hearing and knowledge and understanding are attributes of humans which not
even the most ignorant of people will deny. Allah says:
 
So We have made him hearing, seeing.(76:2)
 
And seeing and hearing are dependent on knowledge. Hence, Allah says:
 
Taught man that which he knew not.(96:5)
 
And it should also be known that death is for the body, not the soul. The body dies but the soul does not. The perceptions of the soul do not finish, in fact, they increase. It is in the hadith that the people of the grave hear our salam and also reply to it. The actual location of knowledge, perception and power is the soul, not the body. For the body there is the matter of near and far but not for the soul. For it, farness is also nearness and proof of this is that the soul hears and replies to salam. If the soul is in paradise, it replies from there.
 
It must also be borne in mind that the friends of Allah are the intermediaries [wasila] of Allah’s help. To attribute words towards an intermediary is well known in the Shari’ah and colloquially. It is said that the rain grew the vegetation whereas in reality Allah grew it but the rain is the intermediary and that is why the act of growing is attributed to the rain. Similarly, it is said that the parents raised us whereas in reality Allah raised us.
 
Allah is the One who gives sight to the blind and respite to the lepers and it is Him who raises the dead but because Sayyidina ‘Isa ‘alaihis salam is the intermediary in these acts, Allah attributed them directly to him. He says:
 
And you healed the blind and the leprous by My permission; and when you brought forth the dead by My permission.(5:110)
 
After this introduction, we shall now endeavour to answer some oft raised objections.
 

Question 1
 
If someone apart from Allah can remove our difficulties, then tell us: If there is a distance of thousands of miles between the one beseeching and the one beseeched, can they hear
this voice in their lifetime or from their grave?
 
Answer
As has been previously explained, the real remover of difficulties is Allah and by His granting, the people of excellence remove difficulties and by the will of Allah, can hear the voices of people in need even if there is a distance of thousands of miles between them. It has been mentioned that the power of hearing is actually from the soul and in the grave, the soul is not bound. After demise, the powers of the soul multiply manifold and its every activity is miraculous. These are some proofs for this:

1. It is in the Sahih ahadith that the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam said: When you lose something in the jungle and you need help, then say: Oh servants of Allah, help me. Oh servants of Allah, help me. Oh servants of Allah, help me.
(Mu’jam al-Kabir Tabrani with reference to Hisn Haseen, p.110, Egypt)
 
2. Hafidh ibn Kathir writes that during the battle of Yamama, the companions invoked the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam in the time of difficulty and made Istighatha. Ibn Kathir writes:

Hadrat Khalid bin Walid radiyAllahu ‘anhu raised the unique slogan of the Muslims and on that day, the sign of the Muslim army was Ya Muhammadah.(al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol.6, p.323, Beirut)
 
Thus, the companions sought help from the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam. Both these ahadith show that seeking help from the people of excellence is permissible and that Allah removes the boundaries of near and far for the soul. For it, helping from distances of thousands of miles becomes easy. Imam ‘Ali Qari Hanafi writes:
 
This is because the actions of the hereafter are based on miracles and abnormalities. (Mirqat Sharh Mishkat, vol.1, p.354, Makkah)
 
Question 2
 
Suppose it is proven that they can hear from this distance, then the question is raised that do they understand every language in the world? For example, a German will present his difficulty in German and an Englishman in English.
 
Answer
It is in Sahih ahadith and narrated in the Sihah Sitta that when the deceased is placed in the grave, two angels come to him named ‘Munkar Nakir’ and ask him three questions.
He answers the questions and the scholars have written that his answers are in Arabic or Hebrew. The deceased will know this language. Imam ‘Ali Qari gives precedence to Arabic and writes:
 
Even if the deceased is a non-Arab, he will know Arabic.
(Mirqat Sharh Mishkat, vol.1, p.350, Makkah)

When an ordinary Muslim and a Kafir can understand another language, then why is extraordinary for the souls of the pious?
 
It is in the hadith that when a woman argues with her husband and hurts him, the Hoors of paradise say:
 
May Allah destroy you. Do not harm him for he is your guest for a few days. Soon he will leave you to be with us.
(Mishkat with reference to Tirmidhi)
 
This hadith shows that even if a woman argues with her husband in English or any other language, the Hoors of paradise understand it. Hence, it is seen that the events of the hereafter are abnormal and cannot be equated and analogised with those in this world. Those things that are learned in this world are simply bestowed in the hereafter.




Question 3

Suppose it is proven that they understand every language, it is still left to answer that if thousands of people were to present their need to them simultaneously, can they hear each and everyone at one time or will there be a need for a queue?
 
Answer
It is not difficult for the soul to hear thousands of voices at once and to differentiate between them. There are proofs for this:
 
1. The Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam said:
Whoever passed by the grave of his Muslim brother whom he knew in the world; he should say salam to him because the deceased still recognises him
and replies to his salam.(Shifa’ al-Siqam fi Ziyarat Khayr al-Anam, p.88, Maktaba Nuriya, Faisalabad)
 
2. Hadrat Abu Zarrin radiyAllahu ‘anhu said to the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam:
Ya RasulAllah, I pass by a graveyard, what should I recite when passing? The Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam replied: Assalamu ‘alaykum ya ahla’l quburi mina’l muslimina wa’l mu’minina antum lanaa salafuw wa nahnu lakum taba’uw wa inna inshaAllahu bikum lahiqun.
Hadrat Abu Zarrin asked: Do the dead hear? The Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam replied: They hear but cannot answer. Imam Jalal al-Din Suyuti writes concerning this hadith:
The hadith means that the dead do not answer in a manner audible to the living; otherwise they do reply to the salam which we cannot hear.(Sharh al-Sudur bi Ahwal al-Mawti wa al-Qubur, p.84)
 
These two ahadith prove that even if thousands of people pass by a graveyard, the ordinary believers hear their salam and reply to it too. Then what of the people of excellence? Moreover, what about the Chief of the Prophets himself? Hence, the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam said:
When a Muslim says salam to me, Allah returns my soul to me and I reply to it. (Mishkat, Chapter of al-Salat ‘ala al-Nabi sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam)
Hafidh ibn Qayyim narrates from Hadrat Abu Darda radiyAllahu ‘anhu that the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam said:

When a person sends salutations upon me, wherever he may be, his voice reaches me. We asked: Even after your demise? The Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam replied: Even after my demise [because] Allah has made it Haram for the Earth to consume the bodies of the Prophets.(Jala’ al-Afham, p.64, Beirut)
 
Everybody knows that there is not a moment in the day or night in which thousands of people, jinns and angels send salutations and salam upon the Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam. The Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam hears all of these and replies too. Therefore, it is known that it is not at all difficult for souls to hear many different voices. It is ignorance to analogise the happenings of Barzakh to this world. The actions of this world are acquired whereas those in Barzakh are granted and those in this world transpire through normal means whereas in Barzakh, they are abnormally and miraculously bestowed.
Take the grave for example. If a person is given that much space in this world, he will sit uncomfortably; but in Barzakh, the space amount of space is expanded to 70 yards. If a room is confined such that air cannot enter from any direction, the sound from inside cannot out and vice versa but in the grave, the deceased is covered with soil yet he hears the sound of footsteps outside.
 
Question 4
 
Does this person ever feel sleepy or is he always awake? If he feels sleepy, then we should have a list of timeS when he is asleep and he is awake so that we only present our needs at this time or does he also listen when he is asleep?
 
Answer
 
Death is for the body, not the soul which is always alive. It is in the hadith that the deceased recognizes those who bathe, shroud, carry and lower him into the grave. This recognition is by the soul, not the body. When the perceptions, knowledge, sight and hearing are intact even after death, then when did he die? Yes, his body died and sleep is the younger sister of death. Therefore, sleepiness will only affect those who have died; and that which does not die, sleepiness will not affect it. The Prophet sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam said:
The deceased recognises those who bathe him and those who carry him and those who shroud him and those who lower him into the grave. (Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, vol.3, p.3, Beirut)
 
Question 5
 
There is a man who cannot talk. He is in such a difficulty that his throat is closed. If he presents his need from his heart, then will this lamentation of his heart be heard?

Answer
When the souls of the perfect believers can see and hear from thousands of miles away, then by the will of Allah, why can they not get to know the states of peoples’ hearts? It is in the hadith:

Beware of the intuitive perception [farasat] of the believer, for indeed he sees with the nur of Allah? (Tirmidhi, vol.2, p.614)

Commenting on this, Mawlana Wahid al-Zaman, writes:
 
Beware of the intuitive perception of the believer, for indeed he sees with the nur of Allah and gets to know the inner states of peoples’ hearts. (Lughat al-Hadith, Chapter of al-Fa’ ma’a al-Ra’)
 
Imam ibn Hajar Haytami writes:
 
Some scholars were asked the meaning of Farasat. They said that some souls travel in the world of spirits [malakut]; hence, they become aware of hidden [ghuyub] matters and inform creation of them. When they talk of the secrets of Allah, they do so from seeing [mushahada] and not through conjecture and uncertainty. (Fatawa Hadithiya, p.411)
 
Imam ‘Ali Qari has written extensively with regards to the Nur of Farasat of the believers. One incident is narrated here regarding Imam Yafi’i:
 
Imam al-Haramayn Abu’l Ma’ali bin Imam Abu Muhammad Juwaini was once teaching in the masjid after Fajr. Some ascetics passed by with their companions on their way to an invitation. Imam al-Haramayn thought to himself that is their only job to attend [food] invitations and perform raqs? When the Shaykh left the invitation, he passed by the masjid and said: Oh Faqih! What is your ruling for that person who offers the morning prayer in the state Janaba and teaches the Shari’ah and backbites? On hearing this, Imam al-Haramayn remembered that Ghusl was wajib upon him. Thereafter, he had great affection for the ascetics.(Mirqat Sharh Mishkat, vol.3, p.89, Makkah)

We have seen how Allah grants his chosen people inner nur that they not only come to know the feelings of peoples’ hearts; they even know those things that people have themselves forgotten.
We also learn that the nur of their vision is such that to get to know peoples’ states, they are in no need of loud exclamations. They can read the condition of peoples’ hearts and help them accordingly.