نشریه سراج منیر
سال یازدهم شماره 42 (تابستان 1400)

One of the key issues in Supplication and Intercession is the "hearing of the dead". Some Salafi scholars undermine the hearing of the dead in order to deny the Supplication and Intercession to the Saints and Imams. The opponents of hearing of the dead resorted to some Quranic verses to prove their claims. One the contemporary Salafi figures, Shams Al-Din Salafi Al-Afghani, maintains that according to some Quranic verses we can prove that the dead can not hear the voices of the people in this world, so it is useless to supplicate and ask for the intercession of the dead. He mentions 8 verses from the Holy Quran for proving his claims. But this verses either result in comparing the Muslims with the Pagan or express a miracle and so on. In this essay, with a descriptive - analytic method and with the help of some Quranic verses, the writer is going to reject the argues of the opponents of  hearing of the dead. Finally, it is proved that the hearing which is denied in some Quranic verses does not mean the physical meaning, rather it means that there is no use in such a hearing.

One of the authoritative narrations in the Sunni sources is the narration of Ghaib Badr. This hadith is about talking of the Holy Prophet Muhammad with the dead after the Battle of Badr ends. This narration clearly indicates that the dead can hear the words of the Holy prophet, but Ayesha and Ghotadah are trying to misinterpret the meaning of this narration by denying the hearing of the dead. Ayesha mentions the verse 80 from the Naml and tries to construe the hearing in this verse to knowing the in depth meaning of the words of the Holy Prophet. She tries to deny the physical hearing mentioned in this verse. Also, Ghotadah argues that the dead are arisen after dying just as to the Holy prophet to reprimand them. So, he claims that this is an exceptional event. But if we have a closer look, we will know that these interpretations are not valid. Some of the possible answers are:1- the hearing of the soul,  2- the grades of hearing, 3- there is no contradiction between knowledge and hearing, 4- Quranic allegory 5- verses expressing the hearing of the dead, 6- the priority of literal meaning over interpretation, 7- retraction of Ayesha from her ideas.

The Wahhabis always put forward the narration " the head will suffer when we cry for them". They claim that according to this Hadith, any kind of mourning and crying for the dead is forbidden and Haram. The Wahhabi stress on the words "suffer" and "crying"  mentioned in this Hadith. In this essay, with a descriptive-analytic method, and using the first hand Sunni sources, the writer will disprove the Wahhabi interpretation from the above-mentioned Hadith. Some of the finding are as the following: crying in this Hadith is not the usual mourning and sobbing, but the cursing of God and complaining from the Destination. Also, the word "suffering" in this hadith contradicts with the verse " No bearer shall bear another’s burden". Hence,  there are different views on this issue - more than 12 different views. Some other scholars construe the meaning of suffering and interpreted it as hurting which seems to be a good solution. So, we can not use this Hadith as a pretext for forbidding mourning for the dead.

One of the biggest contemporary Sunni scholars is Dr. Muhammad Saeed Ramadan al-Buti. He maintains that our Holy prophet Muhammad is superior from all of other creatures and people can supplicate toward him.  On the other hand, Albani, as one of the Salafi great scholars believes that there are two kinds of supplication: legal and illegal. He has a book named " the Supplication, its kinds and its rules". Albani tries to reject the supplication to saints and Imams, maintaining that Buti's claims on the absolute supremacy of our Holy Prophet Muhammad on other creatures is not true. But if we have a closer look, we will know that there are so many Quranic verses and narrations that indicate on the supremacy of the Holy Prophet (PBH) on other creatures. Since Albani claims that he follows the Holy Quran, tradition of the Holy Prophet and great Sunni scholars, in this essay, the supremacy of our Holy prophet will be proved according to the above-mentioned sources.

The Wahhabi interpretation of God's attributes is one of the most key features of them in the topics of monotheism and polytheism. The followers of Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab have presented their own interpretation of this concept by dividing things into "what the God can only do" and "what the people can do". If we have a closer look we will understand that this idea of Wahhabi about God's attributes not only is against the Qur'an and the Sunnah, but also has dire consequences such as ignoring God's absolute power over affairs, accusing God to polytheism in the casual affairs, eclecticism of Wahhabism, materialism and the denial of miracles and supernatural powers.