Question

May Allah be benevolent towards you and make you profitable.

A belief-related issue has left me confused, it concerns the request for invocation to a deceased person. I found a statement from Cheikh Mohammed Bazmoul, may Allah preserve him, which says in essence that the request for invocation to a deceased person near their grave, without any attribution of the specificities of Allah, is considered as an innovated Tawassoul and prohibited. After thorough research, I found this statement among some people of knowledge who also affirm it, and there are people of knowledge who consider it as major Shirk which takes one out of Islam. I hope for clarification on this point, may Allah record your reward. Does the divergence rest on the question of whether the dead can hear the living or not?

May Allah be benevolent towards you and make you profitable.

Answer

Indeed, as you have mentioned, there is a divergence among people of knowledge on this question: the request for invocation to a deceased person. What appears, is that this is major Shirk which takes one out of Islam. We seek refuge with Allah. Indeed, he has not asked without having the conviction that he can respond, that he holds the ability to respond to his wish. Otherwise, this is foolishness and transgression.

I questioned some scholars on this subject ¹. There is a statement from Cheikh Al Islam in Al Fatawa, in which he mentioned three categories including this one. He qualified it as innovation. However, he also said in Iqtidâ As-Sirât Al-Moustaqîm Moukhâlafat ‘Asshâb Al-Djahîm, that this is what the Christians did with Jesus, and that it is an innovation. We thus understand that the statement of Cheikh Al Islam in Al Fatawa denotes innovation leading to the disbelief of its author, and not an innovation that does not reach the degree of disbelief. We must understand this.

Indeed, some scholars do not see the act of asking for invocation to the dead as major Shirk, but rather an innovation and a path leading to Shirk. However, if it is said that the dead can hear the living as some scholars have stated, this goes against the majority of evidence, which suggests that the dead cannot hear. The only exceptions are specific instances such as the sound of sandals leaving the cemeteries and the infidel dead at Badr, as reported by Al Boukhary. Omar said to the prophet ﷺ: “Are you talking to dead people?” The prophet ﷺ replied: “You don’t hear better than them” and in an authentic hadith: “While he can hear the sound of their sandals.”

However, these are specific situations, and there is no general evidence for it. Allah says:

“You cannot make the dead hear” [Surah Al Naml, v.80]

“You cannot make those in the graves hear” [Surah Fatir, v.22]

Even if it is affirmed that they hear, the question remains: are they capable of responding to the person asking for invocation? Clearly, nobody says that. That’s why the most correct opinion is that it’s a form of shirk, and refuge should be sought with Allah.

Author: Cheikh ‘Ali Moussa, may Allah preserve him.