some hadiths—either as a general principle for every deceased person or only for certain individuals—in which Allah, exalted is He, allows them to hear something that causes them pain.

Of the first type is the report recorded by al-Bukhari in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When a servant is laid in his grave and his companions turn away from him—so much so that he hears the sound of their sandals—two angels come to him.”1 This rigorously authentic hadith establishes that the dead person is granted a specific kind of hearing at the moment of burial, when the people leave him. At the very instant the two angels seat him, his soul is returned to him and, in that state, he hears the clatter of their footsteps. It is self-evident that the hadith does not mean this particular deceased person—let alone all the dead—has his soul restored to him permanently and continues to hear the sandals of those passing among the graves until the Day they are raised. Certainly not.

Rather, it refers to a unique situation and a special hearing granted to that one deceased individual because his soul is momentarily returned to him. If, therefore, we were to follow Ibn Taymiyyah’s interpretation, we would have to widen the circle of the dead person’s awareness of what occurs around him—whether while he is being carried before burial or after he is placed in the grave—which would mean that he hears the living weeping over him, and this