that he said:

“No man passes the grave of a man whom he knew in this world and greets him with peace without Allah restoring his soul to him so that he may return the greeting.”

It is also related from him in the Sunan collections that he said:

“Send abundant blessings upon me on Friday and the night preceding it, for your blessings are presented to me.” They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how will our blessings be presented to you when you have decayed?”—meaning, when you have crumbled to dust. He replied, “Allah, Most High, has forbidden the earth to consume the flesh of the prophets.”

It is also related in the Sunan collections that he said:

“Allah has appointed angels at my grave who convey to me the greetings of peace from my community.”

These texts and others like them show that the deceased can, in general, hear the speech of the living. This does not necessarily mean that they hear continuously; rather, they may hear at one time and not at another, just as happens to the living. A living person may sometimes hear someone addressing him, while at other times something may prevent him from hearing. This hearing is a matter of perception and entails no reward or punishment. Nor is it the hearing negated in His words:

“Indeed, you cannot make the dead hear.”

What is meant there is hearing that leads to acceptance and obedience. Allah likens the disbeliever to a dead person who does not respond to someone calling him, and to animals that hear the sound but do not understand its meaning. Although a dead person may hear the words and understand their meaning, he cannot respond to the caller or comply with his commands and prohibitions, and thus does not benefit from those commands and prohibitions. Likewise, the disbeliever does not benefit from commands and prohibitions, even though he hears the address and understands its meaning, as