What further attests to this is that the Companions differed over many matters after his ﷺ passing, yet it never occurred to any of them to go to him at his grave, consult him about those issues, or ask him which view was correct. Why is that? The reason is perfectly obvious: they all knew that he ﷺ had departed from the life of this world and that its conditions and laws no longer applied to him. After his death, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is alive—indeed, living the most complete life a human being can experience in the barzakh—but it is a life entirely unlike worldly life. He ﷺ hinted at this when he said, “Whenever anyone sends me greetings, Allah restores my soul to me so that I may return his greeting.” 1 In any case, the reality of that life is known only to Allah, and therefore it is impermissible to measure the life of the barzakh—or the life of the Hereafter—by the standards of earthly life, or to apply the rulings of one to the other. Each possesses its own distinct form and particular laws; they share only the name “life,” while their true nature is known to Allah alone.

With this reminder in place, let us return to refuting those who object to the report of ʿUmar’s seeking rain through al-ʿAbbās. They contend that ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—abandoned seeking intercession through the Prophet ﷺ and instead sought it through al-ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with him—in order to demonstrate the permissibility of appealing to one less excellent when someone more excellent is present. Such reasoning is both astonishing and laughable. How could it possibly have crossed the mind of ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him, or