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 |  Subject: Do Souls of the Dead Return Back to this World? Part 3  Tue Oct 02, 2007 5:43 am | |
| Do Souls of the Dead Return Back to this World? Part 3  Compiled by
Shawana A Aziz
From As-Sunnah Bimonthly
Islamic Newsletter
This verse reveals the
condition of the disbeliever upon death; when he faces the realities of the
Hereafter, he wishes to return back to the world and mend his mistakes, in
order to avert the punishment. But he is plainly refused and confined in the
grave and punished for his sinful actions because he has entered the Barzakh.
It is impossible for him to escape the strong Guardian Angels of Allah and
return back to this world. The abode of the righteous soul is Paradise, the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu
alaihe wa-sallam) said: "The soul of a believer is a bird eating from the
trees of Paradise until Allah restores it to its body on the Day of
Resurrection." [An-Nasa'ee, Ibn Majah and others. Authenticated by Shaikh al-Albanee
Sharh al-Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah (p. 455, footnote: 1)] It is unlikely that the
righteous soul, who is surrounded by the bounties of Allah, would leave the
blessings of Allah and come to the world. Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe
wa-sallam) said: "No servant who has good in store for him with Allah and dies
ever wants to return to the Earth - even if he were to have the whole world
and everything that is in it - except for the martyr. That is due to what he
sees in the nobility of martyrdom. Verily, he would like to return back to the
Earth, in order to be martyred another time." [(Saheeh) Saheeh Sunan at-Tirmidhee
(1341)] But as the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) informed,
even the martyr is refused the permission to return, he (sallallahu alaihe
wa-sallam) said: "The souls of the martyrs live in the bodies of green birds
who have their nests in chandeliers hung from the throne of the Almighty. They
eat the fruits of Paradise wherever they like and then nestle in these
chandeliers. Once, their Lord cast a glance at them and said: "Do you want
anything?" They said: "What more can we desire? We eat the fruit of Paradise
wherever we like." Their Lord asked them the same question thrice. When they
saw that they would be continued to be asked and not left (without answering
the question), they said: "O Lord, we wish that You may return our souls to
our bodies so that we may be slain in Your cause once again. When He (Allah)
saw that they had no need, they were left (to their joy in Heaven)." [Saheeh
Muslim (4651)]
These and many other proofs from the Qur'aan and the Sunnah deny the concept
of the soul's return, and thus there remains no doubt that souls of the dead
do not return back to the world.
Observed Phenomenon If spirits do not return back to this world, then what is the explanation for
the Observed Phenomenon, like the physical appearance of the dead, speaking of
the souls through medium, and leaving messages for the living using Ouija
boards? And how do these spirits answer every question correctly about the
life and character of the dead?
Appearing of the Spirits: The alleged appearing of the spirits is an ancient
claim. Many a time, it is fabrication simply through deception, trickery, and
psychological influence. In other cases, it is done through the use of Jinn.
Deception is an old and well-known trick that the Jinn use to mislead mankind;
they play with the minds of humans in order to ruin their religion and cause
them to commit Shirk. A clear understanding of the topic should help the
Muslims not to be deceived by the spiritualists. The spiritualists, who claim to have contacts with the spirits of the dead
from an Islamic point of view, are in fact un-religious and liars. They make
contacts with the Jinn through evil incantations and demonic rituals and
perform extraordinary feats with ease through them. Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah)
said: "Many of those people (the so called spiritualists) write the Words of
Allah in blood or other impure substances. They write or make other statements
that are pleasing to Shaytaan." [See Majmoo al-Fatawa, v.19, p.35]
The Jinn (sing. Jinni):
The Jinn are a living creation of Allah, created from
smokeless flame of fire. They share the material world with the humans. Though
they are invisible to us, they eat and drink with us, and also have the
ability to inhabit the human body and influence our thoughts. They are
stronger than humans and can take different forms and shapes. Amongst them are
Muslims and Kafirs; the Kafir Jinn help their counterpart among the humans in
evil acts.
When the spiritualist contacts a Jinni, the Jinni takes advantage of his
ability to acquire different forms and adopts the appearance of the dead and
pretends to be the returned souls. This is one of the ways by which the
Shaytaan attempts to deceive humans and lead them astray. For example, on the
Day of the Battle of Badr, a devil came to the polytheist of Quraysh in the
shape of Suraqah bin Malik. This incident is also related in the Qur'aan in
Soorah al-Anfal ( : 48: "(Remember) when the Shaytaan (evil Jinn are called
Shaytaan meaning 'devils') made their (evil) deeds seem fair to them and said:
'No one of mankind can overcome you this Day (of the battle of Badr) and
verily, I am your neighbor (for each and every help).' But when the two forces
came in sight of each other, he ran away and said: 'Verily, I have nothing to
do with you. Verily! I see what you see not. Verily, I fear Allah for Allah is
severe in punishment."
Another incident is related in Saheeh al-Bukharee; a Jinni came to Abu
Hurayrah (radhiallahu anhu) several times, when he was in charge of the alms in Ramadan. Abu Hurayrah
(radhiallahu anhu) narrates: "Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) ordered
me to keep Sadaqah (al-Fitr) of Ramadan. A man came and started taking
handfuls of the foodstuff (of the Sadaqah, stealthily). I took hold of him and
said: "By Allah, I will take you to Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe
wa-sallam)." He said: "I am needy and have many dependents, and I am in great
need." I released him, and in the morning Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe
wa-sallam) asked me: "What did your prisoner do yesterday?" I said: "O Allah's
Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam)! The person complained of being needy
and of having many dependents, so, I pitied him and let him go." Allah's
Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) said: "Indeed, he told you a lie and
he will come again." Then the visitor came again and the same episode repeated
twice, after which Allah's Messenger asked: "O Abu Hurayrah! … Do you know
whom you were talking to, these three nights?" Abu Hurayrah said: "No!" He (sallallahu
alaihe wa-sallam) said: "It was Shaytaan." [Saheeh al-Bukharee 3/ 505]
Similarly, the Shaytaan makes use of this extraordinary ability of taking the
appearance of the dead people, and performs supernatural feats at graves and
tombs. People witness these unusual events and increase in the veneration of
the dead. Eventually, these unusual events cause people to have faith and hope
in the powers of the dead and they call upon the engraved to fulfill their
needs instead of Allah and thus commit Shirk...and this is exactly what the
Shaytaan (Kafir Jinn) intends.
Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) said: "To take the graves as
idols is the first step towards polytheism; it is why some visitors to graves
hear the voices near the graves, see certain visions before them, witness
strange forces in operation which are taken for a miracle of some righteous
deceased people whereas sometimes they are the Jinn and the Shaytaan.
For instance, they observe a grave being cleft and the deceased comes
out of it, talks with people and embraces them. Such a thing you will
witness near the graves of the Divine Apostles and other people,
whereas in reality it is Shaytaan. Indeed, the Shaytaan assumes the
form of a human being and says: 'I am so and so Prophet.' 'I am so and
so Shaikh'; and he tells a lie… The ignorant person believes that the
one who came out of the grave, who caressed him or conversed with him,
was the inmate of the grave, or was a righteous person or a Divine
person. In contrast to it, a perfect believer knows without any shadow
of doubt that he is Shaytaan." [Kitab al-Wasilah (English Translation)
pp. 42] The Qareen: Every human has been assigned a Jinni to be his constant
companion. He is called 'Qareen' and he encourages evil desires. The Messenger
of Allah (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) once told his companions: "Everyone of
you has been assigned a companion from the Jinn." They asked: "Even you, O
Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam)!" He replied: "Even me,
except that Allah has helped me against him and he has submitted. Now he only
tells me to do good." [Saheeh Muslim]
It is this Qareen, who is responsible for knowing the character and deeds of
the dead. For example, during séances (apparently) a Jinni often pretends to
contact the dead and allows them to speak to the living. In fact, the Jinn had
contacted the Qareen of the dead. The Qareen, who was a constant companion of
the dead person and knew his entire life history, will be able to mimic the
voice of the deceased and answer any questions accurately (about the dead
person's life), thus fooling those present into believing that they are in the
presence of spirits.
In Conclusion, souls of the dead cannot and do not come back to earth, they
cannot appear to or converse with the living inhabitants of the Earth. Causing
people to believe in the return of the souls is one of the means adopted by
Shaytaan to misguide mankind. By pretending to be returned souls of the dead
along with the performance of extraordinary feats, they deceive people into
believing in the powers of the dead. This has become a religious science of
its own having no basis in the Qur'aan or the Sunnah. Ultimately, it leads to
the worship of the souls of the dead and in reality worship of the Shaytaan
himself. [See Majmoo al-Fatawa v.1/p.359-61]
The Supernatural is thus not the World of Spirits and Lost Souls,
but the World of Jinn
SPIRIT POSSESSION Another widespread fallacy is the concept of spirit-possession, during which a
supposed spirit (of a dead person) occupies the human body and the individual
experiences fits and epilepsy. The Shaytaan has used this false belief so
strongly to corrupt people's Aqeedah that some of those who believe in spirit
possession even commit acts of Shirk, like performing un-Islamic rituals and
offerings at the tombs, hanging amulets containing words of disbelief, etc. to
protect themselves from possession and to seek treatment. It should be made
known that most of these cases are due to psychological illness, mistakenly
understood to be spirit-possession. The reason behind the prevalence of this
misconception, to some extent, is the practice of some exorcists, who have
made exorcism a way of obtaining money from the common masses. They convince
people into believing that they have been possessed by spirits and earn money
in the name of treatment. However, real cases of possession are very few and
they are due to the Jinn, who occupy the human body and not spirits. And Al-hamdulillah,
Allah and His Messenger (sallallahu alaihe wa-sallam) have rightly guided us
in this regard; anybody possessed by the Jinn can be cured by the prescribed
treatment mentioned in the Sunnah of Allah's Messenger (sallallahu alaihe
wa-sallam), Insha'Allah. The
Reality : In light of
what has preceded (about the soul and its journey after death in the previous
article), it can be undoubtedly said that spirits of the dead do not return
back to the world after death. Thus, it is not possible that the spirits can
possess the human body. The only possible source, which could be involved in
possessing human body, is the Jinn. Shaikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) states in Majmoo al-Fatawa, "The
existence of the Jinn is an established fact, according to the Book, the
Sunnah and the agreement of the early scholars. Likewise, the penetration of a
Jinni into a human body is also an established fact, according to the
consensus of leading Sunni scholars. It is also a fact witnessed and
experienced by anyone who reflects on it. The Jinni enters the one seized by
fits and causes him to speak incomprehensible words, unknown to himself; if
the one seized by fits is struck a blow sufficient to kill a camel, he does
not feel it."
Evidence
for Jinn Possession
Allah says: "Those who eat Riba (interest) will not stand (on the Day of
Judgment) except like the standing of a person beaten by the Shaytaan leading
him to insanity ('mass')." [Soorah al-Baqarah (2): 275] In this verse, Allah
compares the state of those who eat Riba, on the Day of Judgment, with the one
beaten by the Shaytan leading him to insanity. The word used in this verse for
insanity is 'mass', which also means devil possession. Since Allah has made
the Qur'aan, the most truthful book, it can never contain a false comparison. | |
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