Fath ul Bari ba-Sharah Sahih al-Bukhari

Imam Ibn Hajr Asqalani (rah) on hadith Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) ‘The dead cannot hear us’ [Bukhari Volume 005, Book 059, Hadith Number 316, Online]: [dhukira] : it has been mentioned in Isma’ilis narration, he says: ‘it reached Aisha’ [anna ayishata balagha-ha] however i don’t know who the reporter [muballigh] is. however, he [isma’ili] has another report from which it is inferred that it is urwah who has reported this. [wahil]: fright, terror. it has also been reported as ‘wahal’ but that which is well-known is ‘wahil’; it is wrong both in meaning and also incorrect in tense. If it is read ‘wahal’ it means: [he is] terrified, forgetful, cowardly and apprehensive. [fazia wa nasiya wa jabuna wa qalaqa] Farabi, Az’hari, Ibn al-qatta’a, Ibn faris, Qabisi and others have said: ‘wahaltu ilayh’ [i was scared/apprehensive about it] with the fat’hah; ‘ahil’ with kasrah and wahlan with sukun.That is ‘when your doubt inclines towards that’ Qali and Jawhari said: ‘and you mean [something] other than that and ibn al-qatta’a has added more.’……. (Translator’s note: this is a linguistic argument which doesn’t make much sense when translated; Imam Ibn Hajr is discussing differences in usage. quite irrelevant to our discussion but translated here to remain consistent.)……… [He said: ‘that is, when they are sent to hell’]:The reporter here is úrwah. He is trying to explain what Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) meant and indicates that the negation in the qur’anic verse: ‘you cannot make the dead hear’ is relegated and restricted [muqayyad] to the period after they [polytheists] are put in hellfire. And here there is no conflict in the denial of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and the affirmation of ibn Umar [that the dead hear] as this has been clarified and explained in the chapter on funerals. [al-janayiz]
However, the narration after this one proves that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) denied [such hearing of the dead] in absolute terms, since she insisted that the hadith was in the words ‘verily, they shall know’ and that Ibn Umar was mistaken [wahma] when he said ‘they shall hear.’ Bayhaqi said: ‘knowledge does not negate hearing’ The verse is then explained that ‘they cannot be made to hear when they are dead’ but then Allah gave them life and then they heard’ according to qatadah. [also] Umar and his son are not the only ones who have reported this event [of those killed in badr being addressed]; even Abu Tal’aah agrees with them as we have described earlier. Tabarani has a rigorously authenticated report [isnadin sahih] narrated from Ibn Masud similar to this one. [Fath ul Bari Volume 007, Page No. 303]

There is a similar report narrated from Abdullah Ibn Sidan and in that report it is has these words: ‘they [companions] said, ‘O’ Messenger of Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) do they [the dead] hear?’ he replied ‘they hear as you hear, but they cannot reply’ In [the book] al-maghazi [campaigns] by Ibn Is’haq there is an exceptional [uncommon, gharib] narration reported by Yunus Ibn Bukayr through a valid chain [isnadin jayyid] from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that is similar to the narration by Abu Talha and [additionally,] it contains: ‘you do not hear what i say anymore than they [the dead] do’ and [imam] Ahmed has [also] reported this with a well authenticated chain [isnadin hasan] and if this is retained, then it is as if she retracted from her former position of denial as proven from these companions [in these reports] because she had not witnessed that event [of badr, whereas Umar did] . Isma’ili says: there is no doubt that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) had the perspicacity, intelligence, a vast collection of narrations and a deep insight [al-ghaws fi ghawamidi’l ilm] in the sciences which is unrivalled; but still, even she cannot refute a report of a reliable narrator [in this case Umar and his son] except with a similar narration that can prove, either the abrogation, exclusivity or the impossibility of the contradicting report. [naskhihi, takhsisihi, istihalatihi] therefore it is impossible to reconciliate [contradictory] reports of her denial and her affirmation except as above [that she retracted from her former position] Also the verse ‘verily, you cannot make the dead to hear’ does not contradict his saying (Peace Be Upon Him): ‘verily, now they hear.’ because ‘to make someone hear’ [al-Isma’a] is to deliver the sound in the ear of the hearer. And it is Allah tala who makes them to hear by making the voice of His prophet to reach their ears.And regarding what she [Aisha] said in her report ‘verily they know’ she would not have negated the other report if she had heard of this one. Suhaiyli said that ‘it is evident from the query of his companions, that the basis of the very report is an unusual occurrence and a miracle of Messenger of Allah (Peace Be Upon Him), when they asked him: ‘do you address a people who are dead and rotten?’ and he replied to them [as mentioned in the hadith above] So, if they can ‘know’ in that state, certainly they can hear? this is possible by their external ears – according to a most commentators – or by the ears of their heart. Those who say that ‘the question is directed towards the soul and the body’ use this hadith as their proof. And those who refute them say: ‘the question is addressed only to the soul; because ‘hearing’ can be either by external ears or by the ears of the heart. [expression peculiar to arabic] and there does not remain any scope for further argument [lam yabqa fihi’l hujjah] I say [Ibn Hajr]: if this was a miracle of Messenger of Allah (Peace Be Upon Him), it is not correct to use this as a proof for [the generic] matter of questioning [in the grave] The qur’anic exegetes [ahlu’t ta-wil] have differed on who is described by the word ‘dead’ in the verse: ‘verily you cannot make the dead to hear.’ Similarly, there is difference on who is described by ‘those in the graves.’ Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) inferred by the obvious meaning and took it as the principle to explain the saying of [Messenger of Allah] ‘you do not hear anymore what i say, than they do.’ that is what most scholars say [about Aisha’s denial]. It is also said that ‘the dead’ and ‘those in graves’ is a metaphor [majaz] that describes the disbelievers. that is, even though they are alive, they resemble the dead. If that is the case, then this verse cannot be used as evidence for what Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) negated. (Allah Ta’la knows best) [Fath ul Bari Volume 007, Page 304]