Allah says, `just as you are not able to make the dead hear in their graves,
or to make your words reach the deaf who cannot hear and who still turn away
from you, so too you cannot guide the blind to the truth and bring them back
from their misguidance.' That is a matter which rests with Allah, for by His
power He can make the dead hear the voices of the living if He wills. He guides
whom He wills and sends astray whom He wills, and no one but He has the power to
do this. Allah says:
[إِن تُسْمِعُ إِلاَّ
مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِـَايَـتِنَا فَهُم مُّسْلِمُونَ]
(you can make to hear only those who believe in Our Ayat, and have submitted
(to Allah in Islam).) means, those who are humble and who respond and obey.
These are the ones who will listen to the truth and follow it; this is the state
of the believers; the former (being deaf and blind) is the state of the
disbelievers, as Allah says:
[إِنَّمَا
يَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ يَسْمَعُونَ وَالْمَوْتَى يَبْعَثُهُمُ اللَّهُ ثُمَّ
إِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُونَ ]
(It is only those who listen will respond, but as for the dead, Allah will
raise them up, then to Him they will be returned.) (6:36) `A'ishah, the Mother
of the faithful, may Allah be pleased with her, used this Ayah --
[إِنَّكَ لاَ
تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَى]
(So verily, you cannot make the dead to hear) as evidence against `Abdullah
bin `Umar when he reported that the Prophet had addressed the slain disbelievers
who had been thrown into a dry well three days after the battle of Badr,
rebuking and reprimanding them, until `Umar said, "O Messenger of Allah, are you
addressing people who are dead bodies'' He said:
«وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي
بِيَدِهِ مَا أَنْتُمْ بِأَسْمَعَ لِمَا أَقُولُ مِنْهُمْ، وَلَكِنْ لَا
يُجِيبُون»
(By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, you do not hear what I say any better
than they do, but they cannot respond.) s`A'ishah interpreted this event to mean
that the Prophet was making the point that now they would know that what he had
been telling them was true. Qatadah said: "Allah brought them back to life for
him so that they could hear what he said by way of rebuke and vengeance.''
[اللَّهُ الَّذِى
خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن
بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفاً وَشَيْبَةً يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ
الْقَدِيرُ ]
(54. Allah is He Who created you in weakness, then gave you strength after
weakness, then after strength gave (you) weakness and grey hair. He creates what
He wills. And He is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.)