Chapter 4: Corpses, jinns, and angels recognizing Noble Messenger

Corpses, jinn, and angels recognise God's Messenger. The miracles concerning jinn and angels are mutawatir and number in the thousands. Out of many instances illustrating that corpses recognise God's Messenger, we cite only a few related by reliable authorities, as follows:

 First:

Hasan al-Basri, a devoted student of Saiyidina 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib RA and the greatestTabi'un religious scholar in both the outer and inner dimension of Islam, reported that a bitterly weeping man came to God's Messenger and said:"My little daughter died in that stream nearby, and I left her corpsethere." God's Messenger had pity on him and said, "Come, we will gothere." They reached the place where she was buried. When God's Messenger called to her, she replied at once: "Here I am, ready to carry outyour orders." God's Messenger asked if she wanted to return to her parents. "No," she said, "for I have found a better place here."

Second:

 Such significant Traditionists as Imam Bayhaqi and Ibn 'Adiyyreport that Anas ibn Malik said: "A pious old woman's only son died unexpectedly. She grieved very much and prayed: "O God, I emigratedhere only to obtain Your good pleasure and serve Your Messenger, to whom I took the oath of allegiance. For Your Messenger's sake, give me back my son, who was the only one to look after me.

" Anas says: "That dead son was raised and ate with us."In his Qasida al-Bur'a, written in praise of the Prophet, Imam Busiri refers to this miraculous event:

If the miracles he worked had been enoughto demonstrate his unequal drink, Mere mention of his name would suffice to quickendecayed bones (letalone the newly dead).

Third

Bayhaqi and others quote 'Abdullah ibn 'Ubayullah al-Ansari: "Iwas present when Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas was buried after beingmartyred during the Battle of Yamama. As he was being buried, peopleheard him say: 'Muhammad is God's Messenger, Abu Bakr is truthful,'Umar is a martyr, and 'Uthman is pious and merciful.' We opened the grave only to find him dead."

Hassan ibn Thabit thus predicted 'Umar's martyrdom even before 'Umar became caliph.

 Fourth

 Imam Tabarani and Abu Nu'aym in

 Dala'il al-Nubuwwah

(Proofs of Prophethood) Report from Nu'man ibn Bashir: "Zayd ibn Khar-ija died unexpectedly at the market. We took his body home. Women cried around him for some time between the evening and the late evening prayers, when he was heard to say: 'Silence, silence!' and continued fluently: 'Muhammad is God's Messenger. Peace be upon you, O Messenger.' We examined him and found that he was dead."

If living people still do not confirm him even when the dead bear witness to his Messengership, they are more lifeless than corpses and moredead than the dead. Accounts of angels appearing to and serving God's Messenger, andthose of jinn believing in and obeying him, have the status of mutawatir, for many Qur'anic verses have affirmed this explicitly. For example, the Qur'an states that during the Battle of Badr, 5,000 angels served him as Companions—like soldiers on the front line. This was done to strengthen the believers' conviction that they would win, not to participate in the battle directly. 

These angels are distinguished among all others by thathonor, just as the people of Badr were distinguished among all otherCompanions.There are two aspects to be considered here: The existence of angels and jinn and their relationship with us (decisively proved inTheTwenty-ninth Word), and the ability of certain Muslims to see and converse with them through the Messenger's blessing and miracle.

Many Tradition authorities, above all Bukhari and Muslim, report thatArchangel Gabriel came to God's Messenger, when he was sitting withsome Companions, as a man dressed in white. He asked about belief, Islam, and virtue (ihsan). While God's Messenger was defining them, theCompanions learned a lesson and saw the questioner plainly. When thequestioner, who appeared to be a visitor although, to their astonishment, he bore no signs of travel, suddenly disappeared, God's Messenger said: "That was Gabriel, who came to teach you your religion."

Traditionists also report, through authentic narrations having the certainty of mutawatir in meaning, that Companions often saw Gabriel withGod's Messenger as Dihya, a very good-looking Companion. For instance, 'Umar, Ibn 'Abbas, Usama ibn Zayd, Harith, 'A'isha, and UmmSalama report: "We frequently saw Gabriel with God's Messenger in the form of Dihya."

Would they have said this if they could not seeGabriel?Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, conqueror of Persia and one of the ten Companions promised Paradise while alive, reported: "During the Battle of Uhudwe saw two men dressed in white at each side of God's Messenger, as if guarding him. We concluded that they were the Arch-angels Gabriel andMichael."

When such a hero of Islam says he saw them, could he not have seen them? Abu Sufyan ibn Harith ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's cousin, reports: "We saw horsemen dressed in white between the sky and Earthduring the Battle of Badr."

One day, Hamzah told God's Messenger that he wanted to see Gabriel. The Messenger complied at the Ka'ba, but Hamza could not bear the sight and fell unconscious. Several similar instances demonstrate this type of miracle and indicate that even angels are like moths around his Prophethood's light. Both Companions and ordinary Muslims can meet and converse with jinn. The most definite example concerns Ibn Mas'ud, whom the Traditionists report through one of the most authentic narrations, as saying: "I saw the jinn in Batn al-Nakhla on the night they were converted to Islam. They resembled the tall men of the Sudanese Zut tribe."

Another well-known incident accepted and narrated by Traditionistsconcerns Khalid ibn Walid. When 'Uzza (a pre-Islamic idol) was demolished, a female jinn emerged in the form of a dark woman. Khalid cuther into two pieces with his sword. 

Then God's Messenger said: "They have been worshipping her in the idol 'Uzza. From now on, she will be worshipped no longer."Umar said: "When we were with God's Messenger, a jinn namedHaama appeared as an old man with a stick. He converted to Islam. God's Messenger instructed him in some short Qur'anic chapters and, after learning his lesson, the jinn departed."  

Although some Traditionists question this event's accuracy, the outstanding authorities agree that it happened. There is no need for long explanations, since we have cited many examples in this respect. However, we add this: Through the light andteaching of God's Messenger, and by following him, thousands of sucheminent, godly people of purity as 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani have met andconversed with angels and jinn. Thus this event has reached the degree of  tawatur a hundred times.

Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 1:212; Bukhari, 4:250; Bayhaqi, 7:52, 87.209.Muslim, no. 2036; Bukhari, 7:192; Hakim, 2:264.210.Shifa', 1:362; Ibn Hanbal, 1:347; also related by Bukhari and Bayhaqi.211.Shifa', 1:362; Suyuti, al-Khasa'is al-Kubra', 1:311.212.Ibn Hanbal, 6:165; Suyuti, ibid., 1:343; Shifa', 1:362.213.Abu Nu'aym, 2:535; Shifa', 1:362; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 4:316.214.Bayhaqi, 5:416; Suyuti, 2:350.