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We are going to narrate some of the miracles concerning the talking of corpses with the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from authentic sources.
The Resurrection of a dead girl and her talking with the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
Hasan al-Basri, an important and loyal student of Imam ‘Ali and the greatest authority among the scholars of the external and esoteric sciences in the time of the generation subsequent to the Companions, related: “A man came weeping to God’s Messenger. He said: ‘I had a little girl; she drowned in such-and-such stream nearby. I left her there.’ God’s Messenger pitied the man and said they would go there together. They went, and the Messenger called to the dead girl, saying her name. At once, the dead girl replied: ‘I am present and answer your call gladly.’ God’s Messenger asked her: ‘Do you want to return to your father and mother?’ She replied: ‘No, I have found something better here!’ (1)
The Resurrected Man upon the prayer that was made for the sake of the apostle of Allah
Important authorities like Imam Bayhaqi and Imam b. ‘Adiyy relate from Anas b. Malik: Anas said: “An elderly woman had a single son who suddenly died. The righteous woman was very grieved and prayed: ‘O God, I left my home and migrated here only to obtain Your pleasure and to pay allegiance to God’s Noble Messenger (PBUH) and to serve him. For the sake of Your Messenger, return my son to me, who was the only person to look after me.’ Anas said: “The dead man rose up, came and ate with us.” (2)
In the following lines from the celebrated poem Qasida al-Burda, Imam Busayri refers to this extraordinary event:
“Were his wonders to correspond to his virtue in greatness / Mere mention of his name would have animated decayed bones.”
The Talking of a Martyr companion that was put into the grave
Scholars like Imam Bayhaqi relate from ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Ubayd Allah al-Ansari: ‘Abd Allah said: “I was present when Thabit b. Qays b. Shammas fell as a martyr in the Battle of Yamama and was buried. As he was being put in his grave, a voice suddenly came from him, saying: ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God, Abu Bakr is the Veracious [Siddiq], ‘Umar, the martyr, and ‘Uthman, pious and merciful.’ (3) We uncovered him and looked: he was dead and lifeless!”
He was foretelling ‘Umar’s martyrdom even before he had succeeded to the Caliphate.
The Talk of the Corpse
Imam Tabarani, and Abu Na‘im in his Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, relate from Nu‘man b. Bashir:
“Zayd b. Kharija suddenly dropped down dead in the marketplace. We took his body to his house. That evening between sunset and the night prayer, while the women were weeping all around him, he exclaimed: ‘Silence! Silence!’ Then, saying: ‘Muhammad is God’s Messenger! Peace be upon you, O Messenger of God!’, he spoke most eloquently for a while. We looked: he was dead, without life.” (4)
Thus, if lifeless corpses affirm his prophethood and the living do not, for sure they are more dead than the dead and more lifeless than corpses!
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(1) Qadi Iyad, ash-Shifa’ i, 320; al-Khafaji, Sharh ash-Shifa’ iii, 106.
(2) Qadi Iyad, ash-Shifa’ i, 320; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’n-Nihaya vi, 292.
(3) Qadi Iyad, ash-Shifa’ i, 320; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh ash-Shifa’ i, 649; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’n-Nihaya vi, 157-8.
(4) Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’n-Nihaya viii, 291 (through various lines); al-Haythami, Majma’ az-Zawa’id v, 179-80 (through two lines of transmission).
