97 - Chapter on sending prayers upon the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and visiting his grave (1)

2041 - Muhammad ibn 'Awf narrated to us, al-Muqri' narrated to us, Haywah narrated to us, from Abu Sakhr Humayd ibn Ziyad, from Yazid ibn 'Abdullah ibn Qusayt, from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "There is no one who sends greetings of peace upon me except that Allah returns my soul to me so that I may return the greeting to him." (2)

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It was also recorded by al-Bukhari (1193) and (7326), Muslim (1399), and al-Nasa'i in "al-Kubra" (779) via the chain of 'Abdullah ibn Dinar, from Ibn 'Umar, with it. And in one of the narrations of al-Bukhari (1193) and Muslim (1399), it is also mentioned that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to come to Quba' every Saturday.

It is also in "Musnad Ahmad" (5199), and "Sahih Ibn Hibban" (1618) and (1628).

Quba', with a damma on the qaf: it is lengthened and shortened, treated as masculine and feminine, and declined and not declined. It is a village three miles from Medina.

(1) This chapter heading we have established from (H) and from the margin of (J), with a correction marked upon it.

(2) Its chain is sound. Abu Sakhr Humayd ibn Ziyad - who is al-Kharrat - is sound in hadith. Al-Nawawi declared it authentic in "al-Adhkar," and al-Hafiz al-'Iraqi deemed its chain good in "Takhrij Ahadith al-Ihya'" (965). Al-Muqri': he is 'Abdullah ibn Yazid al-Makki, and Haywah: he is Ibn Shurayh.

It was also recorded by Ishaq ibn Rahawayh in his "Musnad" (526), Ahmad in his "Musnad" (10815), al-Bayhaqi in "al-Sunan al-Kubra" 5/245, in "al-Da'awat al-Kabir" (158), in "Shu'ab al-Iman" (1581), and in "Hayat al-Anbiya' ba'da Wafatihim" (15), and al-Qadi 'Iyad in "al-Shifa'" 2/78-79, via the chain of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abdullah ibn Yazid al-Muqri', with this chain of transmission.

His saying: "returns my soul to me." Al-Manawi said: meaning He returns to me my speech, because he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is alive perpetually, and his soul never departs from him at all, because it is authentically established that the prophets are alive in their graves... This is apparent in the continuation of his life, for it is impossible that the entire existence should be devoid of anyone who sends greetings upon him customarily. And whoever restricts the returning [of the soul] to the time of visitation, then upon him is the burden of proof. So the intended meaning, as Ibn al-Mulaqqin and others said, is that by "soul" is meant speech metaphorically, and the basis of the metaphor is that speech necessarily entails the existence of the soul, just as the soul necessarily entails the existence of speech, either actually or potentially. And he, in the barzakh, is occupied with the affairs of the dominion, absorbed in beholding it, =