Maliki

Ibn Rushd al-Jadd (d. 520H) – Souls do not die with death

Abu al Walid Ibn Rushd al-Jadd al-Qurtubi (450 – 520 H), is from among the renowned Andalusian jurists of the Maliki school. He is the grandfather of the other Ibn Rushd (Averros) and among his students is the famous Qadi Iyad (476-544H).

In his book, Al-Bayan wa al-Tahsil wa al-Tawjih, he writes the following under the subheading “Umar رضي الله عنه sought the permission of Aisha رضي الله عنها to be buried with the Prophet”

After relating the incident of Umar ibn Al Khattab seeking permission of the Mother of the believers, Aisha, to be interred next to the blessed tomb of the Prophet (ﷺ), the following is then written:

(*Imam*) Malik said: I was informed that Aisha used to enter her house in which was the tomb of the Prophet (ﷺ) and that of Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه) (*her father*) without hijab/jilbab. When Umar (رضي الله عنه) was interred there, she did not enter except with the hijab/jilbab.

Ibn Rushd said: (……………) She did not enter the house without hijab/jilbab because of what has come in the Quran and by tawatur (multitude of) reports that souls do not die with the death of bodies, and it is the bodies that die by the capture of the souls from them, which is the essence/self and breath of life. Allah the Almighty and Majestic, said:

{God takes the souls of the dead and the souls of the living while they sleep}[Zumar: 42], and He said: {“O soul, in rest and satisfaction!}{return to your Lord well pleased and well pleasing}{go in among My servants}{and into My Garden} [Al Fajr: 27 to 30]. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “The ruh of the mumin is a bird that sits in the trees of the Garden until Allah returns it to his body on the day He raises him”. And he (ﷺ) said: “When you die, your place will be shown to you in the morning and the evening. If you are one of the people of the Garden, then you will be with the people of the Garden, and if you are one of the people of the Fire, then you will be with the people of the Fire. You will be told, ‘This is your place of waiting until Allah raises you on the day of rising.'” It has been reported that the souls remains in the graves and that they raise their heads, and that their awareness is more on Thursdays, Friday nights and Saturday nights. So when Aisha رضي الله عنها was insecure that the soul of Umar رضي الله عنه could be in the locality of his grave when she enters the house, so then she did not enter except by bringing together her clothes (i.e. hijab & jilbab). This is a matter of piety and scrupulousness and not an obligation, because the outer garment (the hijab & jilbab) is required with those living in this world as a commandment of God, and not with respect to the souls of the dead. And all success is from God.

Source: https://al-maktaba.org/book/21751/8857

The following benefits can be derived from this:

  1. Souls do not die with death and only the bodies die.
  2. The souls of the dead are aware of the living. [ For more on this subject, go to page 54 of the following book: https://www.scribd.com/doc/92672766/The-Defense-of-the-Sunnah-An-Analysis-of-the-Theory-and-Practices-Of-Tasawwuf ]
  3. The above is the doctrine of Islam from the Quran, from the hadiths reaching the level of tawatur, the salaf and Imams of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamah, and this is unlike the view propagated by modern day pseudo Salafists who borrowed their doctrine from modernists like Rashid Rida and from earlier Mutazlities.
  4. Legality of having tombs of the Prophets and Righteous located within a building/house, unlike the view propagated by pseudo Salafism that such a building in and of itself entails “glorification of graves”, “leads to shirk”, “resembles the Jews & Christians”, “practice of the Shia” or is an “idolatrous temple”.
  5. How much lost is the person who spends decades of his life making takfir of Muslims over matters like this, dividing Muslim communities apart, shedding their blood, considering lawful for them to forcefully take the wealth, wives & daughters of Muslims who do not follow their doctrine, bombing mosques and graves, making takfir of righteous scholars of the past and present, dismantling the shariah, and wasting billions & billions of dollars to hijack the minds of young Muslims from the path of their righteous ancestors to path of few select modern day figure heads from Najd they consider as solely guided.