Thus, there are numerous examples similar to these. We have described  a few that are famous and certain. To those who do not recognize and obey the Noble Messenger (UWBP), we say this: O man! Take a lesson from these! The lion and the wolf  recognized  and obeyed  him;  you,  then,  should  try not to  fall lower  than  an animal!

S e c o n d  B r a n c h

This  concerns  corpses,  jinns,  and  angels  recognizing  God’s Noble  Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace). There were very many instances of this. We shall describe a few examples which are famous and have been related by reliable scholars, firstly about corpses. As for jinns and angels, the many reports concerning them are unanimous, and examples of them number not one but a thousand. And so, examples of the dead speaking:

The First is this: 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 (Upon whom be blessings and peace). He said: ‘I had a little girl; she drowned in such-and-such stream nearby. I left her there.’ He pitied the man and said they would go there together. They went, and the Messenger (UWBP) called to the dead girl, saying her name. At once the dead girl replied: ‘I am present and answer your call gladly.’ He asked her: ‘Do you want to return to your father and mother?’ She replied: ‘No, I have found something better here!’”[272]

The Second: 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 (UWBP) 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 and came and ate with us.”[273]

In the following lines from the celebrated poem Qasidat al-Burda, Imam Busiri 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.”

[272] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 320; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 106.

[273] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 320; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, vi, 292.