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Doubt (2): Kafirs in the well of Badr
Another argument put forth is the Hadeeth reported in Saheeh al-
Bukharee when, “On the day of Badr, the Prophet ordered that
the corpses of twenty-four leaders of Quraysh should be thrown
into one of the dirty dry wells of Badr…” He halted at the edge
of the well, and addressed the corpses of the Quraysh infidels by
their names and their fathers’ names: “O so-and-so, son of soand-so
and O so-and-so, son of so-and-so! Would it have
pleased you if you had obeyed Allah and His Messenger ? We
have found true what our Lord promised us. Have you too
found true what your Lord promised you?” Umar said: “O
Messenger of Allah! You are speaking to bodies that have no
souls!” Allah’s Messenger said: “By Him in Whose Hand is
Muhammad’s () soul, you do not hear, what I say better than
they do.” 249
This Hadeeth refers to an exceptional case, when the Prophet
killed the Kuffar (disbelievers) in the battle of Badr and ordered
for them to be thrown in the well, whereby to humiliate them.
Qatada said while commenting on this Hadeeth, “Allah brought
them to life (again) to let them hear him, to reprimand them and
slight them and take revenge over them and caused them to feel
remorseful and regretful.” 250
Umar Ibn Khattab believed that the dead do not hear, and
therefore he questioned: “O Messenger of Allah ! You are
speaking to bodies that have no souls!” Similarly, Aa’ishah (radhi
allahu anha) too believed that the dead do not hear, and therefore
when this incident was mentioned to her, she said: “But the
Prophet said: “Now they know very well that what I used to
tell them was the truth.” Then she recited (the Qur’aanic Verse):
“You cannot make the dead hear... (till the end of Verse.)” 251 252
249 Saheeh al-Bukharee (Eng. Trans.) vol.5, Hadeeth no. 314.
250 Saheeh al-Bukharee (Eng. Trans.) vol: 5, Hadeeth no. 314.
251 Soorah ar-Rum (30): 52.
252 Saheeh al-Bukharee (Eng. trans.) vol. 5, no.317.
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