Deobandi (False) Belief: The Martyrs Are Physically/Bodily Alive

Among the peculiar and utterly false beliefs of the Deobandi sect which contravenes the pure and sound teachings of Islam is that the Shuhada (Martyrs) who are killed in the cause of Allah are alive with a physical/bodily life!

Of course, we know from the Holy Qur'an that those people (martyrs) who are slain in the path of Allah should not be considered as dead, rather they are alive. However, the life spoken of in the Holy Qur'an is not a bodily life or a worldly life, but a spiritual life in Jannah (Heaven). Allah Most Holy says:

وَ لَا تَقُوۡلُوۡا لِمَنۡ یُّقۡتَلُ فِیۡ سَبِیۡلِ اللّٰہِ اَمۡوَاتٌ ؕ بَلۡ اَحۡیَآءٌ وَّ لٰکِنۡ لَّا تَشۡعُرُوۡنَ

Translation: “Do not say about the one who is killed in the path of Allah that they are 'dead'. Rather, (they are) alive, but you cannot perceive it.” (Surah 2:154)

*We see in this verse that Allah qualifies the spiritual life which the martyrs enjoy after their martyrdom as a special type of life different from the worldly life, because it is a life that we are unable to perceive or truly comprehend. Similarly, Allah Most High says elsewhere:

وَ لَا تَحۡسَبَنَّ الَّذِیۡنَ قُتِلُوۡا فِیۡ سَبِیۡلِ اللّٰہِ اَمۡوَاتًا ؕ بَلۡ اَحۡیَآءٌ عِنۡدَ رَبِّہِمۡ یُرۡزَقُوۡنَ

Translation: “Never regard those who are killed in the path of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive in the presence of their Lord; being provided for.” (Surah 3:169)

*This verse also clarifies that the special spiritual life of the martyrs has no connection to this world or to their earthly bodies, rather, it is a spiritual life in the presence of Allah which is in Jannah (Heaven).

But the Deobandi mulla Abdul Haq Khan Bashir Naqshbandi (Chairman of the Haq Char Yar Academy in Gujrat, Pakistan) has attempted to deceive the public with his book by claiming that the life enjoyed by the Martyrs has a connection to their physical/earthly bodies. He has only partially quoted a Hadith of Abdullah b. Mas'ud^RA but had he quoted it fully his deception would have been exposed. The Hadith is as follows:

أَرْوَاحُهُمْ فِي جَوْفِ طَيْرٍ خُضْرٍ لَهَا قَنَادِيلُ مُعَلَّقَةٌ بِالْعَرْشِ ، تَسْرَحُ مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ حَيْثُ شَاءَتْ ثُمَّ تَأْوِي إِلَى تِلْكَ الْقَنَادِيلِ ، فَاطَّلَعَ إِلَيْهِمْ رَبُّهُمُ اطِّلَاعَةً ، فَقَالَ : هَلْ تَشْتَهُونَ شَيْئًا ؟ قَالُوا : أَيَّ شَيْءٍ نَشْتَهِي وَنَحْنُ نَسْرَحُ مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ حَيْثُ شِئْنَا " ، فَفَعَلَ ذَلِكَ بِهِمْ ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ ، فَلَمَّا رَأَوْا أَنَّهُمْ لَنْ يُتْرَكُوا مِنْ أَنْ يُسْأَلُوا ، قَالُوا : يَا رَبِّ نُرِيدُ أَنْ تَرُدَّ أَرْوَاحَنَا فِي أَجْسَادِنَا حَتَّى نُقْتَلَ فِي سَبِيلِكَ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى ، فَلَمَّا رَأَى أَنْ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ حَاجَةٌ تُرِكُوا

Translation: “Their souls are in the crops of green birds, which have lamps hanging from the Arsh (Throne of Allah), and they roam freely wherever they want in Jannah (Heaven), then they return to their lamps. Their Lord looked down upon them and said: 'Do you desire anything?' They said: 'What could we desire, when we can roam freely wherever we want in Paradise?' He (Allah) did that with them three times, and when they saw that they would not be left without being asked, they said: 'O Lord, we want You to restore our souls to our bodies so that we may be killed in Your cause again.' When He saw that they had no need, they were left alone.”

[Sahih Muslim; Kitab al-Imarah]

*This Hadith makes it plain that the life enjoyed by the Martyrs is a life in Paradise/Heaven and has absolutely no connection to this world. The souls of the martyrs are placed in the bellies of green birds. The souls are not placed back into the human/earthly bodies as the Deobandis falsely claim. Furthermore, the Hadith when quoted in full mentions that the Martyrs will request Allah to restore them to their original bodies, so that they may be killed again and experience the sweetness of martyrdom once more. However, since Allah has already decreed that the dead cannot return to this world, hence this request of the martyrs cannot be fulfilled.

But contrary to this, the Deobandi mulla Idris Kandhlawi has been quoted as saying (in Ma'arif ul Qur'an v.1 p.249) that the life of the martyrs is bodily and their souls are connected to their Earthly bodies:

وہاں ان کا یہ عقیدہ بھی ہے کہ ان ارواح کا تعلق شہداء کے ابدان سے بھی قائم رہتا ہے جس سے ان کو حیات جسمانی حاصل ہوتی ہے چنانچہ حضرت مولانا محمد ادریس کاندھلوی فرماتے ہیں کہ: “جمہور علماء کا مسلک یہ ہےکہ شہدا کی حیات جسمانی ہے اس لیے کہ موت اور قتل کا تعلق جسم سے ہے اور یہی ظاہر ‏ آیت کا مفہوم ہے۔

Translation: “Their (Ulama of Deoband) belief is that the connection of the souls of the martyrs to their bodies remains established, through which they acquire bodily life. Hadrat Mawlana Muhammad Idris Kandhlawi says: 'The belief of the majority of Ulama is that the life of the Martyrs is bodily, because death and being killed are related to the body, and this is the literal meaning of the Ayat (verse).'”

Reference: Ulama-i-Deoband Ka Aqidah Hayat an-Nabi aur Maulana Ataullah Bandiyalwi; p.59