Mamatis are Neo-Mutazilites

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

Blessings and salutations of peace be upon you my Master, Apostle of Allah

The established doctrine of us Sunni Muslims is that the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم and indeed all the Prophets are alive in their graves. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

مَرَرْتُ عَلَى مُوسَى لَيْلَةَ أُسْرِيَ بِي عِنْدَ الْكَثِيبِ الْأَحْمَرِ وَهُوَ قَائِمٌ يُصَلِّي فِي قَبْرِهِ

I passed by Moses on the night I was taken (to Jerusalem) by the red mound and he was standing, praying in his grave (Sahih Muslim)

الأَنْبِيَاءُ ‌أَحْيَاءٌ ‌فِي ‌قُبُورِهِمْ يُصَلُّونَ

The Prophets are alive in their graves, praying (Musnad al-Bazar)

In modern times a fitnah has reared its ugly head which cloaks itself in the garb of the Sunnah while denying the established Sunni doctrine that the Prophets عليهم السلام are alive in their graves. The adherents of this astray sect have been dubbed Mamatis for they believe the Prophets are dead معاذ الله and deny the special life of the Prophets in their graves. The sect is based in Panjpir, a town in Swabi district of Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, where their main institution called Darul Quran is located. The name of their organization is Jam’iat Isha’ate Tawhid wa Sunnah (Association for the Propagation of Monotheism and Sunnah). This sect is associated with such figures as Husain Ali Alwani, Ghulamullah Khan and Muhammad Tahir Panjpiri. A radical Mamati preacher, Ahmad Sa’id Khan Multani, splintered from this group and established his own organization in the south of the Punjab province. These Mamatis are in reality a kind of neo-Mu’tazilite faction that have separated themselves from mainstream Sunni Muslims, who throughout the world hold fast to the belief that the Prophets are literally and bodily alive in their graves (though we are unable to perceive it). Like the classical Mu’tazilah, the modern-day Mamatis and other neo-Mu’tazilites have deviated from the sacred creed of Sunni Islam due to a false approach of rationalism rather than humbly submitting to the Texts of the Quran and Hadith and clinging to the creed of the great Imams, scholars, saints and elders of Ahl us-Sunnati wal-Jama’ah. Apart from denying the life of the Prophets in their graves, the denial of the reality and efficacy of Sihr (magic or sorcery) and the denial of the reality of demonic possession are other deviations of the classical Mu’tazilah that have been inherited by neo-Mu’tazilite sects of today like the Mamatis.

The great Sunni, Hanafi scholar Allamah Badr ud-Din al-Ayni (d.855 H) رحمة الله عليه said:

وَأَرَادَ بالموتتين الْمَوْت فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْمَوْت فِي الْقَبْر وهما الموتتان المعروفتان المشهورتان فَلذَلِك ذكرهمَا بالتعريف وهما الموتتان الواقعتان لكل أحد غير الْأَنْبِيَاء عَلَيْهِم الصَّلَاة وَالسَّلَام فَإِنَّهُم لَا يموتون فِي قُبُورهم بل هم أَحيَاء وَأما سَائِر الْخلق فَإِنَّهُم يموتون فِي الْقُبُور ثمَّ يحيون يَوْم الْقِيَامَة وَمذهب أهل السّنة وَالْجَمَاعَة أَن فِي الْقَبْر حَيَاة وموتاً فَلَا بُد من ذوق الموتتين لكل أحد غير الْأَنْبِيَاء وَقد تمسك بقوله لَا يذيقك الله الموتتين من ‌أنكر ‌الْحَيَاة فِي الْقَبْر وهم الْمُعْتَزلَة وَمن نحا نحوهم

By the two deaths, he meant death in this world and death in the grave. These are the two well-known and famous deaths, and that is why he mentioned them with the definite article. They are the two deaths that happen to everyone except the Prophets, peace and blessings be upon them. They do not die in their graves, rather they are alive. As for the rest of creation, they die in their graves and then come back to life on the Day of Resurrection. The doctrine of the people of the Sunnah and the Jama’ah is that in the grave there is life and death, so everyone must taste the two deaths except the Prophets. Those who denied life in the grave, namely the Mu'tazilah and those who followed them, held fast to his statement “Allah will not let you taste the two deaths.” (Umdat al-Qari; v.16, p.185)

And like the classical Mu’tazilah, the Mamatis and other neo-Mu’tazilites cite the statements of sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضى الله عنه to justify their denial of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم being alive in his grave, but as al-Ayni has pointed out, they have interpreted those statements in opposition to the correct interpretation of the Sunni Muslims.