A brother has parents who are both deaf. Will he be questioned on the Day of Resurrection about why he did not convey Islam to them?
Shaykh Muqbil ibn Hādī al-Wādiʿī (d. 1422 AH/2001 CE) said:
He must convey it according to his ability. Otherwise, it is reported in the ḥadīth of al-Aswad ibn Sarīʿ and Abū Hurayrah, in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, that the Prophet said:
أَرْبَعَةٌ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ: رَجُلٌ أَصَمُّ لَا يَسْمَعُ شَيْئًا، وَرَجُلٌ أَحْمَقُ، وَرَجُلٌ هَرَمٌ، وَرَجُلٌ مَاتَ فِي فَتْرَةٍ، فَأَمَّا الْأَصَمُّ فَيَقُولُ: رَبِّ لَقَدْ جَاءَ الْإِسْلَامُ وَمَا أَسْمَعُ شَيْئًا، وَأَمَّا الْأَحْمَقُ فَيَقُولُ: رَبِّ لَقَدْ جَاءَ الْإِسْلَامُ وَالصِّبْيَانُ يَحْذِفُونِي بِالْبَعْرِ، وَأَمَّا الْهَرَمُ فَيَقُولُ: رَبِّ لَقَدْ جَاءَ الْإِسْلَامُ وَمَا أَعْقِلُ شَيْئًا، وَأَمَّا الَّذِي مَاتَ فِي الْفَتْرَةِ فَيَقُولُ: رَبِّ مَا أَتَانِي لَكَ رَسُولٌ، فَيَأْخُذُ مَوَاثِيقَهُمْ لَيُطِيعُنَّهُ، فَيُرْسِلُ إِلَيْهِمْ أَنِ ادْخُلُوا النَّارَ. قَالَ: فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ، لَوْ دَخَلُوهَا لَكَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا
“There will be four [types of people] on the Day of Resurrection: a deaf person who cannot hear anything, a person with impaired understanding, a senile person and one who died during an interval between messengers. The deaf person will say, ‘My Lord, Islam came, but I could not hear anything.’ The person with impaired understanding will say, ‘My Lord, Islam came, but the children threw dung at me.’ The senile person will say, ‘My Lord, Islam came, but I understood nothing.’ The one who died during the interval will say, ‘My Lord, no messenger from You came to me.’ Allah will take their covenants to obey Him, then send to them [the command] to enter the Fire. By the One in whose Hand is the soul of Muḥammad, if they entered it, it would be cool and safe for them.” (Musnad Aḥmad, no. 16301)
The ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah has this ending:
فَمَنْ دَخَلَهَا كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِ بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا، وَمَنْ لَمْ يَدْخُلْهَا يُسْحَبُ إِلَيْهَا
“Whoever enters it will find it cool and safe, and whoever does not enter it will be dragged to it.” (Musnad Aḥmad, no. 16302)
References
- Al-Wādiʿī, Muqbil ibn Hādī (d. 1422 AH/2001 CE), Tuḥfat al-Mujīb ʿalā Asʾilat al-Ḥāḍir wa-l-Gharīb, section “Ajwibat al-Asʾilah al-Faransiyyah” (Answers to the French Questions), question no. 210, p. 264.
- Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 241 AH/855 CE), al-Musnad, ed. Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ et al. (Risālah edition), 26/228–230, nos. 16301 (al-Aswad ibn Sarīʿ) and 16302 (Abū Hurayrah).
