Conveying Salaam on Prophet whether next to his grave or not


Question 377:

Is the below hadeeth specific to those who send the salaam upon the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم next to his grave whereby his soul will be returned to him for him to respond OR this hadeeth is general for all the muslims no matter where they may be?
Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said: If any one of you greets me, Allah returns my soul to me and I respond to the greeting.

Answer :

Al Allamah Ibn-ul-Uthaymeen Rahimahullah said,

“As for the hadeeth, ‘Never does a muslim send ‘salam’ on the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) except that Allah returns his soul to him to return the ‘salam’ to him’. So if you say ‘salam’ to the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) then Allah returns the soul to him and he returns the ‘salam’ to you.

The apparant meaning is this is for the one who is near to him like the one who stands near to his grave and say ‘Assalamu alaika ayyuha-n-nabiyyu wa rahmatullahi wa barakutuhu’ and it is also possible that this is general (applicable to the one who say salam from far also) and Allah is capable of all things.”

[Sharh Riyadhu-s-saaliheen – Hadeeth No.1402]

Translated by : AbdunNoor Al Hindi