Q#7. IS PROPHET (SAW) DEAD? Many people say that he is not dead but has only done “pardah”.
Answer.
1.The Quran says in Surah Al-e-Imran 3:185 “ Every soul shall have a taste of death.”
If Prophet (SAW) has not died when will he die?

2.The Quran Says that 39:30 “Truly thou wilt die (one day) and truly they (too) will die (one day)”

3.Quran 6:162 Say: "Truly my prayer and my service of sacrifice my life and my death are (all) for Allah the Cherisher of the Worlds”

4.Abu Bakr (RA) Khutbah on the death of the Prophet (SAW)
Sahih Bukhari 2:333 Book of Funerals chapter 3
Narrated `Ayesha :

Abu Bakr came riding his horse from his dwelling place in As-Sunh. He got down from it, entered the Mosque and did not speak with anybody till he came to me and went direct to the Prophet, who was covered with a marked blanket. Abu Bakr uncovered his face. He knelt down and kissed him and then started weeping and said, "My father and my mother be sacrificed for you, O Allah's Prophet! Allah will not combine two deaths on you. You have died the death which was written for you."

Narrated Abu Salama from Ibn `Abbas :  Abu Bakr came out and `Umar , was addressing the people, and Abu Bakr told him to sit down but `Umar refused. Abu Bakr again told him to sit down but `Umar again refused. Then Abu Bakr recited the Tashah-hud (i.e. none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is Allah's Apostle) and the people attended to Abu Bakr and left `Umar. Abu Bakr said, "Amma ba'du, whoever amongst you worshipped Muhammad, then Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped Allah, Allah is alive and will never die. Allah said: 'Muhammad is no more than an Apostle and indeed (many) Apostles have passed away before him ..(up to the) grateful.' " (3.144) (The narrator added, "By Allah, it was as if the people never knew that Allah had revealed this verse before till Abu Bakr recited it and then whoever heard it, started reciting it.")

5.Quran 3:144 “ Muhammad is no more than an Apostle: many were the Apostles that passed away before him.  If he died or were slain will ye then turn back on your heels?”

6.Sahih Bukhari 2:469 “Aisha said, "I went to Abu Bakr (during his fatal illness) and he asked me, 'In how many garments was the Prophet shrouded?' She replied, 'In three Suhuliya pieces of white cloth of cotton, and there was neither a shirt nor a turban among them.' Abu Bakr further asked her, 'On which day did the Prophet die?' She replied, 'He died on Monday’”

7.Arguments for saying that he is not dead
1. "Allah has forbidden the earth from consuming the bodies of the Prophets" [Abu Dawood vol 1 : no 1042 Saheeh]  

2. "The prophets are alive and pray in their graves" [ Silsilah Ahadees as Saheehah no 62] 

3. "On the night when I was taken up to the Heavens I passed by Moosa and he was standing in Prayer in his grave" [Saheeh Muslim 4: no 5858] 

4. "Indeed Allah has Angels who travel about in order to convey the greetings of Salaam of my Ummah to me" [Nasaee – Saheeh, Mishkat no 924] 

5. "No one gives me greetings of Salaam except that Allah will restore my soul so that I may reply to him with the greeting of Salaam" [ Abu Dawood 2: no 2036 Silsilah Ahadees as Saheehah no 2266]