❖ Question:
Do the blessings and benefits of the Awliyā’ of Allah continue after their death?
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
✿ Answer:
After death, a person becomes unaware of the world and all his worldly connections are cut off. To claim that their blessings and benefits continue is an exaggeration in the status of the Awliyā’.
❀ ʿAllāmah Ālūsī رحمه الله (d. 1270H) states:
Allah the Exalted says:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا
(al-Ḥajj 22:73)
“Those whom you call upon besides Allah cannot even create a fly.”
In this verse, there is condemnation of those who fall into exaggeration regarding the Awliyā’, who, neglecting Allah, call upon the saints in times of distress and offer vows and sacrifices in their names.
Some claim that the Awliyā’ are a means to Allah, and they dedicate vows for Allah but transfer the reward to the saints. In truth:
① Their first claim resembles that of the idolaters, who used to say that they worshipped idols only to bring them closer to Allah.
② Their second claim would be correct if they did not also request from these saints things like cure from illness or the return of something lost — matters which are unlawful to ask from anyone besides Allah.
Their actions show that they actually dedicate vows and sacrifices for the purpose of asking from the saints. If they were told: “Give vows in the name of Allah and send the reward to your parents, as they are more in need of reward than the Awliyā’,” they would not do it. This proves their real intent is to ask from the saints themselves.
I have seen many polytheists prostrating on the stones of the saints’ graves. Some affirm powers of authority and control for the saints inside the graves, claiming different levels of power. Their scholars even attribute four or five types of powers to them. But when asked for proof, they say it is established through kashf (spiritual unveiling).
May Allah destroy them! How ignorant and deceitful they are!
Some even claim that the Awliyā’ emerge from their graves and take on different forms, while their scholars say that the souls of the Awliyā’ manifest in various shapes, such as lions or deer.
All of these claims are falsehoods with no proof in the Qur’an, Sunnah, or the statements of the pious predecessors.
Such fabrications have ruined the religion of simple people and turned them into a mockery before the Jews, Christians, the followers of false religions, and the irreligious.
We ask Allah for safety in religion and worldly life.
(Rūḥ al-Maʿānī: 2/212–213)
