❖ Ka'bah and the Visitation of Saints: A Shari'ah-Based View and the Creed of Ahl al-Sunnah
Source: Fatāwā Ameenpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri
❀ Question:
Some claim that the Ka'bah is visited for the sake of the saints. Is this correct?
❖ Answer:
Excess and negligence, as well as exaggeration, are blameworthy in every matter.
Exaggeration leads to destruction, becomes a barrier to adherence to authentic evidences and the way of the rightly guided Imams. It is a repulsive act that prevents individuals from upholding moderation, justice, and balance. It leads one towards oppression and extremism in religion.
This is the state of some people who have deviated from the path of moderation in many religious rulings and issues. They began saying that the Ka'bah is visited for the sake of some righteous individuals, despite the fact that Allah has revealed no evidence for such a belief. This is merely a claim that comes from their own mouths.
❖ Statements from Classical Hanafi Scholars:
❀ Imam al-Shami al-Hanafi (1252 AH) quoted from Imam al-Nasafi when he was asked:
"Is it correct to say that the Ka'bah is visited for the saints?"
Imam al-Nasafi responded:
“According to Ahl al-Sunnah, it is possible for supernatural events to occur at the hands of saints.”
(
Fatāwā al-Shāmī: 4/260)❀ Imam Ibn Nujaym al-Hanafi (970 AH) writes:
“It is written in several fatāwā that when the Ka'bah is visited for the saints, and during that time, people are offering prayers facing the Ka'bah’s direction, then their prayer is valid.”
(
Al-Baḥr al-Rā’iq: 1/300, Fatāwā al-Shāmī: 1/432, Ḥāshiyah al-Taḥṭāwī, p. 212)However, we state that no such miracle has ever occurred through any saint that the Ka'bah visited him out of reverence and honor. The Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamāʿah are entirely unaware of such a notion.
❖ Rebuke from Scholars on Such Claims:
❀ Imam Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz al-Hanafi (792 AH) writes:
“Likewise, those who claim that the Ka'bah performs ṭawāf around certain individuals—wherever they may be—are far removed from the religion. Why then did the Ka'bah not go to Hudaybiyyah when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was prevented from entering it, though he longed to see it with his own eyes?”
He further likens such individuals to those mentioned in the verse:
﴿بَلْ يُرِيدُ كُلُّ امْرِئٍ مِّنْهُمْ أَن يُؤْتَىٰ صُحُفًا مُّنَشَّرَةً﴾ (Al-Muddaththir: 52)
“Rather, every one of them desires that he should be given open scriptures from heaven.”
(
Sharḥ al-ʿAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, p. 512)
Conclusion:
The belief that the Ka'bah is visited for the saints, or that it performs ṭawāf around them, is baseless, unsupported by Shari'ah, and alien to the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamāʿah. Such exaggerations deviate one from the correct understanding of Islam and must be firmly rejected.
