Source
Taken from: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr AmunpuriQuestion
What is the Sharʿī status of visiting shrines and practicing murāqabah (spiritual meditation) there?Answer
Exaggeration in venerating graves has given rise to many doctrinal and moral tribulations. Polytheistic beliefs and practices, as well as unbelieving customs and rituals, have become so widespread at graves and shrines that some people have turned the graves of saints and righteous individuals into places of prostration.People are seen engaging in murāqabah and spiritual exertion at these sites to fulfill their needs. They call upon those buried there in times of hardship, supplicate to them, fear them, and place their hopes in them. They offer votive offerings, make vows, and present gifts. The caretakers (mujāwirīn) stationed there narrate false tales and fabricated miracles about the occupants of the graves, and due to ignorance, people fall for these stories and end up destroying their faith.
Shayṭān has prepared all means and avenues concerning grave-worship and saint-worship through which shirk and bidʿah flourish and faith is traded away. Sitting as caretakers at graves is also among these means. This is evil and an innovation. The polytheists used to guard and attend to their idols in the same manner, as Allah the ExaltedQur’anic Evidence
﴿إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ * قَالُوا نَعْبُدُ أَصْنَامًا فَنَظَلُّ لَهَا عَاكِفِينَ﴾
[ash-Shuʿarāʾ: 70–71]
“When Ibrāhīm said to his father and his people, ‘What is it that you worship?’ They said, ‘We worship idols, and we remain devoted to them.’”
﴿إِذْ قَالَ لِأَبِيهِ وَقَوْمِهِ مَا هَذِهِ التَّمَاثِيلُ الَّتِي أَنْتُمْ لَهَا عَاكِفُونَ﴾
[al-Anbiyāʾ: 52]
“When Ibrāhīm said to his father and his people, ‘What are these statues to which you are devoted?’”
﴿وَجَاوَزْنَا بِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْبَحْرَ فَأَتَوْا عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ يَعْكُفُونَ عَلَىٰ أَصْنَامٍ لَهُمْ قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى اجْعَلْ لَنَا إِلَٰهًا كَمَا لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ قَالَ إِنَّكُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ﴾
[al-Aʿrāf: 138]
“And We took the Children of Israel across the sea, then they came upon a people devoted to their idols. They said, ‘O Mūsā, make for us a god just as they have gods.’ He said, ‘Indeed, you are an ignorant people.’”
Explanation Through Ḥadīth
❀ Sinān bin Abī Sinān ad-Dawlī رحمه الله narrates:I heard the Companion of the Messenger, Sayyidunā Abū Wāqid رضي الله عنه, say that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ conquered Makkah, he took us along towards the tribe of Hawāzin. We passed by a lote-tree near which the disbelievers would remain devoted, calling it Dhāt Anwāṭ. We said: “O Messenger of Allah! Appoint for us a Dhāt Anwāṭ just as they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ.” The Prophet ﷺ said:
الله أكبر! هذه سنن الذين من قبلكم...
“Allah is the Greatest! These are the ways of the nations before you.” He then said: “Just as the Children of Israel said to Mūsā, ‘Make for us a god as they have gods,’ and Mūsā replied, ‘You are an ignorant people.’ Indeed, you will surely follow the ways of those who came before you.”
Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān: 6702
— Its chain is authenticStatements of the Scholars
❀ Imām al-Shāṭibī رحمه الله (d. 790 AH) writes:“With this explanation, the ḥadīth of sects applies to those innovations which the Jews and Christians committed previously. It is also known that this Ummah will commit innovations in the religion of Allah—rather, it will even fall into additional innovations which the Jews and Christians did not commit.”
Reference: al-Iʿtiṣām: 2/245
❀ Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله (d. 728 AH) said:
من المحرمات العكوف عند القبر والمجاورة عنده وسدانته وتعليق الستور عليه كأنه بيت الله الكعبة.
“Among the forbidden acts are: remaining devoted at a grave, residing beside it as a caretaker, serving it, and hanging coverings over it as if it were the House of Allah, the Kaʿbah.”
Reference: Iqtiḍāʾ aṣ-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm: p. 267
❀ He further said:
“Remaining devoted near any tree, stone, or idol, or sitting as a caretaker at the grave or site of a prophet or non-prophet—none of this has any connection with the religion of Islam. Rather, these practices belong to the religion of the polytheists.”
Reference: Iqtiḍāʾ aṣ-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm: p. 365
❀ ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله (d. 751 AH) states:
“Among the evils of grave-worship is that such excessive veneration is shown that it leads a person into shirk and bidʿah. Likewise, turning graves into places of festivity, traveling to them, and performing acts near them that resemble idol-worship—such as remaining devoted at them, sitting as caretakers, hanging curtains over them, and dedicating oneself to their service. Grave-worshippers prefer caretaking of graves over caretaking of the House of Allah and believe that serving graves is superior to serving the Kaʿbah.”
Reference: Ighāthat al-Lahfān: 1/197
