Question:
What is the ruling on mausoleums and shrines in the light of ḥadīth?
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Answer:
In Islam, there is no concept of mausoleums and shrines. During the times of the Companions, the Followers (Tābiʿīn), and the great Imāms, such practices did not exist among Muslims. These were borrowed by the Rawāfiḍ from the Christians and later spread among some Muslims.
Mausoleums and shrines have become centers of shirk and kufr, whereas Islam itself is built upon the rejection of shirk and kufr. In addition, several other serious religious corruptions are found in them.
Scholarly Statement:
❀ Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله (728 AH):
هذا مما علم بالتواتر والضرورة من دين الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم...
“This is something known by necessity and mass-transmission from the religion of the Messenger ﷺ: he commanded the building of mosques and prayer within them, but he never commanded the building of a shrine—not over the grave of a Prophet, nor anyone else, nor over the place where a Prophet stayed. During the times of the Companions, the Followers, and their Followers, in none of the Muslim lands—whether Ḥijāz, Shām, Yemen, ʿIrāq, Khurāsān, Egypt, or Maghrib—was there ever a mosque built over a grave, nor any shrine intended for visitation. None of the Salaf used to come to the grave of a Prophet or anyone else in order to supplicate there. The Companions never intended to make duʿāʾ at the grave of the Prophet ﷺ or at the graves of any other Prophets. Rather, they would send ṣalāh and salām upon the Prophet ﷺ and his two Companions (Abū Bakr and ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما).”
(Iqtidhāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm, 2/284)
Conclusion:- Mausoleums and shrines are innovations with no basis in Islam.
- They are a source of shirk, kufr, and many other evils.
- The practice was unknown to the Prophet ﷺ, his Companions, and the early generations of Muslims
