A Preposterous Assertion

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Brief response to a preposterous assertion of a Journalist: “Saudi Arabia, The Birth Place of Islam and Site of Its Two Holiest Shrines!!!”

The Kabah is Not a Shrine

Why is it called Kabah? Imam Muhammad Ibn Salih Al-Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy upon him, said that it is called Kabah because of its squared shape. Every building that is squared in shape and has four pillars is called kabah. [1] It is called Baytul Ateeq because it is very ancient, the best Masjid without exception. Freed from being captured by tyrants [2], (i.e. except during the end of time when it will be demolished by Dhul Suwayqatayn). It is called Masjid Al-Haraam [i.e. the sacred Masjid (3)] and a Masjid is where none is to be invoked or prayed to besides Allah. [4]

The late Mufti of Saudi Arabia Imam Abdul Aziz Bin Baz, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: Shrines are graves and the Prophetic tradition regarding this affair is that graves are to be raised a hand span from the ground, so that they are recognised as graves and not degraded. This is why in the hadith of Sa’d Bin Abee Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, it is reported that the grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was raised a hand span and Sa’d also gave orders that the same should be done to his grave. As for building over them, taking them as Masaajid (mosques, places of worship) and building domes, this is not permissible. According to the people of knowledge, this is evil, innovation in religion and one of the means to Shirk. Due to this the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, stated in an authentic hadith: “The curse of Allah is upon the Jews and Christians [i.e. those Jews who deviated from the message of Prophet Musa and those Christians who deviated from the message of the Messiah and disbelieved in Muhammad], for they took the graves of their Prophets as places of worship”. In a hadith in Sahih Muslim, the Prophet forbade that graves should be plastered (made into permanent structures), used as sitting places and building over them. Therefore, it is not permissible to build over graves – neither mosques nor domes, nor other than them, and also they are not to be plastered because this is one of the means to Shirk – one of the means because it becomes exalted, invoked besides Allah and help sought from it, thus shirk occurs. Building over graves- placing domes, mosques and lamps over them are from the means to Shirk, and this is why the Prophet warned against it and cursed those who do so. [5]

Where Was The Grave of The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,?

Aa’isha, may Allah be pleaded with her, said: Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians, for they took the graves of their Prophets as places of worship”. Then Aa’isha said, “Had that not been the case, his grave would be in an open place, but he feared that it would be taken as a place of worship”.[Al-Bukhari 1330]

After quoting this hadith, Imam Muhammad Naasiruddeen Al-Albaanee, may Allah have mercy upon him, stated in [تحذير الساجد من اتخاذ القبور مساجد – pages 14-15]: “The statement of Aa’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, clearly shows the reason why the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was buried in his bedroom and that was to prevent the one who would build a Masjid over him. It not permissible to use this as evidence to bury others in a house and what supports this is that it is in opposition to the foundational Islamic practice because the Sunnah (legislates) that the deceased are buried in the graveyards. This is why Ibn Urwah, may Allah have mercy upon him, stated in Al-Kawaakib Ad-Daraaree, “To be buried in the graveyards of the Muslims was more pleasing to Abu Abdillaah – meaning Al-Imam Ahmad – than being buried in the houses because it poses lesser harm to those who are alive with regards to worshiping images [i.e. keep people away from worshipping the deceased], more resemblant to a place of the afterlife, (urges) for more supplication for the person and seeking forgiveness for him. The companions, the Tabi’in and those after them did not cease burying the deceased in the desert”. If it is said, “The Prophet’s grave is in his house as well as the graves of his two companions (i.e. Abu Bakr and Umar)”, we say, “Aaisha said, ‘Indeed, the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, asked to be buried in his house so that his grave is not taken as a place of worship because he used to bury his companions at Al-Baqee and his practice is more worthy to be followed than that of others. His companions knew that he- in particular – was to be buried in his house because he said, ‘The Prophets are to be buried where they die'”. This protects (the place they are buried from too much noise) and distinguish them from other people.

On page 78 – [تحذير الساجد من اتخاذ القبور مساجد] – Imam Al-Albani stated: As for the second doubt that the grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is located within his mosque, as is seen at present, and that if this were indeed prohibited, he would not have been buried in it! The response to this is that, while this is seen at present, it was not the case during the time of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them because when he passed away, they buried him in his bedroom adjacent to his Masjid, separated by a wall that included a door leading to the Masjid. This is a well-established fact among scholars, with no disagreement on the matter. The Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, buried him in the house and they did so that no one after them would be able to take his grave as a masjid as previously clarified in the narration of Aisha and others (page 14-15). However, after them, something they would have never anticipated occurred! In the year 88AH, Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ordered the demolition of the Prophet’s Masjid and the incorporation of the bedrooms of the Messenger’s wives into it, thus including the bedroom of Prophet – Aisha’s bedroom. As a result, the grave was was entered in the Masjid. At that time, there were no companions present in Madina, contrary to what some may assume. [End of quote]

Shaikh Abu Khadeejah, may Allah preserve him, quoted Al-Allamah Ahmad Bin Yahyah An-Najmi, may Allah have mercy upon him, who stated: The grave of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) was initially outside of his Mosque in Madeenah – the fact is that his house was next door to the Mosque and that is where he was buried after his death. Later, in the time of the rule of Waleed Ibn Abdul-Malik he commanded that Mosque be expanded, and thus the house of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) was included into the Mosque as it was extended. This occurred at the displeasure of the Scholars – and they hated it – from them, Sa’eed Ibn Al-Musayyib (died 94H).

As for the green dome that was erected high over the grave of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam), then it was built at the end of the 6th century – it was built by one of the kings of Egypt. So whoever uses the grave of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) in the Mosque as a proof, or the presence of the green dome then, in reality, he has no proof at all. That is because these constructions and affairs were initiated by people ignorant and devoid of knowledge. They had authority and the people were not able to prevent them. So they did what they did due to their claim that they were expressing their love of the Prophet (salallāhu ‘alaihi wasallam) and respect for him”. (6)

The Origin of Grave Worship In The Ummah

Shaikh Shamsuddeen Al-Afghaanee, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

Allah, The Most High, guided mankind through Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and through what he brought of clear manifest evidences and guidance – a guidance that could not be described by those who were proficient in giving descriptions and surpassed the knowledge of those with great perception. So, through this guidance, Allaah [The Most High] opened the eyes of the blind ones, the ears of the deaf ones and the hearts of the heedless ones. Allaah [The Most High] united them upon one religion- the religion of pure Islamic monotheism; Prophet Ibraaheem’s [peace be upon him] religion of pure monotheism – after they had been in a state of complete disunity, enmity towards one another, destructive and corrupt creeds. Allaah united their hearts and they became true brothers in Islam by way of this great blessing. And thereafter everything that was worshiped besides Allaah- such as graves, trees, stones, graven images, idols etc- ceased to exist and all worship was carried out for Allaah (alone).

The people followed the true Religion of Islamic monotheism, worshipped Allah alone and established worship sincerely for Allaah, except those whom Allaah willed that they were to remain as people of polytheism, hypocrisy and followers of the altered and distorted previous scriptures. The darkness of shirk (polytheism) was dispelled and the banner of Tawheed (pure Islamic Monotheism) was raised in the lands amongst the Arabs and non-Arabs. The Messenger of Allah returned to his Lord, whilst Islam was established and in authority-superseding all other ways of life and creeds. Then the rightly guided khulafaa of the Messenger [AbuBakr, Umar, Uthmaan and Ali] continued upon this path until the two powerful and great nations at the time- Rome and Persia- ended up in humiliation, degradation and in a state of fear after they had been in a state of security, and thus Caesar was restricted and besieged, and khosrau was subdued and destroyed.

So when the enemies of Islam saw that they were unable to do away with this religion, they implanted their disbelieving agents within Islam, who pretended to be Muslims in order to foment confusion, trials and tribulations, and spread Shirk (polytheism) by exaggerating the status of the pious people – exalting their graves through (beliefs and practices) that were not ordained by Allaah. So, this Ummah was put to trial through the plots of the [atheist, heretic and hypocrite] Abdullaah Bin Saba, who claimed Uloohiyyah for Ali Ibn Abee Taalib [i.e. that Ali has the right to be worship]. Abdullaah Bin As-Sabah’s followers were known as the Saaba’iyyah, and later on they were known as the rawaafid (shiites), the ismaaliyyah (shittes), the nusayriyah (shiites) and other than them amongst the Baatiniyyah. They used to worship the graves and the dead, and built places of worship and domed (shaped) shrines upon these graves. So, by way of this they revived the practices of the Jews, the Christians and idol worshippers, and thus the practices of the worshippers of graves in this Muslim Ummah manifested itself in deeds of the rawaafid (shiites).

Secondly: The books of Greek philosophy that contained the ideas of grave and idol worship were translated into Arabic, so many of those who attributed themselves to Islam busied themselves with these books, such as the likes of Al- Faraabee, Ibn Sinaa Al-Hanafi, Naseer At- Toosee the advocator of disbelief and polytheism and other than them amongst those who played tricks with Islaam, just as Paul played tricks with Christianity. They were influenced by the ideas of the Greek Philosophers- the creed of grave worship, so they became callers to grave worship through Greek Philosophy.

Thirdly: A people appeared among the Muslims manifesting asceticism. These people were more dangerous to the masses and more severe in misguidance. They were a people who appeared in the garb of the righteous, with tearful eyes smeared with kohl, long flowing beards, elevated turbans, carrying rosary beads and pretending to be calling to the sunnah of the leader of Humankind [Muhammad], whilst secretly practicing the disgraceful acts inherited from the false and vanished religions. And from their plots was that they used to mix manifest lies with the authentic explanations of the Qur’aan and the authentic narrations in order to corrupt the clear proofs of the Qur’aan and the Sunnah. These deviant heretics were known as the holooliyyah, ittihaadiyyah Grave worshippers (I), such as the likes of al-hallaaj (309ah), ibnul faarid (632ah), ibn arabi (638ah), ibn sina (669ah) etc (7)

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Footnote (I): Hulooliyyah and ittihaadiyyah]: Hulool- Lit. “Entering” – Divine indwelling. The belief that Allaah dwells within a particular human. i.e. That Allaah dwells in a particular Soofi shaykh, a pious person, a Prophet – This belief is shared by Christians, certain Soofies, certain Shiites, Sikhs and others. Wahdaatul Wujood – Lit – Unity of Existence. The belief that all existence is a single existence and everything we see are only aspects of the Essence of Allah. This belief is also held by certain Soofies, Hindus and others.

Those who believe in hulool say that Allaah dwells and is incarnate in human beings, High is Allaah above and far removed from that. This was openly called to by some of the extreme Sufis, such as al-Husayn ibn Mansoor al-Hallaaj who was declared to be an unbeliever by the scholars. They ordered that he be executed and he was crucified in the year 309H. The following saying is attributed to him: “Glory to Him who manifested His human nature, Hiding the piercing brightness of His divinity: Till His creation saw Him openly, In the form of one eating and drinking” Attributed by al-Wakeel to the book at Tawaaseen of al Hallaaj (p. 130).

And his saying: “I am the one who loves and the One who is loved is me, We are two spirits who dwell in a single body. So when you see me you see Him, and when you see Him you see us both.”So al-Hallaaj was a believer in hulool and believed in the duality of the divine nature and that the Deity had both a divine and a human nature. Thus the divine becomes incarnate within the human so that the human spirit is the divine nature of the Deity and the body is its human form. Despite the fact that he was killed for his evil apostasy and although some of the Sufis declare themselves free of him, yet others count him as a Sufi, hold that his beliefs were correct, and write down his words. From them is Abdul-‘Abbaas ibn ‘Ataa al-Baghdaadee, Muhammad ibn Khaleef ash? Sheeraazee and Ibraheem an-Nasraabaadhee, as is reported by al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee.

Wahdatul-Wujood, i.e. that all in existence is a single reality, and that everything we see is only aspects of the Essence of Allaah. The chief claimant of this belief was Ibn ‘Arabee al-Haatimee at-Taa’ee, who was buried in Damascus having died in the year 638H. He himself says about this belief in his book al-Fatoohaat-ul-Makkiyyah: “The slave is the Lord and the Lord is a slave, I wish that I knew which was the one required to carry out the required duties. If I were to say the servant then that is true, or if I were to say the Lord, then how can that be required for Him.” Al-Fatoohaat-ul-Makkiyyah as it is attributed by Dr. Taqiyyuddeen al-Hilaalee in his book al-Hadiyyatul-Haadiyah (p.43).

He also says in al-Fatoohaat: “Those who worshipped the calf worshipped nothing except Allaah.” Quoted as Ibn ‘Arabee’s saying by Ibn Tayrniyyah in al-Fataawaa (vol.11), who attributes it to the book al-Fatoohaat. Ibn ‘Arabee is called ‘al-‘Aarif billaah’ (The one having great knowledge of Allaah) by the Sufis, and also ‘al-Qutubul Akbar’ (The great pivot), ‘al-Miskul-Adhfar’ (the sweetest smelling musk), “al-Kibreetul-Ahmar’ (the reddest brimstone), despite his belief in wahdatul-wujood and other calamitous sayings. Indeed he praised Fir’awn (Pharaoh) and declared that he died upon eemaan! Furthermore he speaks against Haroon for his criticism of his peoples worship of the calf, thus directly opposing the text of the Qur’aan. He also held that the Christians were Unbelievers only because they made divinity particular to ‘Eesaa, whereas if they had made it general to all then they would not have been unbelievers. [Despite all the gross deviation of Ibn ‘Arabee and the fact that the scholars declared him to be an Unbeliever, yet he is revered by the Sufis and others who do not distinguish between the truth and falsehood, and those who turn away from accepting the truth even when it is as clear as the sun. But his books, which are filled with clear apostasy, such as al-Fatoohaatul-Makkiyyah and Fusoosul-Hikam are still circulated. He even has a tafseer, which he called at-Tafseerul-Baatin since he holds that there is an apparent and a hidden meaning for every Aayah, so the outer meaning is for the people of Ta’weel. From this group came Ibn Basheesh who said: “O Allaah rescue me from the mire of Tawheed, and drown me in the centre of the sea of unity, and mix me into the state of unity and oneness until I do not see, nor hear, nor sense except through it.” [8]

May Allah bestow His blessings upon the rulers of Saudi Arabia, for they not only uphold a state of peace and security in that blessed land, by the grace of Allah, but they are also adherents of Tawhid who hold a deep respect for scholars and the followers of Tawhid. They do not tolerate the practice of grave worship. Furthermore, may Allah empower all Sunni Muslim leaders, making them pillars of stability for the Ummah, and safeguard the Muslim Ummah from the Khawaarij, Rawaafid, and all those who pursue chaos and instability. Ameen.

[1] https://binothaimeen.net/content/10706

[2] Tafseer As-Sadi. Surah Al-Hajj. Aayah 29 – the meaning of Baytul Ateeq

[3] Surah Al-Baqarah Aayah 144

[4] Tafseer As-Sadi. Surah Al-Jinn. Aayah 18

[5]https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/16337/%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%85-%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B6%D8%B1%D8%AD%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B1 paraphrased

[6]https://abukhadeejah.com/decisive-proofs-against-the-sufis-who-take-graves-as-places-of-worship-the-condemnation-of-the-one-who-worships-allah-at-the-grave-of-a-righteous-man-so-how-much-worse-is-the-one-who-actually-worsh/

[7] Excerpt from Juhoodu Ulamaa Al-Hanafiyyah Fee Ibtaal Aqaa’id Al-Qubooriyyeen. 1/19-25

[8] http://www.salafitalk.net/st/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=8&Topic=3528