Sat 25th Aug 2018
Lesson 21: Exaggeration at the graves of the Righteous people
- One of the greatest types of misguidance is what the shaytaan (satan) has whispered to people in order for them to commit shirk at the graves of the Prophets and righteous people
- At first, people make pictures and then later these are turned into statues
- Eventually those graves become shrines and temples and the people worship the deceased
- The first time this type of shirk occurred was at the time of Prophet Nūh (may peace be upon him)
- See Surah Nūh (Chapter Noah)
- Narrated Ibn `Abbas: “All the idols which were worshiped by the people of Noah were worshiped by the Arabs later on. As for the idol Wadd, it was worshiped by the tribe of Kalb at Daumat-al-Jandal; Suwa` was the idol of (the tribe of) Hudhail; Yaghouth was worshiped by (the tribe of) Murad and then by Bani Ghutaif at Al-Jurf near Saba; Ya`uq was the idol of Hamdan, and Nasr was the idol of Himyar, the branch of Dhi-al-Kala`. The names (of the idols) formerly belonged to some pious men of the people of Noah, and when they died Satan inspired their people to (prepare and place idols at the places where they used to sit, and to call those idols by their names. The people did so, but the idols were not worshiped till those people (who initiated them) had died and the origin of the idols had become obscure, whereupon people began worshiping them.” [Sahih al-Bukhari]
- Ibn Jariir explains that at first people made pictures and idols which they named after righteous deceased people, then the later generations that came were convinced by shaytaan that these idols were worshipped by their forefathers as gods, and since the later generations did not know the exact reason why they were made, they fell for the misguidance of shaytaan
- Eventually Allah sent Prophets and Messengers (may peace be upon them all) to correct this and warn from it
- The Prophet (ﷺ) stressed to us that we should not turn the graves into places of worship and we should not call upon the deceased
- Narrated `Aisha: “Um Habiba and Um Salama mentioned a church they had seen in Ethiopia and in the church there were pictures. When they told the Prophet of this, he said, “Those people are such that if a pious man amongst them died, they build a place of worship over his grave and paint these pictures in it. Those people will be Allah’s worst creatures on the Day of Resurrection.” [Sahih al-Bukhari]
- Jundub reported: “I heard from the Apostle of Allah (ﷺ) five days before his death and he said: I stand acquitted before Allah that I took any one of you as friend, for Allah has taken me as His friend, as he took Ibrahim as His friend. Had I taken any one of my Ummah as a friend, I would have taken Abu Bakr as a friend. Beware of those who preceded you and used to take the graves of their prophets and righteous men as places of worship, but you must not take graves as mosques; I forbid you to do that.” [Sahih Muslim]
- Abu Huraira reported: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Let there be curse of Allah upon the Jews and the Christians for they have taken the graves of their apostles as places of worship.” [Sahih Muslim]
- ‘A’isha reported: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said during his illness from which he never recovered: Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians that they took the graves of their prophets as mosques. She (‘A’isha) reported: Had it not been so, his (Prophet’s) grave would have been in an open place, but it could not be due to the fear that it may not be taken as a mosque.” [Sahih Muslim]
- Currently in our Ummah, there are people who would go to the Prophet’s (ﷺ) grave and make sajda, make dua to him and pray to him if this had not been barred from them. We know this because such people are already doing this for their “pirs”, Imams or shaykhs. This is the level of misguidance present.
- The Prophet (ﷺ) made severe warnings against making dua at the graves and used strong and clear language
- Yet some people will ask, “Why is it Haram to make dua through/to the deceased?”
- On the authority of Abu Abbas Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: “One day I was behind the Prophet (ﷺ) [riding on the same mount] and he said, “O young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: Be mindful of Allah and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, then ask Allah [alone]; and if you seek help, then seek help from Allah [alone]. And know that if the nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, they would not benefit you except with what Allah had already prescribed for you. And if they were to gather together to harm you with anything, they would not harm you except with what Allah had already prescribed against you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.” It was related by at-Tirmidhi, who said it was a good and sound hadeeth. Another narration, other than that of Tirmidhi, reads: Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. Recognize and acknowledge Allah in times of ease and prosperity, and He will remember you in times of adversity. And know that what has passed you by [and you have failed to attain] was not going to befall you, and what has befallen you was not going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and hardship with ease.” [40 Hadith Nawawi ]
- Every Muslim should make due to Allah only. Your trust should be with Allah completely and you should approach him with humility and humbleness, not going through others besides him
- Shaykh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said from the greatest of transgression and degradation is that a person calls upon others besides Allah for indeed that is from Shirk, and Allah does not forgive that one commits shirk with him,
- Allah Says: “And (remember) when Luqman said to his son when he was advising him: “O my son! Join not in worship others with Allah. Verily! Joining others in worship with Allah is a great Zulm (wrong) indeed.” [Surah Luqmaan verse 13]
- Allah Says: “Say (O Muhammad (ﷺ)): “I am only a man like you. It has been inspired to me that your Ilah (God) is One Ilah (God i.e. Allah). So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord.”” [Surah Al-Kahf (The Cave) verse 110]
- Narrated Anas: “Whenever there was drought, `Umar bin Al-Khattab used to ask Allah for rain through Al-`Abbas bin `Abdul Muttalib, saying, “O Allah! We used to request our Prophet to ask You for rain, and You would give us. Now we request the uncle of our Prophet to ask You for rain, so give us rain.” And they would be given rain.” [Sahih al-Bukhari]
- NOTE: this hadith shows that the Sahabah would NOT call upon the Prophet (ﷺ) after his death, then how about those today who call upon their dead shaykhs?!
- Asking the deceased instead of asking Allah is a type of humiliation/degradation
Next part: Do not become hasty
- From amongst the mannerisms of making Dua is to not become hasty in waiting for a reply, otherwise eventually he/she may stop making dua as they become tired of waiting.
- The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “A person’s supplication will be answered provided he does not ask for what is sinful or the severing of family ties, and he must not be hasty/impatient.” He was asked, “What is impatience, O Allah’s Messenger?” He replied, “That the person says, ‘I supplicated, but my supplication was not answered’. So he becomes disappointed and abandons supplicating.” [Muslim]
Q&A:
- Do the idols worshipped by the Makkans date back to the time of Prophet Nuh
- How much the flood at the time of Nuh cover?
- How do we explain to Jews and Christians about the location of the Prophet’s grave today?
- When one gives Salaam to the Prophet (ﷺ), can this be used to justify that he is still alive?