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| Grave of Hazrat Ibrahim - Al Khalil , Israel |
The day when
Islam spread out in the Arabian penninsula and its light gradually spread to
the vital parts of the Middle East, the graves of the Prophets whose place of
burial were known to the people were not only having ceiling and bower at that
time but also a dome and place of gathering. Now too a part of their graves
stand intact in the same form.
In Mecca itself, the
graves of Isma’il (‘a) and his mother Hajar lie on a rock. The grave of Danial (‘a)
is at Shush and of Hud (‘a), Salih (‘a), Yunus (‘a) and Dhu’l Kifl (‘a) at
Iraq. The graves of the Prophets like Ibrahim (‘a) and his sons Ishaq (‘a),
Ya’qub (‘a) and Yusuf (‘a) who were brought from Egypt to Bayt al-Maqdas by
Musa (‘a) are in the occupied Quds and all of them possess structure, signs and
symbols.
The grave of Hawwa is in
Jeddah where the traces of it were destroyed after the conquest of tribe of Sa’uds
and the reason this land is called as Jeddah is because of her grave in that
place although this relationship may not be correct.
When the Muslims gained
control over this place they never got disturbed and never issued any orders
for its demolition.
If truly the renovation
of graves and burial of the dead in a covered shrine is forbidden in Islam,
then the first and foremost task of the Muslims of that time was to destroy all
the graves existing in Jordan and Iraq and secondly prevent the restoration of
any structure at all times. Not only have they not destroyed these shrines but
also during the entire 14 centuries they have strived in protecting and
renovating any traces left from the previous Prophets.
By their God-gifted
wisdom they took the protection of the remains of the Prophets to be one way of
expressing their respect towards them and by this action reckoned themselves to
be pious and virtuous.
Ibn Taymiyya
in his book al-Sirat al-mustaqim says:
“At the time of victory of al-Quds the graves of Prophets consisted of
a constructed structure but its doors were closed till the fourth century hijri”
[1]
If truly
construction over the graves was a prohibited affair, then its demolition was
naturally necessary and its continuity not justified. In short, the existence of
these structures duing this period and before the very sight of Islamic
scholars is itself an evident sign of its being permissible in the religion of
Islam.
Islamic Remnants
are the Sign of Originality of Religion [2]
Fundamentally,
protecting the remnants of Prophethood especially the traces of Holy Prophet
(s) such as his shrine, the graves of his wives, children and companions, the
houses in which he lived and the mosques wherein he recited prayers, all have
great significance which we shall now discuss.
Today, after the lapse
of twenty centuries following the birth of (‘Isa) Jesus Christ (‘a) and his
mother (Maryam) Mary (‘a), his book Bible and his companions and disciples, all
have been looked upon as a fairy tale in the West. A group of Orientalists have
doubted the existence of this heavenly man by the name of Christ whose mother
was Mary and his book Bible and described them as a fairy tale like the fairy
tale of Layla and Majnun. Why!? Because not even one genuine trace of Jesus
Christ is at hand. For example, his true place of birth, his house where he
lived in and the place of his burial according to Christian belief are not
known. His heavenly book fell victim to distortion and these four gospels where
in the last chapter of each of them there is the description of death and
burial of Jesus Christ is certainly not related to him and it clearly shows
that they have been compiled after his demise. Thus most of the researchers
recognise them to be the literary works of the second century A.D. However, if
all the specifications related to him had been protected, then there would have
been a clear proof and confirmation to his originality and there would have
been no excuse for these fictional and skeptical persons.
Muslims
openly announce to the world that: “O people! 1400 years ago a man was
appointed in the land of Hijaz for the guidance of the human society and he was
fully successful in his mission. All the specifications of his life have been
protected as seen in his life without the slightest ambiguity and even the
house where he was born is known to us. The mount of Hira is a place where
revelation (wahy) used to descend upon him and it is in this mosque
where he used to pray and this is the house where he was buried in and these
are the houses of his wives, children and relatives and these are the graves of
his children, wives, Caliphs and….
Now, if we
remove all these traces or signs, then obviously we have erased all the traces
of his existence and the signs of his originality and prepared the ground for
the enemies of Islam. Therefore destroying the traces of Messengership and
household of the Prophet is not only one kind of disrespect but also a war against
the original manifestations of Islam and authenticity of Messengership of the Prophet
(s) .
The constitution
of religion of Islam is a permanent and everlasting programme and till the day
of Judgement it will remain as the religion of mankind. The generations that
will follow after thousands of years have to believe in its authenticity.
Therefore, for ensuring this objective, we have to always protect all the
traces and signs of the Holy Prophet (s) and in this way take a step in
safeguarding the religion for the coming years. We should not do anything that
will make the fate of Prophethood of the Holy Prophet (s) meet the same end as
that of Prophet (‘Isa) Jesus (‘a).
The Muslims have strived
for the protection of the traces of the Holy Prophet (s) to such extent that
they have accurately recorded all the specifications of his life during
Prophethood, such as the details of his ring, shoes, brush and the signs of his
sword, spear, shield, horse, camel and slave. Even the wells from where he used
to draw water and drink and the territory which he has bequeathed and still
more the style of his walking and eating and the kinds of food which he liked
and the appearance of his beard and his way of applying dye, etc, have been
recorded and to a certain extent these signs have still remained till today.
By referring to the
history of Muslims and touring the expansive Islamic countries, it becomes
clear that renovation of graves and their protection and preservation was one
of the customs of the Muslims. At present, throughout the Islamic countries,
the graves of Divine Prophets, awliya Allah and the pious people exist in the
form of shrines and for their protection endowments are available where their
revenues are used for their preservation, etc.
Before the birth of faction
of Wahhabism at Najd and before their domination over the two holy shrines and
the outskirts of Hijaz, the graves of awliya Allah had been erected, thriving
and worthy of attention of everyone. None of the Islamic scholars had any
objection towards them.
It is not only in Iran
where the graves of awliya and virtuous people have been sanctified in the form
of shrines but throughout the Islamic countries, especially Egypt, Syria, Iraq,
the western countries and Tunisia the shrines of scholars and great
personalities of Islam are flourishing and muslims depart in groups towards
these shrines to visit their graves and recite fatiha and Holy Quran for the
souls of these great personalities. All these holy places are having servants
and protectors responsible for maintenance and keeping them clean.
With such propagation and
dissemination throughout the Islamic countries, is it possible to regard the
rennovation of graves as a forbidden act when this long-drawn custom was
existing and still exists from the beginning of Islam till today and this
custom is known in the language of the scholars as 'the ways or conduct of
Muslims'? The existence of such behaviour without any objection from any corner
shows that it is permissible, desirable and popular.
This matter is so
fundamental that one of the Wahhabi writers too confesses to it as such:
“This matter has reached the common places, East and
the West to such an extent that there is no Islamic country where there is no
holy grave or shrine. Even the mosques of the Muslims are not devoid of it and
reason does not accept that such an affair remains forbidden and the scholars
of Islam have kept silent towards this matter.” [3]
However, inspite of such
confession they have not left their obstinacy and say that the prevalence of
such matter and the silence of scholars are no reason for it to be permissible.
And if a group remains silent due to some reason or the other, another group
under different situation will reveal the fact.
But the
answer to such talks is obvious since for seven centuries, the scholars of
Islam had remained silent and did not utter a word regarding this matter. Were
all of them conversative during this period!? Why at the time of the victory
over Baitul-Muqqadas the second Caliph did not destroy the traces of graves of
the Prophets? Did he too compromise with the polytheists of his time!?
Surprising is the reply
of scholars of Medina who say;
“Construction over the
graves is forbidden according to the consensus of scholars because of the
correct traditions which have come in this regard. Thus a great many of
scholars have given their verdict (fatwa) for their destruction.”
How can the claim of
consensus be made over prohibition of construction over graves when we see that
the Muslims buried the Holy Prophet (s) in the house where his wife - Ayesha -
was living. Later Abu Bakr and ‘Umar were buried near the Holy Prophet (s) in
the same chamber. Thereafter, the chamber of Ayesha was divided from the middle
and a wall was put up there. A portion of it was earmarked for Ayesha and the
other portion was related to the grave of the Holy Prophet (s) and the two
Caliphs. During the time of Abdulla bin Zubayr, the wall was raised to a higher
level due to its low height.
From then on, in every
period, the house in which the Holy Prophet (s) was buried was either renovated
or reconstructed based on the special architecture of that time. Even during
the period of the caliphate of the Umayyads and Abbasids the matter of
construction of grave was in vogue and graves were constructed in every period
with the special architecture of that time.
And the last of the
construction over the grave which still exists was the construction of Sultan
Abdul Hamid which started in the year 1270 and lasted for four years. You can
read the detailed history of rennovation and reconstruction of the house of the
Holy Prophet (s) throughout the Islamic history till the time of Samhudi in the
book Wafa -ul- Wafa of Samhudi [4] and some other related books about the
history of Medina.
Notes :
[1] Sayyid
Muhsin Amin, Kashf al-‘irtiyab, p. 384.
[2] Refer to
the Tabaqat al-sahaba in Ibn Sa’d, al-Tabaqat al-kubra, vol.1 pp.
360 to 503. In these pages we find the specialities and characteristics of the
life of the Prophet (s).
[3] Tathir
al-‘i’tiqad, (Egyptian edition), p. 17, narrating from Kashf al-‘irtiyab.
[4] al-Samhudi, Wafa’
al-wafa’ fi akhbar dar al-Mustafa, pp. 383 to 390.
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