Qur’anic View-Point Regarding Renovation of Grave

 

Graves of Grandsons of Prophet (s.a.w.a)

The Qur’an has not directly passed a judgement about this matter but it is possible to derive its ruling from some of the relevant verses. The details follow.

1- Renovating and protecting the graves of the Prophets is nothing but paying respect to the Divine Rites.

The Holy Qur’an reckons the respect of Divine rites to be a sign of piety and purity of heart. 

It says:

 

“And whoever respects the signs of Allah, this surely is (the outcome) of the piety of hearts”. (Hajj: 32)

What is meant by respect of Divine rites?  is the plural of  and gives the meaning of sign and symbol. This verse does not show the sign of existence of God since the whole Universe is the sign of His existence. And nobody has said that respecting whatever things that exist in this Universe is the sign of piety. Instead, it shows the signs of His religion and thus the exegetes interpret this verse as “the Signs of religion of Allah”. [1]

If in the Qur’an, Safa and Marwa [2] and the camel which is to be sacrificed in Mina [3] are reckoned to be the rites of God it is for the reason that these are the signs of straight religion (Din-e-Hanif) and beliefs of Ibrahim. If Muzdalifa is considered to be al-mash’ar, it is because it is the sign of religion of God and stopping at this sign (during Haj) is practically acting on the religion and obedience to God.

If the entire Hajj rites are named as al-sha’air it is because these actions are the signs of divine and true religion.

In short, whatever are the signs and symbols of divine religion, respecting them is the source of nearness towards God. Indisputably, the Prophets and Awliya Allah who were the channel for propagating religion among the people are the greatest and the most evident signs of the divine religion. No just person can deny this fact that the existence of the Holy Prophet (s) and Imams (‘a) are from the proofs of Islam and are the signs of this holy religion and one of the ways of respecting them is protecting their graves and their remains and safeguarding them from any kind of destruction.

Anyhow, the matter of respect for the graves of awliya Allah (friends of God) becomes clear when we consider two things:

(a) The Prophets and awliya Allah, in particular those who have sacrificed their lives in the path of religion are from the divine sha’air (rites) and signs of religion.

(b) One of the ways of respecting this group after their demise is to safeguard and renovate their graves as well as protecting their school of thought. For this reason throughout the world, great religious and political leaders whose graves are a symbol of their school of thought are buried in such selected places which remain permanently safe. Safeguarding their grave from destruction is the sign of protection of their existence and eventually the sign of protection of their school of thought.

For understanding this fact it is necessary to examine and analyse accurately verse number 36 of Sura Hajj. Some of the pilgrims to the House of God take a camel along with themselves right from their houses to be sacrificed near the House of God. They earmark on this camel for sacrifice in the way of God and distinguish it from the other camels by putting a collar round its neck. As this camel is somehow related to God then according to the same verse it is considered to be the sha’air (rites) of God and according to the contents of verse 32 of Sura Hajj  should be respected. For example, no one should ride on that camel and water and grass should be given to her at the appropriate time till the time she is slaughtered.

When one camel which is earmarked for being sacrificed near the House of God is considered to be a part of sha’air (rites) and its honour and respect is found to be necessary, then why the Prophets, Imams, Scholars, Martyrs and those who right from the beginning of their life have put the collar of obedience and submission to God around their neck and have become a channel between God and His creatures are not to be considered a part of sha’air (rites) of God and their respect and honour not necessary? If really Ka’ba, Safa, Marwa, Mina and Arafat, which are all inanimate objects and no more than stone and mud, are part of the sha’air (rites) because of being related to the divine religion and each one requires obligatory honour and respect, then why the Divine Leaders, who are the preachers and protectors of the divine religion, and those things which are related to them not part of the sha’air (rites)!? [4]

We put the conscience of Wahhabis to justice in this matter. Do they doubt the Prophets and Messengers to be amongst the sha’air (rites) of Allah and do not they consider the protection of their traces and things related to them as honourable!? Does respect and honour mean renovating their graves and keeping them clean or rather destroying and turning them into a heap of ruins?

2- The Holy Qur’an very clearly instructs us to love the near ones of the Holy Prophet.

The Qur’an says:

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                            

“Say; I do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my near relatives.” (Shura: 23)

From the view point of the general people who are referred to by this verse, is not the matter of the grave and its renovation as one of the ways of expressing love towards the household of the Holy Prophet (s)? We see that this custom was and is still prevailing amongst all the nations and they think this to be one way of expressing their love to the people in grave. Thus great political and religious personalities have been buried in the church or in famous shrines surrounded by flowers and trees.

3. Renovation of grave and the past generation

From the Qur’anic verses we come to know that respect towards the grave of a believer was one kind of practise which was in vogue amongst the nations prior to Islam.

About the companions of Kahf, Qur’an narrates that when their condition became known to the people of that time and they came near the entrance of the cave, they expressed two views about their graves

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

“…..Erect an edifice over them….,” (Kahf: 21)

                                                                         

“….Those who prevailed in their affair said: We will certainly raise a mosque over them”….. (Kahf: 21)

The Qur’an narrates these two views without any criticism. Of course it can be said that if either of these two views were wrong then surely Qur’an would have criticised them or would have narrated their action with condemnation. Anyhow these two views show that one of the ways of respect of the awliya Allah and virtuous people has been the protection of their shrines.

By paying attention to these three verses we can never declare the matter of renovation of graves of the awliya Allah, Prophets and the virtuous ones as prohibited and or an abominable affair. Instead we can interpret it to be one kind of respect to the sha’air (rites) of God and manifestation of mawadda fi al-qurba (love towards kinsfolk).

4. Elevation of Special Houses

The Qur’an sets forth one novel parable wherein the Light (nur) of Allah is compared to a lamp which is having a light within it, and this elegant and profound parable begins with the sentence  and ends with the sentence.

After setting forth this parable which itself is having a lengthy discussion, Qur’an says:

                  

“In houses which Allah has permitted to be exalted and that His name may be remembered in them; there, glorify Him therein in the mornings and the evenings, Men whom neither trade nor selling diverts from the remembrance of Allah”. (Nur: 36 & 37)

Argumentation of this verse requires, before anything else, two points to be clarified:

(a) What is meant by  (houses)?

(b) What is meant by  which has come in the meaning of raising and elevation?

Regarding the first word, we have to remind you that its objective is not limited to mosques. Instead it refers to mosques and houses such as the houses of Prophets and awliya Allah which possesses the aforesaid specialities mentioned in the verse and there is no reason to confine the meaning of the word to mosque. The whole of this  most common being the mosques and houses of the Prophets and the pious ones who have never been forgetful of the Hereafer, is the centre of Light (nur) of Allah and the flames of tawhid, purification and glorification. Instead it can be said that  here excludes the mosques because a house consists of four walls and surely a ceiling and if Ka’ba is called as  (house of Allah) it is because it possesses a ceiling. But we see that it is recommended (mustahab) that a mosque should be devoid of a ceiling and at present even Masjid al-Haram is without a ceiling. The verses of the Qur’an too show that by house is meant a place possessing a ceiling. It says:

               

               

“And were it not that all people had been a single nation, We would certainly have assigned to those who disbelieve in the Beneficient God (to make) of silver the roofs of their houses.” (Zukhruf: 33)

Anyhow  either refers to a place other than mosque or it consists of both mosque and house.

Now it is time to explain the meaning of the second word i.e.

The word  in the Arabic language means 'to raise' or 'to elevate' and the verse explicitly says that God has permitted these houses to be elevated. This elevation either refers to physical elevation i.e. raising the base and the walls and protecting them from tumbling down as Qur’an has used the same meaning in the following verse, 

                                                                                     

“And when Ibrahim and Ismail raised the foundations of the House” (Baqarah: 127)

or it refers to spiritual elevation i.e. God has given a special privilege to such houses and has raised their rank and position.

If we take the meaning of physical elevation, then it clearly shows that the houses of the Prophets and awliya Allah who are the true proofs of these houses, are worthy of renovation - whether during their lifetime or after their demise, whether they are buried there itself (like the house of the Holy Prophet (s), Imam al-Hadi and Imam al-‘Askari where their houses are their graves because they were buried in their own houses) or in some other place. Under any condition such houses are to be renovated and protected from ruin and destruction.

And if we take the meaning of spiritual elevation, then we conclude that God has permitted such houses to be honoured and respected and one of the ways of manifesting our respect to such houses is safeguarding them from destruction and renovating them and keeping them clean.

All these physical and spiritual elevation is because these houses belong to the divine men who were God's obedient servants and were submissive to His commands.

Despite these and such other verses it is a matter of shock as to how the Wahhabis have destroyed the traces of Messengership and ruined their houses and have turned into a heap of rubble, these lustrous places where men and women used to glorify and praise God, day and night, and gather in these places and recite supplications because of the spiritnal connection the owners of these houses had with God! This shows as to how they have openly and apparently disclosed their old enmity with the Holy Prophet (s) and his household (‘a) and his sincere companions!

In this connection we draw the attention of our readers to one tradition.

Anas bin Malik says: The Holy Prophet (s) recited this verse. At that time a person stood up and said:

refers to which house?

The Holy Prophet (s) said – “The house of the Prophets”.

Abu Bakr stood and said –“Is this house (refering to the house of ‘Ali and Fatima) included amongst them?

The Holy Prophet (s) replied  [5]

“Yes, it is the most important of all of them.” 

Notes : 

[1] al-Tabarsi, Majma’ al-bayan, (Sayda edition), vol. 4 p. 83.

[2] Baqarah: 158

[3] Hajj: 36

[4] Protection of graves is expression of love and affection.

[5] al-Suyuti, al-Durr al-Manthur, vol. 5 p. 50.