The graves
which attract the worshippers of God from all over the world and in particular
the Muslims, are the graves of those who were possessing a divine mission in
the society and had fulfilled their mission befittingly. These people consist
of:
1. Prophets
and religious leaders who carried the divine message upon their shoulders and
guided the people by giving their lives, property and blood of their dear ones
and bore the hardships and difficulties in this path.
2. Great scholars who,
like a bright candle, have spread light to their surroundings and have laboured
in research and left behind a great treasure by the name of knowledge and
wisdom in the service of mankind. They have acquainted men with the Divine Book,
the Book of Nature and the language of creation and have laid the foundation of
religious, human and natural sciences.
3. The group of people
whose cup of patience had been overflowing from the social oppression, ever-increasing
injustices and unfair discrimination. They are those who have put their life at
stake against the oppressive rulers and washed with their blood the cruelties
prevalent in the society. (the martyrs in the path of Islam). No revolution and
reform in society will remain worthless and the significance of a holy
revolution which wishes to bring down the palaces of the oppressors and
suffocate them, is the holy blood of those combatants who wish to bring
Justice, Equity, Liberty and freedom back to the society. It is they to whom
the people go for their ziyarat and shed tears near their graves or
shrines and remember their valuable services and their holy sacrifices. By
reciting some Suras from the Qur’an they soothe their souls and by reciting
poems about their sacrifices, lofty human merits and exalted morals, they
enliven their memories and their school of thought and invite the people to
follow their path.
Ziyarat of graves of
such group of people is one kind of thanksgiving and appreciation of their heroism
and self-sacrifices. It is a warning to the contemporary generation that the
reward of the person who selects the true path and gives his or her life while
defending true beliefs and propagating freedom and liberty is that he or she will
never be forgotten. The passage of time which turns everything old and extinct
not only does not make their memories to fade or disappear but causes the
flames of love to glow more in the pure and sincere hearts. Thus how good it is
that the contemporary generation and the future generation too follow their
path since they have seen with their own eyes the rewards of the sacrifices of
the men of truth. What was said till now has acquainted us with the importance
of honouring the great religious personalities and the combatants in the path
of truth and reality.
Therefore, based on
this, we should always honour and respect these people in their death time just
as it was done during their life time and should protect and safeguard their
signs and memories. We should celebrate their birth-days and declare the day of
their deaths to be the day of grief and sorrow. By holding big gatherings and
delivering good and effective speeches, we should invite the people to become
acquainted with their school of thought and protect and safeguard them in the
future. We should respect the soil and place of their burial and prevent any
kind of insult and segregation. This is because respecting their graves means respecting
their school of thought just as insulting and degrading their grave is
insulting their path and their conduct.
At present, anyone who
steps into the cemetry of Baqi’ will see that the graves of the leaders of
Islam and the dear companions of the Holy Prophet (s) who were self-sacrificing
and striving in the propagation of religion in such a insulted state that it
will give him a severe shock and grief and he will be astonished by attitude of
the stone-hearted Wahhabis who reckon themselves to be the propagators of
religion. This is because on the one hand they respect the names of religious
leaders and companions of the Holy Prophet (s) on the pulpits and on the other
hand whenever it comes to the matter of their graves, they do not pay the least
respect. They do not even care about the animals contaminating the surroundings
of their graves. By using the words of shirk (polytheism) and mushrik
(polytheist) as an excuse, they strike down the respect and honour of the awliya
and in this manner, restrain the people from honouring them in any possible
manner (tongue, thoughts, expressions, actions etc) and to the extent that they
consider all these actions (in consideration of the services of the awliya
Allah) to be polytheism and label them as polytheists. They have such a severe enmity
with the awliya Allah that any kind of respect manifested towards them will very
much annoy them.
Now it is time to talk
and discuss about ziyara of grave of the Holy Prophet (s) from Islamic
proofs and reasonings.
Ziyarat of the Grave
of the Holy Prophet (s)
We shall here
bring forth the logical proofs from the Holy Qur’an and traditions and request
the respected readers for more concentration in this section.
Evidence from Qur’an
The Holy
Qur’an commands the sinners to approach the Holy Prophet (s) and request him to
seek forgiveness for them from Allah since his request and plead is accepted by
Allah. The Holy verse says:
“And had
they, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of
Allah and the Apostle had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have
found Allah Oft-returning, Merciful” (Nisa: 64)
If in case we
were having only one such verse, we could say that the verse is related to the
day when the Holy Prophet (s) was living amongst the people. However, due to a
number of reasons, we can derive from this verse, one general conclusion that
it is not specific to this worldly life.
They are,
firstly the verses of Qur’an that consider a barzakhi life for the Prophet (s),
awliya and some particular group of people and introduces them as the ones who
can see and hear in that world. This segment of verses will be discussed under
the topic of Tawassul (recourse) to the Holy souls.
Secondly, the
Islamic traditions (hadiths) clearly bear testimony to the fact that the angels
transmit the messages of the people to the Holy Prophet (s). This tradition has
come in Sihah as such:
The Holy
Prophet (s) said: “There is no one who sends greetings upon me but that Allah
makes his greetings reach me and I answer his greetings”. [1]
And
“And said the Prophet of
God (s) …… ‘Send greetings upon me for your greetings reaches me”’. [2]
Thirdly, right from the
beginning, the Islamic society has grasped a general and wider meaning from
this verse (mentioned above) and acted accordingly without the demise of the
Holy Prophet (s) becoming any obstacle in this regard. After the passing of the
Holy Prophet (s), a group from the Arabs would come for ziyara of Holy
Prophet (s) with clear and pure minds and recite this verse and request him to
seek forgiveness on their behalf.
Taqi al-Din
al-Subki and al-Samhudi have reported examples regarding it in their books Shifa'
al-saqam and Wafa' al-wafa' respectively. We shall mention here some
of them:
Sufyan bin 'Anbar, who
is one of the learned scholars of the Shafi'i school, narrates from al-'Utabi -
that latter was standing near the grave of the Holy Prophet (s) when an Arab
came and said:
‘Peace be
upon you Oh Prophet of God, I have heard Allah saying (in Quran) “And had
they, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of
Allah and the Apostle had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have
found Allah Oft-returning, Merciful” and indeed as I have come near you, I seek
forgiveness for my sins and make you intercesseor towards my Lord..’
Thereafter he
cried and sought forgiveness and left the shrine of the Holy Prophet (s) after
reciting this poem
Regarding this matter
al-Samhudi narrates from Ali (‘a) that: “Three days had passed from the
burial of the Holy Prophet (s). One Arab came and threw himself over the
Prophet's grave and sprinkling the soil of the grave over his head said: O
Prophet, you spoke to us and we listened. You received from Allah what we
received from you. One sentence which has been revealed from God is the verse:
‘And I have
done injustice to myself and I have come to you to seek forgiveness for me.’
This action shows that the
level and position which has been given to the Holy Prophet (s) by order of
this verse is not limited to his life in this world but also applicable to his
barzakhi life.
Basically, the Muslims
do not consider the verses which are talking about the matter of respect of the
Holy Prophet (s) to be restricted to his life-time. At the time of burial of
Hasan ibn 'Ali (‘a), when a section of the people had made an uproar, Husayn
ibn 'Ali (‘a), immediately recited the following verse in order to silence them.
“O you who
believe! Do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet, and do not
speak loud to him”. (Hujurat: 2)
Nobody, not
even the Umayyads have said that this verse and this respect is only related to
the life-time of the Holy Prophet (s). At present, the Wahhabis themselves have
written this verse facing the grave of the Holy Prophet (s) and put it over the
wall and by this, they wish to say that we should lower our voice and not speak
loudly.
Therefore, we can grasp
a wider meaning from the verse and it is this that at present, the Muslims can
approach the Holy Prophet (s) and request him to seek forgiveness from Allah
for their sins. Ziyara of the Holy Prophet (s) of Islam has no purpose
other than mentioned in this ayah and has no parable in this regard.
This verse
proves two matters:
1. After the
demise of the Holy Prophet (s), it is possible to approach him and request him
to seek forgiveness from Allah on one's behalf. This matter will be discussed
later under the topic of “Tawassul (recourse) with the Awliya Allah”.
2. This verse is a
testimony to the fact that ziyara of the Holy Prophet (s) is lawful
since the reality of ziyara is nothing but the presence of the visitor
near the visited one. If one is allowed to visit the grave of Holy Prophet (s) and
request him to seek forgiveness from Allah then in fact we have performed two
actions:
(i). We have requested
him to seek forgiveness from Allah.
(ii). We have, by approaching
him, conversed with him and ziyarat possesses no reality other than this and
the subject matter of ziyara is mainly shaped with the same theme.
Therefore, this verse is
a testimony to both these matters.
Another Evidence:
The unanimity
and consensus of the Muslims in various periods in a decree related to the
commandments of Islam is the most obvious testimony upon its correctness.
Consensus
over the ziyara of grave of the Holy Prophet (s) is one of the better
evidences of this decree. By referring to the books of tradition, fiqh,
morals and history - especially those related to Hajj rites - the reality of
this matter will be clarified.
Allama al-'Amini has
narrated from fourty-two Islamic sources, the recommendation of ziyara
of the shrine of the Holy Prophet (s). He has accurately narrated the texts and
wordings of them in Al-Ghadir, volume 5, pages 106 to 129.
The books
which we have referred to are the following:
A.
Shifa' al-saqam fi ziyara khayr al-'anam written by Taqi al-Din al-Subki
al-Shafi'i (died in 756). He has narrated in this book a part of the texts and
wordings of the scholars.
B.
Wafa' al-Wafa' written by al-Samhudi (died in 911). He has narrated in
this book the texts and wordings of the scholars which all indicate emphatic
recommendation.
C.
Al-Fiqh 'ala al-madhahib al-arba'a which has been written by four men
from the four schools of thought and exposes the thoughts of the four Imams of
Ahl-al Sunnah whom they follow. They have written as such:
The
ziyarat of the grave of the Prophet (s) is the principal recommendion as
repeatedly found in traditions.
Now
it's time to reflect upon a section of the traditions which have been narrated
by Islamic muhaddithun (traditionists).
Notes :
Notes :
[1] Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 1 pages 470-471, book of Hajj chapter:
[2] Shaykh Mansur Ali Nasif, Al-Taj al-jami' li al-'usul fi ahadith al-Rasul, vol. 2, p. 189
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