In the name of ALLAH

Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat aims at safeguarding the common Muslims from astray groups and
organizations which misled and misguide the common Muslims in the name of Islamic preaching.
The need of Hour is to educate the Muslim masses with fundamental and accurate knowledge of
their religion and faith. We solicit your co-operation in furthering the Maslak-e-A’la Hazrat.

Aqaa’id of Mazb-e-Haqq -Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaah

Aqaa’id -Beliefs
Mazb-e-Haqq -The Right Creed
Ahle Sunnah -People of the Way
Wal Jamaah -Congregation of Muslims

Do Muslims worship tombs?

The hadith ash-Sharif: "The lives and property of those who say, 'La ilaha illallah,' and do not
worship anything other than Allahu ta'ala are haram."

Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabism said: "Saying only the Kalimat at-
Tawhid cannot save one's blood and possessions. Those who worship tombs and the dead are in this
group. They are worse than the pre-Islamic polytheists mentioned in the Qur'an al-karim."

Some people, putting forward the ayat, "Kill polytheists wherever you find them," as a reason, want
to kill Muslims and plunder their possessions. They quote the words of disbelief and polytheism of
the Khurufis and of the ignoramuses and attack tasawwuf and the superior authorities on tasawwuf.
Quoting the hadiths condemning those who worship trees, stones or graves, they say that it is
polytheism or disbelief to build tombs on graves and to visit graves.

It is certainly polytheism to regard a stone, a tree or an unknown grave as a means of blessing. But
it is stupidity and ignorance to liken to it visiting the graves of the prophets (‘alaihimu’s-salawatu
wa’t-taslimat) and awliya' (rahimahum-Allahu ta'ala) with the intention of getting enlightenment
and blessings through their Baraka (holiness) from Allahu ta'ala. Moreover, it is to set disunion
among Muslims to accuse millions of Muslims -because of this- of disbelief and polytheism.

The profound scholar Sulaiman ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab an-Najdi (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala), the
author of As-sawa'iq al-ilahiyya fi 'r-raddi 'ala 'l-Wahhabiyya, [First published by Nukhbat al-
Akbar press in Baghdad in 1306 A.H.. Second edition was produced by photo-offset in Istanbul,
1395 (1975).] Was the brother of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabism?
He proved with documents that the path opened in the name of Wahhabism by his brother was
heretical. He wrote on page 44 of his book: "One of the documents showing that your path is
heretical is the hadith ash-Sharif written in Sahihain, the two genuine hadith books, one by al-
Bukhari and the other by Muslim. 'Uqba ibn Amir (radi-Allahu 'anh), the relater of the hadith ash-
Sharif, said, 'Rasulullah (sall- Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam), ascended the minbar. It was the last
time I saw him on the minbar. He declared: "I do not fear whether you will become polytheists after
I die. I fear that you, because of worldly interests, will kill one another and thus be destroyed like
ancient tribes." ‘Rasulullah (sall- Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) foretold all that would happen to
his umma till the Resurrection.

This sahih hadith states that his umma will never worship idols that he was assured of it. This
hadith ash-Sharif demolishes Wahhabism by the roots, for the Wahhabite book claims that the
Ummat al-Muhammadiya worship idols, that Muslim countries are full of idols, that tombs are
idol- houses. It says that one also becomes a disbeliever by not believing that he who expects help
or intercession at shrines is a disbeliever. However, Muslims have visited graves and asked the
mediation and intercession of awliya' for centuries, No Islamic scholars have called such Muslims
polytheists; they regarded them as Muslims.

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"Question: A hadith ash-Sharif says, "Of all that will befall you, polytheism is the one I fear most."

What would you say about that?'

"Answer: It is inferred from other hadiths that this hadith ash-Sharif alludes to shirk asghar (venial
polytheism, see below). All similar hadiths related by Shaddan ibn Aws, Abu Huraira and
Mahmud ibn Labid (radi-Allahu ta'ala 'anhum) state that Rasulullah (sall- Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa
sallam) feared that shirk asghar would be committed by his umma. It has happened as it was told in
the hadiths, and many Muslims have fallen into shirk asghar. You confuse shirk asghar with shirk
Akbar (the greatest polytheism), thus accuse Muslims of disbelief and regard those believers who
do not call Muslim 'disbelievers' as disbelievers."

On page 451 of the book Al-Hadiqa the hadith ash-Sharif, "Oh Mankind”. Avoid that very occult
polytheism!" is explained and remarked: "This kind of polytheism is to see the causes (sababs) only
and not to think that Allahu ta'ala creates. To believe that the causes create the work is to attribute
them as partners to Allahu ta'ala. It is called shirk jali (open, apparent polytheism) to attribute
things seen or thought as partners of Him. And it is Shirk khafi (occult polytheism) to believe that
things considered as causes by Islam, reason or customs create." Hadrat 'Abd al-Haqq ad-Dehlawi
says on page fifty of his work AShiat al- lama ‘at, "It is shirk akbar to worship idols. This is the kind
of polytheism that causes kufr (disbelief). Shirk asghar is to perform rites and do goodness
hypocritically. This minor polytheism does not make one a disbeliever." These two kinds of
polytheism are of shirk jali.

The above hadith ash-Sharif quoted from Al-Hadiqa does not say that it is polytheism to ask
something from souls and the dead. It means that it is polytheism to believe, while making use of
the causes, that is, while asking something from human beings or using visible or invisible things,
that the resultant work is done by the causes. It is polytheism, or the attribution of it as a partner to
Allahu ta'ala, to believe that a living or lifeless cause is able to create or do whatever he or it
wishes; with such a belief in mind, to ask something from the cause means to worship it. To make
use of a cause with the belief that not the cause but Allahu ta'ala will create is not to worship it but
to hold to it as a means. When Muslims want something from the living or the dead, from the
present or the absent, they do not believe that their wish will be granted by these things themselves.
Holding to the causes, they expect their wish from Allahu ta'ala and believe that He will create.
Therefore, Muslims' asking something from souls and the dead does not mean that they worship
them or regard them as beings to be worshiped. Allahu ta'ala creates everything through a cause
or means and comma nds us to hold fast to using causes.

For this reason, we hold to the associated cause for attaining what we wish. Holding to the causes is
neither polytheism nor a sin. Expecting from the causes is polytheism. It is shirk-e-Akbar to expect
from them with the belief that they can create whatever wished, and it is shirk khafi to expect from
them with the belief that they will create with the power given by Allahu ta'ala. It is conformable to
Islam to expect a wish not from the causes but from Allahu ta'ala and to believe that not they but
only Allahu ta'ala will create. This is how Muslims request something of the dead and souls. Such
lawful requesting is called tawassul or istighatha.

To know whether a person who requests something from a dead or living person worships him or
makes tawassul of him, we examine whether he does something unconformable to Islam when he
requests. If he does, that is, if he commits a haram or omits a fard with a view to pleasing him, it
can be concluded that he worships him. As it is seen, the Wahhabis who, while requesting
something from living people, act against to Islam to please them become polytheists. However,
those Muslims who make tawassul without doing anything unconformable to Islam carry out
Allahu ta'ala's command; that is, they hold to the causes. Of those who call these Muslims
polytheists, the ones who do so without a tawil become polytheists. If one does something
unconformable to Islam to satisfy the desires of his nafs, he will have worshiped his nafs. However,
our religion does not define worshiping one's nafs as polytheism; that is, it makes one not a
disbeliever but a sinner.