“Men of tasawwuf are in polytheism and disbelief. The
murîd (disciple) worships his shaikh (guide). Ash-Sha’ranî’s books are full of
this kind of disbelief. They deify and worship the tombs of Husain, his father,
his children and of ash-Shâfi’î, Abu Hanîfa and ’Abd al-Qâdir al-Jîlânî.”
In the third part of the Persian book Al-usûl al-arba’a fî tardîdi ’l-Wahhâbiyya[2]
, it is written:
“Those who believe so claim that it is grave
polytheism to call by name someone who is absent (ghâ’ib). In this context,
they mean that if one calls even Rasûlulâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam), thinking that his blessed soul is present (hâdir), one becomes a
polytheists. Ash-Shawkânî of Yemen, too, wrote in his Durr an-nadîd, ‘It is kufr to esteem graves and to ask help [of the
dead] by visiting graves.’ And in his Tat’hîr al-i’tiqâd, he
said, ’He who calls to the dead or the living absentees, whether they be
angels, prophets or walîs, becomes a polytheist.’ The lâ-madhhabî
assert two different opinions on this subject: if one, without thinking that he
[the Prophet] would hear but because he loves
[2] Written in Persian in India in 1346 (1928) and published in Pakistan. The author, Hakîm al-Ummat Khwâja Muhammad Hasan Jan Sâhib, was a descendant of al-Imâm ar-Rabbânî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ). Second edition was produced in Istanbul, in 1395 (1975). The book Tarîq annajât by the same author answers the bid’a groups. It is in Arabic and was published with its Urdu translation in Pakistan in 1350 and reproduced by photo-offset in Istanbul in 1396 (1976 A.D.).
him, says, ‘Yâ Rasûl-Allâh!’ he does not become a polytheist;
if he says so with the belief that he will hear him, he becomes a disbeliever.
We should ask these people who regard the actions of the Salaf as-sâlihîn
(rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ) as polytheism and Muslims as polytheists: what do you
mean by ‘ghâ’ib’? If you mean ‘Anything we do not see is ghâ’ib,’ it would be
polytheism for you, too, to say ‘Yâ Allâh!’ In fact, you do not believe even
the fact that Allâhu ta’âlâ will be seen in Paradise. If you mean ‘Gha’ib means
nonexistent,’ how can you say ‘nonexistent’ for the souls of prophets
(’alaihimu ’s-salawâtu wa ’t-taslîmat) and awliyâ’ (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ)?
We have already proven in the second part of our book that souls do exist. If
you say, ‘We believe in the existence, perception and conciousness of souls
[that they hear and understand], but we do not believe that they posses
tasarruf (ability to do, to act),’ Allâhu ta’âlâ refutes these words in the
fifth âyat of the Sûrat an-Nâzi’ât, ‘I take an oath on those who do hard work.’ Many ’ulamâ’ of tafsîr, for example, al-Baidâwî in
his Tafsîr [and in its commentary by Shaikhzâda, in Tafsîr-i ’Azîzî, in the tafsîr Rûh al-bayân and in Tafsîr-i Husainî], wrote that this âyat declared that the souls of
angels and walîs did work. The soul (rûh) is not material and, therefore, like
angels and by the order and permission of Allâhu ta’âlâ, does work in this
world. In various âyats of the Qur’ân
al-karîm, angels are reported to be doing
work, annihilating or acting as means in killing or bringing back to life.
Satans and genies, too, do hard work easily. The Qur’ân al-karîm
narrates the help done by genies to the Prophet Sulaimân (’alaihi
’s-salâm), for example, in the thirteenth âyat of the Sûrat Saba’, ‘The genies did whatever he wanted - made a
fortress, picture, large cauldrons and [earthenware]
pots [so heavy] that could
not be lifted up.’ Genies, though
they are not as perfect and as strong as angels and souls, can then do great
work. There are many invisible things in this world which do work that cannot
be managed by human power. For example, the air, which is very light and
invisible, when it blows as a gale or whirlwind, uproots trees and demolishes
building. [Electricity, atoms, laser rays and electromagnetic waves are able to
produce tremendous work even though they are invisible to the eye even through
the most powerful microscope.] We do not see the powers of the evil eye and
magic or whitchraft and the like, but everybody has heard of their bewildering
results. Allâhu ta’âlâ is no doubt the only doer of all that is done. But,
because all these are the causes or means for Allâhu ta’âlâ’s doing or
creating, we
think that they do and say that they do. Since it is
not polytheism or disbelief to say ‘they do’, why should it be polytheism to
say, ‘The souls of awliyâ’ do’? As ‘they’ do work by Allâhu ta’âlâ’s permission
and with His creating, the souls of awliyâ’, also do things by Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
permission and creating. If one says that it is polytheism to say ‘they do’,
he, in fact, will have contradicted the Qur’ân al-karîm.
“If this person claims that the Qur’ân al-karîm says that the genies, satans, the hair and magic are effective, and therefore it is permissible to say ‘these do,’ and that since the Qur’ân al-kerîm does not say that the souls of awliyâ’ do such and such work, it is polytheism to ask anything from souls, we remind him of the above-quoted âyat karîma of the Sûrat an-Nâzi’ât. We have already told about the prayer said in a hadîth sharîf to the blind Muslim who wanted to gain his sight, and the prayer which is to be read when alone in the desert, and the command, ‘While visiting graves, greet the dead!’ and the event narrated by ’Uthmân ibn Hunain (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) in the preceding article. All these and many other similar documents evidence that it is permissible to ask help of an absentee. But this person puts the stamp of da’îf or mawdû’ to these mashhûr and sahîh hadîths, and does not even listen to the words of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna and prominent leaders of tasawwuf, for he says that following any of the four madhhabs is polytheism and disbelief. For example, Ghulâm ’Alî Qusûrî wrote in his Tahqîq al-kalâm: ‘Those who follow one of the four madhhabs or belong to the Qâdiriyya, Chishtiyya or Suhrawardiyya tarîqa are disbelievers, polytheists and ahl al-bid’a.’ ” [1]
[1] Please see the 8th and 35th articles for further discussion.