“Saying only the kalimat at-tawhîd 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’ân al-karîm.”
Some people, putting forward the âyat, “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 Khurûfîs
and of the ignoramuses and attack
tasawwuf and the superior authorities on tasawwuf.
Quoting the hadîths 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-salawâtu wa ’t-taslîmât) and awliyâ’ (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ) with the
intention of getting enlightenment and blessings through their baraka
(holiness) from Allâhu ta’âlâ. Moreover, it is to set disunion among Muslims to
accuse millions of Muslims -because of this- of disbelief and polytheism.
The profound scholar Sulaimân ibn ’Abd al-Wahhâb
an-Najdî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), the author of As-sawâ’iq al-ilâhiyya fî ’r-raddi ’ala
’l-Wahhâbiyya[1]
, was the brother of Muhammad ibn ’Abd al-Wahhâb, the founder of Wahhâbism. He
proved with documents that the path opened in the name of Wahhâbism 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 hadîth
ash-sharîf written in Sahîhain, the two genuine hadîth books, one by al-Bukhârî and the other by
Muslim. ’Uqba ibn Âmir (radî-Allâhu ’anh), the relater of the hadîth ash-sharîf, said, ‘Rasûlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’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.” ’ Rasûlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) foretold all
that would happen to his umma till the Resurrection. This sahih hadîth states
that his umma will never worship idols, that he was assured of it. This hadîth sharîf demolishes Wahhâbism by the roots, for the Wahhâbite book claims that
the Ummat al-Muhammadiyya 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 awliyâ’ for centuries. No Islamic scholars have called such
Muslims
[1] First published by Nukhbat al-Akhbâr press in Baghdad in 1306 A.H. Second edition was produced by photo-offset in Istanbul, 1395 (1975).
polytheists; they regarded them as Muslims.
“Question: A hadîth
sharîf 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 hadîths that this hadîth sharîf alludes to shirk
asghar (venial polytheism, see
below). All similar hadîths related by Shaddân ibn Aws, Abu Huraira and Mahmûd
ibn Labîd (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum) state that Rasûlullâh (sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) feared that shirk asghar would be committed by his
umma. It has happened as it was told in the hadîths, 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-hadîqa, the hadîth
sharîf, “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 Allâhu ta’âlâ creates.
To believe that the causes create the work is to attribute them as partners to
Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is called shirk
jalî (open, apparent polytheism) to
attribute things seen or thought as partners of Him. And it is shirk khafî (occult polytheism) to believe that things considered
as causes by Islam, reason or customs create.” Hadrat ’Abd al-Haqq ad-Dahlawî
says on page fifty of his work Ashî’at al-lama’ât, “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 jalî.
The above hadîth sharîf quoted from Al-hadîqa 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 Allâhu ta’âlâ, 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
Allâhu ta’âlâ 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 Allâhu ta’âlâ 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 worshipped. Allâhu
ta’âlâ creates everything through a cause or means and commands 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 akbar to expect from them with the belief
that they can create whatever wished, and it is shirk khafî to expect from them
with the belief that they will create with the power given by Allâhu ta’âlâ. It
is conformable to Islam to expect a wish not from the causes but from Allâhu
ta’âlâ and to believe that not they but only Allâhu ta’âlâ will create. This is
how Muslims request something of the dead and souls. Such lawful requesting is
called tawassul or istighâtha.
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 harâm or omits a fard with a view to pleasing him, it can be concluded that he worships him. As it is seen, the Wahhâbîs who, while requesting something from living people, act unconformably to Islam to please them become polytheists. However, those Muslims who make tawassul without doing anything unconformable to Islam carry out Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commad; that is, they hold to the causes. Of those who call these Muslims polytheists, the ones who do so without a ta’wîl become polytheists. If one does something unconformable to Islam to satisfy the desires of his nafs, he will have worshipped his nafs. However, our religion does not define worshipping one’s nafs as polytheism; that is, it makes one not a disbeliever but a sinner.