“Qasîdat al-Burda is a work of great ignorance. It says that it is only
through the Prophet’s protection that one can attain salvation. This
eulogy is in contradiction with the Book and the Sunna. People deem it as
higher than the Qur’ân.”
In the foreword to his book, he says:
“Sa’űd’s grandson, ’Abd al-’Azîz, revived the tawhîd.
He brought peace and law to the Arabian Peninsula. And his son Sa’űd
invigorated the way of his ancestors. He reopened the path of the Khulâfa’
ar-Râshidîn.”
He prays for the swords of the sons of Sa’űd to be
sharper. It is not a guilt, in his opinion, to lie saying, “invigorated...
reopened the path,” about Sa’űd so that he may praise and ask help from that
dissolute, vile drunkard, who led a life in dissipation, drinking bouts and
fornication parties for years with hundreds of concubines and Greek girls in
the most luxurious hotels in Athens, Greece, extravagantly throwing away
thousands of gold coins from Muslims to non-believers, and who died in
sensuality, enjoyment and drinking revelries. However, again in his view, it is
a guilt and polytheism for al-Imâm al-Bűsairî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ) to
eulogize Allâhu ta’âlâ’s beloved Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam), to regard the exalted Prophet as the highest of
creatures, and to ask for help and intercession of that highest Prophet,
who has been honoured with the good news, “I will grant whatever you wish!” He shamelessly markets such writings of his under the
name of religious book for Muslims. He is not ashamed of calling the Islamic
’ulamâ’, the apples of the eyes of Muslims, “polytheists and heretics” so that
he may deceive the youth and make them lâ-madhhabî. What will he say about the
hadîths[1]
in which Rasűlullâh explained his own high status? Will he commit the
insolence of smearing the dirt of his pen on that honourable Prophet
(sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) because he has declared that he was the
leader of prophets and the highest of human beings of all times?
“Although Ibrâhîm an-Nahâ’i said that it was
permissible to say, ‘I trust in Allâhu ta’âlâ and then in you,’ this word is to
be
[1] Quoted by al-Imâm ar-Rabbânî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ) in Maktűbât, I, 44th letter (Endless Bliss, I, p. 142). For Qasîdat al-Burda, see above, the 13th chapter, p. 38.
spoken to the one who is alive and present and who has
the power of doing something and thus is causative. The dead do not feel or
hear, neither are they able to help nor do harm. It is not suitable to speak in
this way to the dead and the persons who are absent. It is not permissible to
be bound to the dead in any way. This is explicitly stated in the Qur’ân.
Asking the dead for something or esteeming them by saying anything, or being
bound to them by heart or by any deed, comes to mean to deify them, to take
them as persons to be worshipped, and to make them gods.”
With these nonsensical statements, he calumniates the Qur’ân al-karîm, too. The ’ulamâ’ of Islam have answered these
heretical writings with âyats and hadîths and have proved that the lâ-madhhabî
have mistaken and have been dragging the youth to disasters by deceiving them.
For example, Sayyid Dâwűd ibn Sulaimân (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ) wrote an
invaluable book in Arabic, namely Al-minhat al-wahbiyya fî raddi ’l-Wahhâbiyya[1]
. This chapter is devoted to the following long translation from his work:
Nowadays, the number of those who depart from the
i’tiqâd (belief) and madhhabs of Ahl as-Sunna has been increasing. These
heretics call Muhammad’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) umma “mushriks.” They say that they
should kill this blessed umma and seize their possessions; thus, they topple
down into disaster. By Allâhu ta’âlâ’s help, I have intended to refute thes
heretics with this booklet of mine and to prove the corruptness of their
arguments. They might read, and perhaps understand that they are mistaken, and
attain salvation. And I will have done a great service.
The lâ-madhhabî do not believe that one may make a
request to Allâhu ta’âlâ through the mediation and intercession of prophets
(’alaihimu ’s-salawâtu wa ’t-taslîmât) and His pious awliyâ’ (rahimahum-Allâhu
ta’âlâ), and that one may ask them to relieve him of troubles by using the
power Allâhu ta’âlâ has given them as a karâmât, and that one may visit their
graves and ask them to intercede for him so that Allâhu ta’âlâ may give
[1] First published in Bombay in 1305 A.H. A photostatic edition was produced in Istanbul in 1389 (1969); second impression in 1973 in Istanbul. The author, Sayyid Dâwűd ibn Sulaimân (born in Baghdad in 1222, died in Baghdad in 1299 A.H./1881), was the Khalîfa of the devamý profound ’âlim and great walî of karâmât Mawlânâ Diyâ’ad-dîn Khâlid al-Baghdâdî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ). For his biography see the entry ‘Khâlidî’ in the dictionary Al-munjid.
him his wish or relieve him of troubles. To them, men
do not hear or see after death; they become soil. They say that there is no
such thing as grave-life. They do not believe that the dead can be recourses in
some way as the living people are made mediators for attaining something in
this world. They would not make such a denial if they believed that the dead are
alive with a kind of life called the life-in-the-grave, that is, being alive
with this life, they know, hear, see and recognize visitors and answer the ones
who greet them, that they visit one another, that they are in blessings or
tortures, that favours or tortures come both to the soul and to the body, that
they are informed of the deeds of the living people they knew when they were
alive, that they thank Allâhu ta’âlâ, give good news to one another and pray
for those who do good deeds when they are informed of the good deeds of the
living people, and that they pray saying, “Oh my Allah! May You make them do
good deeds! May You grant them salvation as You have granted to us,” when they
hear about their bad deeds. Because, death is migration from one house to
another. The Qur’ân al-karîm, the Hadîth
ash-sharîf and ijmâ’ al-Umma teach these
facts. He who does not believe in these will have not believed in the things
which are wâjib to be believed and, therefore, will become a man of bid’a,
departing from Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) sunna.
Because it is one of the six pirnciples of îmân that men will rise alive from
their graves on the Day of Resurrection to gather at the place of Mahshar,
anyone who does not believe this becomes a kâfir. Disbelief in the fact that
the dead live in the grave and feel the favours and punishments, by unanimity
of the al-Ummat al-Muhammadiyya, is a disbelief in the Minor Resurrection which
is an example of the Resurrection.
The ignoramuses who do not believe in the torture in
the grave say:
“Bodies rot and organs disappear in graves. They do
not hear nor see. There is neither torture nor blessing for the body.”
We say to them, “You, too, believe that the soul does
not die. Therefore, you should believe that the soul feels, hears and sees,
too. Hence, you should not oppose Muslims’ expecting souls to be mediators by
asking them for intercession and help for Allâhu ta’âlâ to create. Because, all
religions preach that the soul remains alive after death. You should not deny
that living souls can be intermediaries or causes for Allâhu ta’âlâ’s creating,
while you believe that living men can be.” Because they have not been able to
think on this subject openmindedly, they say, “No
help can be expected from the dead. He who awaits help
from the souls of Allâhu ta’âlâ’s beloved servants and asks for their
intercession for His creating of something becomes a disbeliever, a
polytheist.”[1]
[1] Ahî-zâda ’Abdulhalîm ibn Muhammad (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), one of the distinguished ’ulamâ’ who matured in the Ottoman State, proved with documents in his work As-sâdât fî ithbâti ’l-karâmâti lî ’l-awliyâi hâla ’l-hayât wa ba’da ’l-mamât that Allâhu ta’âlâ gave karâmât to awliyâ’ and that their karâmât continued also after their death. He passed away in 1013 A.H. (1604). His commentary on al-Marghinânî’s Alhidâya, supplement to Ashbâh and annotations to Durar and Ghurar are very valuable. Sa’d ad-dîn at-Taftâzânî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), who passed away in Samarqand in 972 A.H. (1389), wrote in detail the karâmât of awliyâ’ in his commentary to Al-’aqâ’id an-Nasafiyya. Many ’ulamâ’ wrote annotations to his commentary. One of them is the Arabic, Nabrâs, by ’Abd ’al-’Azîz al-Farhârî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ) of India, who passed away there in 1239 A.H. (1824). And a very invaluable annotation of the latter is written by Muhammad Barhurdâr al-Multânî (rahimah-Allahu ta’âlâ), who said on page 476: “The strongest evidence which proves the soundness of karâma is that devamý karâmât occurred on most of the Sahâbat al-kirâm. Dalâ’il annubuwwa by Imâm Ja’far al-Mustaghfirî an-Nasafî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), who passed away in 432 A.H. (1041), is one of the many books that report their karâmât. Although those in the heretical path of the Mu’tazila denied karâmâ, the ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna have given them detailed answers.” It was reported recently that the government of Saudi Arabia has organized a head office of propaganda for the dissemination of Wahhâbism all over the world and is spending millions of gold coins for this purpose every year. A few brainless people of bad race who might sell their religion and conscience play the broker’s part for lâ-madhhabism, poison the youth and lead them to disasters for the sake of money. And there are many who do the same because they do not know Islam and, being deceived, have fallen into the current of reforming the religion. These ignorant people who introduce themselves as men of religious authority do not even recognize âyats and hadîths. They do not know the words of the as-Sahâbat al-kirâm and the Tâbi’űn. They are extremely ignorant. It is a sign of redoubled ignorance for them to think of themselves as ’ulamâ’ after they have learnt a smattering of Arabic. Such people are not willing to read and learn and become men of knowledge. They have dived into sensuality and enjoyment with the money they are given. They have been living unaware of both the religion and worldly knowledge. The unlucky youth think them to be men of religion and, the worst, to be ’ulamâ’. These men are those who gnaw and ruin Islam. It will be a great disaster if these so-called ‘men of religious authority’ come up to be the leaders of Muslims. Such ignoramuses write about images which occur to their empty heads as the teachings of Islam. They have gone astray and will lead others astray. The hadîth ash-sharîf in al-Bukhârî’s Sahîh foretold that these people would increase.
In the grave there are blessings or punishment both to
the soul and to the body. It is necessary to believe this fact as stated. Imâm
Muhammad ibn Hasan ash-Shaibânî [135-
Prophets
(’alaihimu ’s-salawâtu wa ’t-taslîmât) and awliyâ’ (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ)
are alive in their graves with the life called ’life-in-the-grave’ that we do
not know. They cannot do anything by themselves. Allâhu ta’âlâ grants them
sufficient power and value to be mediators. As He loves them, He shows honour
to them and offers them favours outside His usual custom. He creates wishes for
their sake. They are asked to be mediators for the wishes to be created. It is
a lie of the lâ-madhhabî that Ahl as-Sunna worship graves and become
polytheists. It is slander
against Muslims. A few ignorant people or irreligious
men, to cheat innocent villagers and obtain worldly advantages, may do bad
deeds that are discordant with Islam, and it is obvious that such zindîqs and
heretics will spring up when Islamic knowledge and morale fade away in a
country. Instead of defending lâ-madhhabism under such pretexts, it is
necessary to correct the corruptions and not be destructive, but constructive.
There are some people among Muslims who believe in the life, blessings and
tortures in the grave yet disbelieve that prophets and awliyâ’ will be
mediators after death for Allâhu ta’âlâ’s creating. And there are others who
say, “Why are solely the dead asked without considering Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
creating? Asking for their intercession and attainment of wishes through them
are not stated in Islam.” Those who say so are not as harmful as those who do not
believe in the life in the grave. They say so because they do not know the Qur’ân al-karîm or the Hadîth ash-sharîf, or just
because they are obstinate. Muslims should not be obstinate but readily accept
the right word. We shall present our answers in eight parts.
PART ONE.
Prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâtu wa ’s-salâm) are alive in their
graves. Their being alive is not in the metaphorical sense [but in reality]. It
was declared in the Qur’ân
al-karîm: “Never regard those who have been killed in
the way of Allah as dead! They are alive in Allah’s view. They are nourished.” (âl ’Imrân, 169) This âyat karîma explains that
martyrs are alive. Martyrs are like other Muslims and have no superiority over
others. Prophets are, of course, higher and more superior than martyrs.
The ’ulamâ’ of Islam said that every prophet died a martyr, a fact
which everybody knows. Although al-Halabî died a martyr, a fact which everybody
knows. Although al-Halabî wrote in his book Siyar, “There may
be a superiority in the one at a lower degree which may not exist in the one at
a higher degree,” this statement does not apply to this case, because it states
a kind of superiority which is not stated clearly in an âyat karîma or a hadîth sharîf. Snice it is stated in hadîths that prophets are martyrs,
al-Halabî’s statement cannot be applicable to this case. The hadîth ash-sharîf reported by al-Bukhârî and Muslim states, “I was made to pass by Műsâ’s (’alaihi
’s-salâm) grave on the Mi’raj night. He was performing salât standing up in his
grave.” It was declared in a hadîth sharîf reported by al-Baihakî amd many others, “Prophets are
alive in their graves. They perform salât.” Another hadîth sharîf says, “Allâhu ta’âlâ forbade the soil to rot prophets.” This fact has
been reported by the
’ulamâ’ unanimously. It is written in the Sahîhain of al-Bukhârî and Muslim: “Allâhu ta’âlâ sent all the prophets
to our Prophet on the Mi’râj night. He became the imâm, and they
performed two rak’as of salât.” The salât includes bowing (rukű’) and prostration
(sajda). And this shows that they performed salât corporally, with their
bodies. Műsâ’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) performing salât in his grave also indicates
this. It was declared in the hadîth
ash-sharîf quoted in the book Mishkât[1]
on the authority of Muslim, “Near
the Ka’ba, the disbelievers of the Quraish asked me how the Bait al-muqaddas
was. I had not looked at it carefully. I become very stressful. Allâhu ta’âlâ
showed me. I saw myself among prophets.
Műsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was performing salât standing up. He was thin. His hair
was not untidy or drooping. He was like a brave young man of the Shan’a tribe [of the Yemen]. ’Îsâ (’alaihi ’s-slâm) looked like Urwat ibn Mas’űd as-Saqafî.” These hadîths prove that prophets
are alive in Allah’s audience. Their bodies have become etheral like their
souls. They are not dense or solid. They may become visible in material and
spiritual worlds. It is for this reason that prophets can be seen in
soul and body. The hadîth
ash-sharîf explains that Műsâ and ’Îsâ
(’alaihima ’s-Salâm) were performing salât, which involves physical actions
that are to be done with the body, not with the soul. Muhammad’s (’alaihi
’s-salâm) description of Műsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) with medium height, lean and
thin, and with tidy hair shows that he saw not his soul bot his body. Prophets
do not die like other human beings. They emigrate from the transitory world to
the everlasting next world. Al-Imâm al-Baihakî [d. Nishapur,
[1] Last volume, section on the Mi’râj, chapter one.
ad-dîn Muhammad al-Bâbartî [d.
Can one see Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam) when one is asleep or awake? If he can be seen, is it him
who is seen, or a vision similar to him? Our ’ulamâ’ have given various answers
to these questions. In addition to the unanimity that he is alive in his grave,
most of them said that he himself was seen. This is also understood from
hadîths. A hadîth sharîf declares, “The one who sees me in his dream sees me as he would see me when
he is awake.” This is why al-Imâm
an-Nawawî said, “Seeing him in a dream is really seeing him.” As a matter of
fact, it was
declared, “Anyone who has seen me in his dream has seen me truly, for the
devil cannot appear in my shape,” in
a hadîth sharîf reported in the book Kunűz ad-daqâ’îq by al-Imâm al-Manâwî on the authority of al-Bukhârî
and Muslim. We would not see him “truly” if we saw his likeness in a dream. In
his book Jawharat
at-tawhîd, Ibrâhîm al-Lâqânî wrote,
“It has been reported unanimously by the ’ulamâ’ of hadîth that Rasűlullâh can be seen both when one is awake and in one’s dreams. However, it is
not unanimous whether it is him who is seen or someone else who resembles him.
Most of them said that he himself was seen. Al-Imâm al-Ghazâlî and al-Qurâfî
and several other ’ulamâ’ said that his likeness was seen. The ones who said
the Prophet himself was seen are in the majority, including more
than thirty imâms of hadîth and great ’ulamâ’. I have compiled the documents
and proofs of each of them in a separate book.
PART TWO.
As for the dead’s hearing and seeing, it has been clearly stated in the Qur’ân al-karîm that martyrs are alive in their graves. Awliyâ’ hear
and see through Allâhu ta’âlâ’s benevolence of karâma. Allâhu ta’âlâ creates
things outside His usual custom and laws for the sake of His beloved servants.
In order to silence the ignorant people who do not believe that prophets,
especially the highest of them, Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), martyrs and
awliyâ’ hear and see in their graves, we shall first explain that even dead
disbelievers can hear and see. It was declared in a hadîth sharîf related by al-Bukhârî, “The dead person hear the footsteps of the people walking away
after a burial.” A hadîth sharîf written in [the Sahîain of] al-Bukhârî and muslim narrates that the corpses
of the disbelievers who were killed in the Battle of Badr were ordered to be
put into a hollow a few days after the battle, and a few days later Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) came, stood by the hollow and
said, “Have you
attained what your rabb promised you? I gained the victory my Rabb promised
me,” addressing each of them by their
names and their fathers’ names. Thereupon, Hadrat ’Umar (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anh) asked, “Oh Rasűl-Allâh! Are you speaking to the people who have become
carcasses?” and Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ’alaihi wa sallam) answered, “I say by Allah, who has sent me as the
true Prophet, that you do not hear me better than they
do. But they cannot answer.” It was
declared in a hadîth sharîf related by al-Bukhârî and Muslim, “The
dead person suffers pain
for his relatives’ loud crying over his death.” Al-Imâm an-Nawawî, in his commentary of the Sahîh
of Muslim, says, “The dead feel pain and are offended
by the loud cry of their relatives.” Muhammad ibn Jarîr at-Tabarî [d. Baghdad,
PART THREE. The dead recognize the people who visit them. Abu Bakr ’Abdullâh ibn
Abî ’d-dunyâ [d. Baghdad,
Then he leaned against the grave. He swore by Allah
that he was awake when he heard a voice from the grave which said, ‘Do not hurt
me! You worship. But you do not hear. You do not know. We know but cannot move.
In my view, there is nothing more valuable than those two rak’as you
performed.’ The person in the grave had understood that Ibn Sâsab performed
salât and leaned against the grave.” After writing the above event, Ibn
al-Qayyim quotes many other khabars reported from as-Sahâbat al-kirâm proving
that the dead heard. The lâ-madhhabî regard Ibn al-Qaiyyim as a mujtahid and
praise him highly but do not believe the above-mentioned writings of his and
still claim that those who believe so are polytheists. This behaviour of theirs
shows not that they respect the ’ulamâ’ of Islam but that they praise them
whenever it suits them and that they like none of the ’ulamâ’.
Hadrat ’Â’isha (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ) said that
the disbelievers who were put into the hollow after the Battle of Badr did not
hear. This is the reason why some people supposed that the dead, even if they
were believers, did not hear in their graves. Some ignorant people said that
martyrs, even Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam), would not
hear. Those who did not believe that the dead heard were mistaken, because,
’Â’isha (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ) said that only those disbelievers in that
hollow did not hear. They though that this hearing was in the sense as used in
the twenty-second âyat al-karîma of Sűrat al-Fâtir, which says, “You
cannot make the dead hear. You
cannot make those in graves hear!”
However, it was not in this sense; as the great ’ulamâ’ explained, the word
‘hear’ in the âyat al-karîma is used in the sense of ‘accepting by hearing’ or
‘believing.’ In such âyats, Allâhu ta’âlâ likens the living disbelievers who
have ears, eyes and brains to the dead in graves. This analogy is not in
respect of hearing or understanding, but of apathy and stubbornness, that is,
unwillingness and disbelieving. Willingness to believe is of no use to the
disbeliever when he, in his last illness, begins to see his place in the next
world. “Your call to belief
to those who are decreed to be evildoers in eternity is of no use to them,” Allâhu ta’âlâ declared. Inviting such people to
belief is of no use for them just as the belief of the people in graves who
believe after they see the things which they should have believed without
seeing. Such belief of the dead is not accepted. ‘Hearing’ in the âyat
al-karîma is used in the sense of ‘accepting.’ For example, when one says,
“This woman is such that she does not hear any word,” he means that she does
not pay attention
though she hears. In the two âyats which were sent
down about disbelievers, ’hear’ is in this sense. They are alive and have ears and
eyes, but, because Allâhu ta’âlâ made them evil and sealed their hearts, he
says to his Prophet, “You
cannot make them hear,” that is,
“They will not believe when you speak to them. They will not accept to believe
just as the beliefs of disbelievers in graves are not accepted.” It is stated
in hadîths that the dead ‘hear’ -in a sense of hearing through ears. However,
in the above-quoted two âyats, ‘hear’ is used to mean ‘accept.’ A reasonable
person of sound thinking can distinguish between these two meanings of hearing,
Allâhu ta’âlâ, after he âyat al-karîma, “You cannot make the dead hear,” declares, “You can
make only those who believe hear,”
thus informs that believers hear. From this statement, too, it is understood
that ‘hearing’ in this context means ‘accepting.’ If one says that the
statement ‘You cannot make the dead hear,’ means that they do not hear through
ears, then it means that Allâhu ta’âlâ informs that believers in graves hear,
[that is, he has to take the second statement in the same sense, too,] and this
is what we are trying to say. Since it is clearly stated in the Qur’ân al-karîm that dead believers to hear, no one can deny it. One
has to believe it even if he does not believe the Hadîth ash-sharîf which, for all Muslims, is the most sound source
after the Qur’ân al-karîm.
Hadrat ’Â’isha (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ) said that
only dead disbelievers did not hear, for, it was declared in a hadîth sharîf narrated by her, “When
a person visits the grave of his brother-in-Islam and sits by the grave, he
recognizes him and replies to his greeting,” as we quoted above. This recognition and response of the dead person
show that he sees the visitor and hears his greeting. Although ’Â’isha
(radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ) said that disbelievers did not hear, she said that
they were able to know: another hadîth sharîf narrated by her
states, “They now know that
I told the truth.” The ’ulamâ’
declared that one could ‘know’ by ‘hearing.’ Therefore, there is no
disagreement between these two words. Ibn Taimiyya, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya,
[’Abd ar-Rahmân] Ibn Rajab [al-Hanbalî (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih), who
passed away in Damascus in
which says that the dead do know. In the hadîths
narrated by other Sahâbîs, it is clearly expressed that the dead hear. Hadrat
’Âisha’s thought that the word ‘hear’ meant [only] ‘accept and believe’
contradicts the consensus of the ’ulamâ’. The statement best reconciling her
words and those of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm, then, is the hadîth ash-sharîf about visiting graves which is also narrated by her.
Ibn al-Humân wrote in Fat’h al-qadîr, his annotation of Al-hidâya: “The Hanafî ’ulamâ’,
commenting on ‘oath,’ said, ‘The dead do not hear. If one who has sworn not to
talk with somebody talks with that same person when the latter is dead, his
oath will not be broken.’ “ However, it was said, “The words of the Hanafî
’ulamâ’ on ‘oath’ are based on [linguistic] custom. These words do not show
that the dead do not hear. The Hanafî ’ulamâ’, in explaining the knowledge
about ‘oath,’ say, ‘If one swears not to eat meat but then eats fish, his oath
will not be broken.’ However, Allâhu ta’âlâ said ‘pleasant meat’ for fish. But
the flesh of fish is different from meat according to custom. Similarly, if a
person swears not to talk with someone and talks to him after he dies, his oath
will not be broken. Because ‘talking’ means ‘talking face to face’ according to
custom. A dead person hears, but since he does not talk in a conventional
audible way, the two will have not talked with each other according to custom.
This is why his oath will not be broken.” It does not mean that it is not
broken because the dead person did not hear. Ibn al-Humâm quoted Hadrat ’Â’isha
as saying “non-sahîh” for the hadîth
ash-sharîf in which Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) talked to the disbelievers in
the Badr hollow and swore that they heard not less than the living. Ibn al-Humâm
further writes that Hadrat ’Â’isha had said that these words could not have
been said by Rasűlullâh after Allâhu ta’âlâ declared, “You cannot make the dead hear. You cannot
make those in graves hear.” However,
this hadîth sharîf was related in consensus, so it seems impossible that
Hadrat ’Â’isha did not believe it. Besides, there is no contradiction between
the hadîth ash-sharîf and the âyat al-karîma. ‘The dead’ in the âyat
al-karîma refers to disbelievers, and the negative of ‘hear’ means ‘it is of no
use to them’ and not that they did not hear. The 171st âyat al-karîma of Sűrat
al-Baqara, “They are deaf,
dumb, blind; they do not understand,”
is in this sense, too. That is, they have ears and eyes, but Allâhu ta’âlâ
declared that they were like the deaf and blind because they did not hear and
see the Prophet as he called them to Islam and to the
right path. Al-Imâm al-Baidâwî, in the interpretation
of the Qur’ânic verse, “You
cannot make the dead hear,...” says,
“They are like the ones who obstruct their ears from the right word. Allâhu
ta’âlâ bestows salvation of those whom He wishes by making them hear.” Allâhu
ta’âlâ likens those who are obstinate in disbelieving to the dead. This âyat
karîma resembles the 56th of Sűrat al-Qasas: “You cannot lead those whom you love to belief. But Allah
makes whomever He wishes attain belief.”
Ibn al-Humâm further asserts: “Making the dead hear is peculiar solely to Rasűlullâh.” To us, however, one must document a deduction that something is
peculiar solely to Resűlullâh. There is no such document for this. Neither
Hadrat ’Umar’s question nor the answer given to him allude to such a
peculiarity. Although Ibn al-Humâm said, “Talking to the dead disbelievers in
Badr was like repeating a proverb,” the answer to Hadrat ’Umar shows that it
was not so. According to Ibn al-Humâm, “The hadîth ash-sharîf in Muslim’s
book which states that the dead will hear the footsteps of the people leaving
the grave after the burial points to the fact that the dead hear and answer the
questions of the angels only during this questioning, and that they will never
hear after the questioning. Because, it is understood from the âyat al-karîma
that the dead do not hear. Allâhu ta’âlâ, to mean that disbelievers did not
hear, likened disbelievers to the dead.” Our answer is that this argument
contradicts itself. Because he who says that the dead hear just after burial
should also believe that they always hear. No other ’âlim said that the dead
would not hear after the questioning. Moreover, the claim that they would hear
for some certain time after burial disagrees also with the âyat al-karîma.
According to the unanimity of the ’ulamâ’ of. Ahl
as-Sunna, greeting the buried dead is a sunna. Great ’âlim ’Abd al-Latîf Ibn
Malak [d. Tire, Izmir,
(818)], and in that by [Abu Muhammad] ’Abdu ibn Hamîd
[al-Kashî, d.
The book Al-fatâwâ al-Hindiyya
writes, “Al-Imâm al-a’zam Abu Hanîfa was the one who reported that visiting
graves was not forbidden. [The Wahhâbite book, too, writes that visiting graves
is permissible.] It is understood from Imâm Muhammad’s words that it is
permissible also for women to visit graves.” It is written in the book Tahzîb, “Visiting graves is mustahab. Visiting the dead is like visiting them
when they were alive, depending on the degree of relationship.” The same is
written in the book Khazânat
al-muftîn. Shoes are taken off when
visiting a grave; the dead person is faced, with one’s back to the Ka’ba, and
one says, “As-salâmu ’alaikum yâ ahl al-qubűr! May Allâhu ta’âlâ forgive you
and us! You are our ancestors, and we are your descendants!” The book Gharâ’ib writes so, too. Surat al-Mulk may be recited, loudly or quietly, in the
graveyard. In the section on “the benefits of reciting the Qur’ân by graves” of
the book Zahîra, it is written that other sűras may be recited as
well. As it is written in the
fatwâs of Qâdî-Khân, he who wishes that the dead be
pleased by hearing the Qur’ân
al-karîm should read aloud, and he who
has not such an intention can read quietly. Because, Allâhu ta’âlâ hears the Qur’ân al-karîm however it is recited. The book Bazzâziyya says, “It is makrűh to pick up the green grass in a
graveyard, because all its leaves are busy with tasbîh (proclaiming the glory
of Allah). These tasbîhs help the dead in getting redeemed from torture. The
dead feel better with these tasbîhs.” The same is written in ash-Sharnblâlî’s Imdâd al-fitâh and in many books of other Hanafî ’ulamâ’. In view of
the fact that the dead hear the tasbîh of the grass which cannot be heard by
living people, which was declared by such great ’ulamâ’ who had become the
authorities to issue fatwâs, how can it be claimed that they cannot hear the
voice of a man talking to them? Those who said that the dead do not hear
probably meant that they did not hear as one hears through the ear in this
world. With this measure, the statements made in books of fiqh on the subject
of “oath” can be brought into agreement with one another, and also Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) hadîth is believed and thus
unanimity among the ’ulamâ’ results. If someone says, “Al-Imâm al-a’zam Abu
Hanîfa (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih), who was a madhhab leader, did not believe
this,” we answer that this great imâm, too, like other madhhab imâms, declared,
“My madhhab is based on sahîh hadîths.” In fact, he went so far in obeying Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) that he took the mursal even da’îf- hadîths as documents in his madhhab. Can it ever be
thought of such an imâm that he would disobey sahîh hadîths? It is understood
here once more that a few ’ulamâ’, by saying that the dead do not hear, meant
that they do not hear as one hears in this world. Because, it is not
permissible for any ’âlim to follow someone else’s word leaving a sahîh hadîth
aside.
According to the unanimity of the Hanafî ’ulamâ’,
visiting the graves of Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and his two
companions [Abu Bakr and ’Umar (radî-Allâlu ta’âlâ ’anhumâ)] in his shrine,
greeting them and asking for their intercession are sunna. If the ’ulamâ’ had
not believed that Rasűlullâh and his two companions heard, their words would have
disagreed and even they would have contradicted their own declaration that it
is sunna to visit any grave. There is no disagreement left as their remaks on
the subject of “oath” are taken to be made for the hearing of living people in
this world.
Supplement: Ibn Taimiyya wrote in his book Kitâb al-intisâr
fi ’l-Imâm al-Ahmad, “It is not a guilt for Hadrat ’Â’isha not to believe
that the disbelievers thrown into the hollow in Badr heard Rasűlullâh, because she had not heard the hadîth ash-sharîf. However, it
is a guilt for others not to believe, because this hadîth ash-sharîf spread so wide that it became one of those Islamic
beliefs that must be believed absolutely.” These words of Ibn Taimiyya proves
that those who will not believe that the unbelievers in the Badr hollow heard
will become unbelievers, because it is written in books of all the madhhabs
that he who does not believe something which is to be believed absolutely in
Islam becomes an unbeliever. Few ’ulamâ’, including Hadrat ’Â’isha (radî-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’anhâ), who said that the dead do not hear, in fact meant that dead
disbelievers in graves would not hear. But there has not been any ’âlim who has
not believed that Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and the
martyrs and awliyâ’ of his umma hear in their graves. Hadrat ’Â’isha and
others, too, believed this fact. One can imagine how bad and ugly is the
assertion of the upstart lâ-madhhabî and some ignorant people deceived by them
that the dead, even including Rasűlullâh, do not hear. Allâhu ta’âlâ, who is Qahhâr (the
Subduer), will no doubt punish these ignoramuses and heretics. In his fatwâs on
“bringing the dead back to life,” Ibn Taimiyya asks, “Do the dead recognize the
people who visit them? If someone, whom they knew or did not know, comes to
their graves, do the dead understand that a visitor came?” and answers: “Yes,
they recognize and understand.” He further writes the narrations about the dead
meeting and asking about one another and about the deeds of living people being
shown to them. ’Abdullâh Ibn al-Mubârak reported, on the authority of Hadrat
Khâlid ibn Zaid Abu Ayyűb al-Ansârî[1]
, the hadîth ash-sharîf which says, “An angel of blessings takes the soul of a believer as he dies. The
dead gather around him like those who want to hear good news in this world.
They start asking him questions, while a few of them say, ‘Leave your brother
alone so that he may rest! He comes from a very embarrassing place.’ They crowd
around him. They ask about their acquintances in this world. ‘What does so and
so do?’
[1] Hâlid ibn Zaid (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) died of dysentery as one of the soldiers commanded by Sufyân ibn ’Awf, who besieged Constantinople (Istanbul) in 49 A.H. (670). His shrine at the location called “Eyyűb” in Istanbul is magnificient; visitors make tawassul of his soul.
‘Has so and so gotten married!’ they ask.”
Allâhu ta’âlâ declares that martyrs are alive and are
given provisions (rizq). It is reported in a hadîth sharîf that the
souls of martyrs have entered Paradise. Although a few ’ulamâ’ said that these
blessings were for mrtyrs only but not for siddîqs, what our imâms and the
’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna said is true: being alive, blessings and souls’
entering Paradise are not peculiar only to martyrs. They declared that this
fact was deduced from âyats and hadîths. The reason why these were said only
about martyrs is that Muslims, thinking that martyrs would become annihilated
as they died, would hesitate in participating in jihâd. It is for the purpose
of removing the doubt which would prevent Muslims from going on jihâd and being
martyred. The 31st âyat al-karîma of Sűrat al-Isrâ, “Do not kill your children for fear of
poverty!”[1]
is in this same sense. Although it is not permissible to kill even when there
is no fear of poverty, the âyat al-karîma was revealed at a time of particular
events when many children were killed for fear of poverty.
Thus far, we conveyed the documents from Ahmad Ibn
Taimiyya al-Harrânî’s book. The Wahhâbîs say that they follow Ibn Taimiyya and
that he is a prominent ’âlim. They call him “Shaikh al-Islâm.” Whereas they do
not accept his books and ideas. He says that all the dead, like martyrs, are
alive and are given blessings. How can one believe those who claim to follow
him while they disapprove his words and reagard the people who approve his
words as unbelievers and polytheists? These idiots who say that Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) does not hear, see, know or
recognize those who visit and entreat him, in fact, follow neither Ibn Taimiyya
nor anybody, but their own nafs and desires. May Allâhu ta’âlâ give wisdom to
them and show them the right path! Âmîn!
One of the proofs documenting that the dead see the
living is the hadîth ash-sharîf, “Every dead person is shown his [future] place in the next world every morning and
every evening. The one who deserves Paradise is shown his place in Paradise,
and the one who deserves Hell is shown his place in Hell,” which is related by al-Bukhârî. The word ‘shown’
means that they see. “They” declared Allâhu ta’âlâ, referring to the people of Pharaoh, “are shown the fire every morning
and evening!” ‘Shown’ would
[1] Muhammad ibn ’Abd al-Wahhâb misused this âyat for forbidding visiting graves.
mean nothing if the dead did not see. Abu Nu’aim
related on the authority of ’Amr ibn Dînâr, “An angel holds the soul when a person dies. The soul
watches the body being washed and shrouded. ‘Hear how men praise you,’ he is
told.” A hadîth sharîf narrated on the authority of ’Amr ibn Dînâr by Ibn Abi ’d-dunyâ
declares: “A person knows
what happens to his household after his death. He looks at those who wash and
shroud him.” The hadîth sahîh quoted
by al-Bukhârî declares: “The
angels munkar and nakîr, after questioning, say, ‘Look at your place in Hell!
Allâhu ta’âlâ changed it and granted you a place in Paradise.’ He looks and
sees both of them.”
A hadîth
sharîf quoted by Ibn Abi ’d-dunyâ and by
al-Bayhakî in Shu’ab
al-îmân on the authority of Abu
Huraira (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum) declares, “When a person comes near the grave of an acquaintance of
his and greets, the dead person recognizes and greets him. If he comes near the
grave of a person he does not know and greets, the dead person answers him.” This hadîth
sharîf, too, indicates that the dead see
the person who visits or stands by their graves. If they did not see, it would
not have been noted in the hadîth
ash-sharîf that a dead person answers the
greeting of someone whom he did not know before death. The former recognizes
and answers; the latter does not know but still answers the greeting.
Imâm Ahmad and Hâkim reported Hadrat ’Â’isha
(radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ) as saying, “When I used to go in my room after my
husband and father were buried there, I would take off my overcoat. I never
took it off after Hadrat ’Umar (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) was buried. Because,
he was not my near kin. I was restrained by my sense of modesty because he was
there.” It was declared in a hadîth
sharîf quoted in the book Arba’în at-tâ’iyya, “A dead person is
pleased when a person whom he loved in this world visits him.” This hadîth
sharîf affirms that the dead person sees
the visitor. He would not recognize or be pleased if he did not see. ’Amr ibn
al-Âs (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) is quoted in the Sahîh of Muslim as saying just before his death: “Throw soil on me when you
bury me! Then, stay by my grave for the amount of time that it would take to
slaughter an animal and cut it into pieces. Seeing you around, I may get used
to my grave and thus answer easily the questioning angels sent by my Rabb.”
There are many such reliable narrations about the fact that the dead hear and
see in their graves. We have quoted as many as necessary. I think there is no
need to write any more.
We have written above that the deeds of the living
people are shown to the dead. They would not be shown the deeds if they did not
have any sense of sight. Because, as it is understood, ‘they are shown the
deeds’ means that they are shown the things recorded by the kirâman kâtibîn
angels on either shoulder. And this shows that the dead see. We, therefore,
after explaining the fact that the dead see, deemed it proper to note the
hadîths documenting that the deeds of the living people are shown to the dead.
Ignoramuses do not understand these teachings. It is
because they have not heard Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) sunna and
hadîths about this sujbect. These men, who take themselves to be scholars, are
so ignorant and so stupid that they ask, “How do prophets and awliyâ’
know those who visit heir graves and ask for intercession and entreat them?” We
say, “Many things were made known to those great men when they were alive. Why
should they not be made known after they die?” Or, we may say, “They hear and
know by Allâhu ta’âlâ’s grace and benevolence outside of His usual custom.” It
was told in hadîths that the deeds of living people were shown to the dead. We
have quoted these hadîths for the ones who do not believe it. If a person who
reads but does not understand these hadîths says, “The dead know and hear only
the people whom they have known in this world,” we say, “The hadîths do not
differentiate acquintances from strangers.” The lâ-madhhabî behave stubbornly.
They will not believe until they die and all these things befall them.
There are a great many hadîths which state that the
deeds of the Umma are shown to Rasűlullâh. The hadîth
ash-sharîf transmitted by Bazzâz from
reliable narrators and on the authority of Hadrat ’Abdullâh ibn Mas’űd
declares: “My life is
beneficial for you; you will tell it to me, and I will tell it to you. [The time after] my death, too, will be beneficial for you after I die; your
deeds will be shown to me. I thank Allâhu ta’âlâ when I see your good deeds.
And I ask for forgiveness and absolute remission for you when I see your bad deeds.” This hadîth ash-sharîf was reported with the affirmation, ‘I heard Rasűlullâh say...’ Some other trustworthy narrators transmitted this hadîth as
“mursal.” As for the hadîth
ash-sharîf which states that one’s deeds
and actions are shown to one’s acquaintances, it declares, “Your deeds are made known to your dead
relatives and acquaintances. They become happy when they see your good deeds.
Upon seeing your bad deeds, they say, ‘Oh our Rabb! Help this brother attain
the right path as You have made us attain
it. [Only] after that may You take his soul.’ “ This hadîth
sharîf was quoted by Imâm Ahmad, by
al-Hakîm at-Tirmidhî in Nawâdir
al-usűl and by well-known hadîth
scholar Muhammad ibn Is’hâq Ibn Manda. As great hadîth scholar Sulaimân Abu
Dâwűd at-Tayâlisî reported in his Musnad, on the authority
of Jâbir ibn ’Abdullâh, the Prophet said: “Your deeds are shown to your dead relatives and acquaintances. They
become happy if your deeds are good. If they are not good, they say, ’Oh our Rabb!
Inspire their hearts with good deeds.”
Ibn Abî Shaiba, in his book Al-musannaf, and al-Hakîm at-Tirmidhî and Ibn Abi’d-dunyâ narrate,
on the authority of Ibrâhîm ibn Maisara, that Abu Ayyűb al-Ansârî went on jihâd
to Istanbul [Constantinople], where he heard a passer-by say, “The deeds done
at noon are shown to the dead in the evening. The deeds done in the evening are
shown to them in the morning.” “What do you say?” asked Hadrat Abu Ayyűb, and
the man answered, “By Allah, I say this for you!” Abu Ayyűb prayed, “Oh my
Rabb! I seek refuge in Thee! Do not disgrace me for what I did near [the graves
of] ’Ubâdat ibnas-Sâmit and Sa’d ibn ’Ubâda after they died.” That person
remarked, “Allâhu ta’âlâ veils the short-comings of His servants; He makes
their good deeds be seen.” A hadîth
sharîf quoted in al-Hakîm at-Tirmidhî’s Nawâdir declares, “The
deeds of human beings are presented to Allâhu ta’âlâ on Mondays and Thursdays.
To prophets, awliyâ’ and parents, they are shown on
Fridays. They become happy when they see good deeds. Their faces get brighter.
Fear Allah! Do not hurt the dead!”
The deeds of men are also made known to the dead whom they do not know. The hadîth ash-sharîf reported by ’Abdullâh ibn al-Mubârak and Ibn Abî
’d-dunyâ on the authority of Abu Ayyűb al-Ansârî (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh)
declares, “Your deeds are
made known to the dead. They become happy when they see your good deeds. They
become sad when they see your bad deeds.” It was said, “Fear
Allâhu ta’âlâ because of your brothers in the graves! Your deeds are shown to
them,” in a hadîth sharîf quoted by al-Hakîm at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Abi ’d-dunyâ and al-Baihakî in his
book Shu’âb al-îmân on the authority of Nu’mân ibn Bashîr. These two
hadîths refer to all the dead. Hadrat Abu ’d-dardâ (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh)
said, “Your deeds are shown to the dead. They become happy or sad upon seeing
them.” Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya quoted, in his book Kitâb ar-rűh and on the authority of Ibn Abi ’d-dunyâ, Sadaqat ibn
Sulaimân al-Ja’farî as saying, “I was a man of bad habits. I
repented of them after my father’s death. I gave up my
impetuosities. Once I committed a fault. Thereupon, I dreamt of my father
saying, ‘Oh my son! I have been feeling comfortable in my grave with your
beautiful deeds. What you do is shown to us. Your deeds have been like those of
the sulahâ’. But I felt very sad and ashamed of what you did recently. Do not
make me feel ashamed among the dead nearby.” “ This narration reflects that the
dead who are not acquaintances can also be aware of the events in the world.
Because, his father said, “Do not make me feel ashamed among the dead nearby,”
referring to the deeds of his son shown to him. He would not say so if the
unacquainted dead did not understand that his son’s deeds were being shown to
the father. We also quoted above the hadîth ash-sharîf, related by
Hadrat Khâlid ibn Zaid Abu Ayyűb al-Ansârî (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), stating
that the deeds in this world were shown to all the dead whether acquainted or
not.
PART FOUR. The dead’s visiting and meeting one another was stated in sahîh
khabars. It was declared, “Make
good shrouds for your dead people! They visit one another and praise themselves
in their graves,” in a hadîth
narrated by Hârith ibn Abî Usâma [al-Baghdâdî, d.
Ibn Taimiyya, in various parts of his fatwâs, says,
“The dead visit one another whether the cities where they were buried are near
or far away. The souls of the dead bruied at distant cities
meet one another.” The Hanafî ’ulamâ’ write in books
of fiqh that it is sunna that the shrouds be nice, because the dead praise
themselves to one another and visit one another. In fact, the ’ulamâ’ of all
the madhhabs write so in their books of fiqh. Many amazing khabars and
narrations confirming this fact have been reported. Those who wish to read more
on this subject may refer to the book Sharh as-sudűr by Hadrat
Imâm as-Suyűtî, a scholar of hadîth. The lâ-madhhabî say that they trust in the
’ulamâ’ of hadîth, quote many hadîths as proofs and documents from books of
hadîth and claim that Ibn Taimiyya was the greatest ’âlim of Islam. They read
the books of hadîth which write that the dead see and hear in a way we do not
know and understand, yet they do not believe them and label as ‘unbelievers’ or
‘polytheists’ those who believe that Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam) and awliyâ’ hear. They claim that those pilgrims who say, “Oh Rasűl-Allâh! Intercede for us!” in front of Rasűlullâh’s blessed tomb are
polytheists. They say that hundreds of thousands of animals sacrificed by
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at Minâ [near Mecca] are najs (impure
according to Islam) and, therefore, they do not eat them but cover them with
soil with bulldozers. They say, “The animals slaughtered by polytheist[!]
should not be eaten or sold.”
PART FIVE. The dead know what living people do in the world even without it being
shown to them. Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, whom the lâ-madhhabî call an ’allâma
and esteem greatly, wrote in his book Kitâb ar-rűh as follows:
“Hâfýz (scholar of hadîth) Abu Muhammad ’Abd al-Haqq
al-Ashbîlî [al-Mâlikî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), d.
[1] He was the son of Zainab bint Harb, the sister of Abu Sufyân. He passed away during the caliphate of Hadrat Abu Bakr.
forgave me.’ At the end of the conversation, Sa’b
said, ‘I am being informed of all the deeds of my acquaintances since my death
to such details that, for instance, I now know that our cat died... days ago.
My daughter will die within six days. You be the trustee after her.’ It
happened as he said in the dream.” Next he narrates that Thâbit ibn Qays
appeared in the dream of one of Khâlid ibn Walîd’s (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhuma)
soldiers and said to him, “Go and tell Khâlid ibn Walîd that one of the Muslim
soldiers came and took my steel shirt off my body to his tent after I was
martyred. His tent is at the other end of the camp. A horse with a long halter
grazes near his tent. May he take my shirt from that soldier.” Ibn al-Qayyim
al-Jawziyya says, “The man told his dream to Khâlid. They went to that tent and
found the shirt therein.”
PART SIX. Al-Imâm as-Suyűtî quotes in his book Sharh as-sudűr the hadîth ash-sharîf related by [Abu Nasr Shahr-dar] ad-Dailamî [d.
ta’âlâ ’anh) as saying, “What the dead reveal is all true,
because the dead are in a world where there is no lie or mistake. The people of
that world always tell the truth. Our observations and comprehension affirm
these words of ours.” Ibn al-Qayyim and others said so, too. Because the soul
is latîf [etheral], it comprehends the events which cannot be perceived through
the sense organs. Hâkim [Muhammad an-Nishâpűrî, d.
PART SEVEN. It is written in reliable books that, by Allâhu ta’âlâ’s permission,
the dead do work, and many things are witnessed from them. Hadîth scholar
al-Imâm as-Suyűtî, in his book Al-mutaqaddim, and hâfiz
[Ahmad] Ibn Hajar [al-Askalânî, d. Egypt,
people to the things they dream. Therefore, it is not
difficult to find an agreement between the above explanations and the
statement. ‘The souls are by their graves,’ by [Hâfiz Yűsuf] ’Abd al-Birr
[al-Mâlikî, d. Shâtiba, Andalusia (Spain),
These hadîths reveals that Allâhu ta’âlâ permits His
martyred and pious servants to do useful deeds for men. The ’ulamâ’ of hadîth
wrote many khabars conveying such information confirming this fact. Imâm Jalâl
ad-dîn as-Suyűtî reports one of them: “Ibn Abî ’d-dunyâ said: Abu ’Abdullâh
ash-Shâmî went to fight against the Byzantines. They were pursuing the enemy.
Two Muslim soldiers departed from the main body of the army. One of them said,
‘We saw the enemy commander and attacked him. We fought for a long time. My
friend fell martyred. I gave up fighting and turned back and looked for our
fellow soldiers. Then I said to myself, “Shame on you! Why do you flee?” and
turned back and attacked the enemy commander. My sword blow missed him. He
attacked me, knocked me down and sat on my chest. He made a grab at something
to kill me with. Just at that moment, my martyred friend sprang up and caught
the enemy by his hair and pulled him back. We together killed the unbeliever.
Talking to each other, we walked to a distant tree where my friend again lay
down dead. I came to my Muslim brothers and told them what had happened.’ ” The
author of the book Rawdat
al-’ulamâ’, Hanafî scholar
az-Zandawistî[1]
, quotes and the author of the book zubdat al-fuqahâ’ narrated
this event too. Hadith scholar [Ahmad] al-Mahâmilî ash-shâfi’î [d. Baghdâd,
[1] Another book of Husain Ibn Yahyâ az-Zanduwistî al-Bukharî Rawdat al- ’ulamâ’, is famous, too. He passed away in 400 A.H. (1010).
documents. Al-Imâm [’Afîf ad-dîn ’Abdullâh] Yâfi’î
[ash-Shâfi’î (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih), d. Mecca,
Al-Imâm al-Yâfi’î wrote: “Seeing the dead in good or
bad conditions is what Allâhu ta’âlâ grants to some of His servants as a kashf
or karâma. It is for the purpose of giving good news to the living, of giving
admonition, of mediating benefactions on behalf of the dead or of helping the
[dead’s] debts to be paid. The dead are seen mostly in dreams. Nevertheless,
there are people who see them when they are awake. This is a karâma for walîs
and men of hâl.” In another place in his book, he wrote: “The ’ulamâ’ of Ahl
as-Sunna declare that the souls of the dead in ’Illiyyîn or Sijjîn are sent
back to their bodies in graves occasionally, that is, when Allâhu ta’âlâ
wishes. This happens mostly on Friday nights. The dead meet and talk with one
another. Those who deserve Paradise attain blessings. Those who are to be
tortured are tortured. Souls are given blessings or tortures in ’Illiyyîn and
Sijjîn respectively even though their bodies are not there. In the grave,
however, both the soul and the body are granted blessings or punished.” Ibn
al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya says in his book Kitâb ar-rűh: “It can be
concluded from these records [of events] that the state (hâl) of the soul
varies with its strength or weakness, greatness or humbleness. The states of
great souls are not the same as those of others. It is known that the souls in
this world have different states depending on their strength or weakness or
speed. Compared to the soul who is controlled by the body, the soul who has
escaped the slavery, connection and disposition of his body has a different
strength, influence, ability to help, speed and relation to Allâhu ta’âlâ and
to the world of substances. The soul itself is superior, pure, great and
capable of great help. He becomes more than he is after he departs from the
body. He can do many other things. The souls of the dead are seen in dreams and
can do extraordinary things they were not able to do when they were alive and
attached to their bodies. It has been witnessed many a time that one, two or
several persons have overcome a big army. Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam), Abu Bakr and ’Umar (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhumâ) many times
were seen in dreams, their causing a disbelieving and unjust enemy’s rout and
defeat. What we have written here is compatible with the tafsîrs by some
mufassirs of the fifth âyat of Sűrat an-Nâzi’ât, for example, the
interpretation of [Qâdî ’Abdullâh] al-Baidâwî
[ash-Shirâzî, d. Tebriz,
PART EIGHT. It was revealed by Allâhu ta’âlâ and His Rasűl that it is permissible
for the living to be cognizant of the blessings and punishments in graves and
to see it with their bodily eyes. The ’ulamâ’ of the Ahl as-Sunnat wa ’l-Jamâ’a
report unanimously that there is blessings or punishment in the grave and that
it is necessary to believe that it happens both to the soul and the body. This
is explained in books of aqâ’id
in detail. Only the Mu’tazila and Khârijîs do not believe in the punishment in the grave. It is
evident from hadîths, the athars of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhum ajma’în) and the written works of Salaf as-sâlihîn that there is
punishment in the grave. Some ignorant people do not believe it because they do
not know of these documents. It will be useful to note some of these documents
to strengthen their îmân.
As dealt with above, prophets are alive in
their graves with a kind of life we do not know. It is reported [in the Sahîhain] by al-Bukhârî and Muslim that they performed hajj after they died. As
for the people who are not prophets, Abu Nu’aim quotes Thâbit al-Banânî as saying, “I
asked Hamîd at-Tawîl, ‘Do only prophets perform salât in their graves?’ He said, ‘No. Other
people may perform it, too.’ Then I said, ‘Oh my Rabb! May You make it fall to
Thâbit’s lot, too, to perform salât in his grave if You ever permit a person to
perform salât in his grave!’ ” Again Abu Nu’aim reports: Jubair said, “I swear
by Allah who is the ony Creator! I placed Thâbit al-Banânî into the grave.
Hamîd at-Tawîl was with me, too. We covered him with soil. The soil gave way on
one side. I looked into the grave and saw him performing salât.” [Muhammad] Ibn
Jarîr [at-Tabarî, d.
Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) came in the tent
after the recitiation ended. When they told him what they had heard, he said, ‘This honourable sűra protects men from the
punishment in the grave.’ ” In his
book Kitâb ar-rűh, Abu ’l-Qâsim as-Sa’dî wrote: “This hadîth sharîf confirms that the dead recite [the Qur’ân al-karîm] in their
graves. ’Abdullâh ibn ’Umar, too, had set up a tent somewhere, and he heard the
Qur’ân al-karîm being recited in the tent. He told it to Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam), who confirmed his words.”
Hadîth scholar Zain ad-dîn ibn Rajab [Abu ’l-Faraj ’Abd ar-Rahmân al-Hanbalî,
d.
with my white beard. He declared He would be ashamed
of punishing Muslims who would come to His Audience in that manner.’ Then the
old person disappeared in the grave.” Ibn al-Jawzî wrote in his book Safwat as-Safwa: “Umm al-Aswad quoted Mu’âza, her wet-nurse, as
saying, ‘The world has become a prison for me since Abu ’s-Sahbâ and my son got
martyred. I enjoy nothing. Yet I want to live only with the hope that I might
do something that would make me attain Allâhu ta’âlâ’s pleasure and in this way
meet Abu ’s-Sahbâ and my son in Paradise.’ Muhammad ibn Husain said that Mu’âza
wept when she was about to die. And then she smiled. When asked why she did so,
she said, ‘I was sorry because I was quitting [because of coming death] salât,
fasting, reading the Qur’ân
al-karîm and repeating Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
Name. Then I saw Abu ’s-Sahbâ. He was wearing a green, two-pieced dress. I had
not seen him so when he was alive. And this is why I smiled.’ Mu’âza had seen
Hadrat ’Â’isha (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ) and narrated hadîths on her
authority. Great ’ulamâ’ such as Hasan al-Basrî, Abu Qilâba and Yazîd
ar-Rakâshî narrated hadîths from Mu’âza.”
There have been people who witnessed the punishment in
the grave. The 46th âyat karîma of Sűrat al-Mu’min says, “The fire of Hell they are to go to is
shown to Pharaoh and his people every morning and evening.” The hadîth
ash-sharîf in the Sahîhain of al-Bukhârî and Muslim says, “If you were able to keep it a secret, I would pray that He shall
make you hear the torture in the grave as He has made me hear it.” The punishment in the grave is inflicted both on the
soul and the body together because they had committed unbelief and sins
together. The punishment of the soul solely is not compatible with Divine
Wisdom and Justice. The ’ulamâ’ declare that, although the body is seen to
decay and disappear in the grave, it exists in Allâhu ta’âlâ’s knowledge. Many
Sahâbîs saw and told that both the souls and the bodies of the dead were
tortured. Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, in Kitâb ar-rűh, al-Imâm
as-Suyűtî, in Sharh
as-sudűr, and Ibn Rajab, in his book Ahwal al-qudűr, wrote: “A person said in the presence of Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam), ‘I saw someone come out from
the earth. A man struck him with a stick and he disappeared into the ground,
and this was repeated whenever he rose from the earth.’ Rasűlullâh remarked, ‘It was
Abu Jahl that you saw. He will be tortured like that until the Resurrection.’ ” This khabar and similar ones confirm that everyone
may see what is happening inside a grave like prophets and awliyâ’
do.
Awliyâ’s seeing can never be denied. They see by
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Qudra (Omnipotence).
All of what we have written up to here proves that the
dead are alive in graves with a life unknown to us, which may be called
‘gravelife.’ All ’ulumâ’ of Islam have said that death is not the end of
existence but a migration from one house to another. Prophets
(’alaihimu ’s-salâwâtu wa ’t-taslîmât) and awliyâ’ (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ)
endeavoured to disseminate Islam, so they all acquired the degree of being
martyrs [after death]. It is openly stated in the Qur’ân al-karîm that martyrs are alive. Then, why should it be
strange to make tasabbub, tashaffu’ and tawassul through them? ‘Tasabbub’ means to ask them as causes (sabab) to help in Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s Audience. ‘Tawassul’ means to ask them to pray for us, because they are
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s beloved servants both in this world and the next. The Qur’ân al-karîm declares that they will attain whatever they want and
that they will be granted whatever they wish. Can a person be blamed for asking
of such dead people for the things that may be asked of living people? Can a
person be reproved for having recourse to dead prophets and walîs as
causes or mediators, while he believes that Allâhu ta’âlâ Himself alone will
create the things expected from them and that there is no creator but Allah? Those
who think that they decayed and became soil or nonexistent deny all these.
Those who do not know Islam and cannot understand their honour and superiority
do not believe. People who do not understand the honour and superiority of prophets
and awliyâ’ are ignorant of the religion. They have not comprehended Islam.
Muslims whom they regard as ignorant are more learned and intelligent than they
are. It was stated in hadîths and conveyed unanimously by Muslim ’ulamâ’ that
it is permissible to go to the graves of prophets (’alaihimu
’s-salâwâtu wa ’t-taslîmat) and awliyâ’, to ask Allâhu ta’âlâ for something
through their mediation and causation and to entreat them to intercede for us
on the Day of Judgement. Our praise and thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ who has bestowed
on us the belief in the hadîths of the Highest of Mankind, Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm), and in the books of the distinguished beloved people who have
followed him! If our Rabb had not granted this great favour, we would not have
been able to understand and find it out by ourselves and would have perished.
Now we shall quote the âyats which verify that it is
permissible to ask Allâhu ta’âlâ to create through prophets
and awliyâ’, that
is, by taking them as causes and mediators: “Oh Believers! Fear Allâhu ta’âlâ! Seek for
a means to approach Him!” (Al-Mâ’ida,
38) “There are those who
pray and perform ’ibâda. They seek a means, a cause, to approach their Rabb.
They want the cause that will take them closest to Allâhu ta’âlâ.” (Al-Isrâ, 57)[1]
In these âyats, Allâhu ta’âlâ commands men to hold fast to the causes, the
intermediaries, through which, He declares, they may approach closest to Him.
He did not prescribe intermediaries as certain things. Therefore, everything
which makes people attain Allâhu ta’âlâ’s approval, that is, not only [the
dead’s] prayers -contrary to what the Kharijîs believe- but also their intercession,
status and virtues in Allâhu ta’âlâ’s view and they themselves are all
intermediaries. The ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna have said that prophets
and their followers themselves, their intercession, grades, karâmât and prayers
are mediators as well as the path, that is, the belief, ’ibâda and ikhlâs they possessed. Those who claim that they could not be
mediators thus slander the Qur’ân
al-karîm, the Hadîth ash-sharîf, prophets and awliyâ. It is clearly stated in the Qur’ân al-karîm and the Hadîth ash-sharîf that prophets
and awliyâ’ can be made intermediaries.
The 33rd âyat of Sűrat al-Anfâl declares, “I shall not punish those unbelievers as
long as you are near them.” As
written in books of tafsîr and [the Sahâh of] al-Bukhârî, the
disbelievers mocked our Prophet by saying, “Tell your Allah to punish us soon.” The
above âyat karîma was revealed upon this, declaring that the existence of Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed body near them
prevented the punishment. It cannot be said that Rasűlullâh prevented
the punishment by the virtue of his prophethood or by praying or
interceding, because neither the unbelievers were to be prayed or interceded
for nor the prophethood in which they disbelieved would do them any good.
The same âyat says, “Allâhu ta’âlâ does not punish them because they ask for
forgiveness.” Most of Salaf
as-sâlihîn said that this âyat karîma meant, “I do not punish
them because they will have children who will ask for forgiveness.” Allâhu
ta’âlâ
[1] This âyat is written on the 97th page of the Wahhâbite book, which also quotes Qatâda as saying, “Approach closer to Allâhu ta’âlâ by performing the ’ibâda He approves,” but adds that prophets and their followers’ paths were intermediaries and that they themselves were not.
declared, “I do not punish them,” for He had decreed
in the eternity to have kâfirs’ descendants believe. Therefore, according to
the ’ulamâ’ who said so, the motes of the coming Muslims in the blood of the
kâfirs were the causes which prevented the punishment.
Allâhu ta’âlâ declares, “The earth would be upset if Allâhu ta’âlâ
had set mankind free against one another.” (Al-Baqara, 251; al-Hajj, 40) Some ’ulamâ’ of tafsîr interpreted this
âyat karîma as, “The world would have been in utter disorder if Allâhu ta’âlâ
had created no believer, but solely unbelievers. The [existence of] bodies of
believers protect the world against disorder.” Salvation is in man himself and
cannot be attained as a result of his deeds. This is why it was declared, “A human being is sa’îd (good) or shaqî (bad) before he comes to this world,” in a hadîth
sharîf. It is in appearance that good
deeds affect being sa’îd, but it is not so in reality. This is why it was
declared, “A person commits
bad deeds which will take him to Hell; he nears Hell. If he is sa’îd in Umm
al-kitâb, that is, in Divine Knowledge, he does something which will take him
to Paradise in his last days and goes to Paradise,” in a hadîth
sharîf. Man’s deeds do not take him to
Paradise. They act as causes for his going to Paradise. And that is why a hadîth sharîf says, “No one is
to go to Paradise for his good deeds or ’ibâdât.” When it was asked, “Is it the same for you, Oh Rasűl-Allâh?” he answered, “It is the same for me, too. I am to attain
salvation only through Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Mercy and Benevolence.” One cannot say that a man who performs good deeds and
’ibâdât will certainly go to Paradise. But it can be said that a man who was
determined to be sa’îd in eternity will certainly go to Paradise. Being sa’îd
or shaqî does not depend on man’s deeds, but on his very person (or essence,
dhât). It was for his blessed person that Allâhu ta’âlâ chose Muhammad (alaihi
’s-salâm) from among men and made him superior to His other prophets.
Every believer acknowledges this. It is the same for the superiorities of
rasűls, nabîs and walîs. Degree, rank and every superiority depends on one’s
dhât, which does not depend on rank in turn. [For example, a man is not
valuable because he is a general, but he has become a general because he is a
valuable person.] Then, it has become apparent that the Wahhâbite claims, such
as “The matter, objects and persons cannot be causes,” are wrong. Âyats,
hadîths and Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) sunna show
that they are on a wrong and heretical path.
A hadîth
sharîf says, “Our sick people recover by means of the
blessings of our soil and the saliva of one of us and by Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
permission.” Allâhu ta’âlâ grants
health if someone mixes clean soil with his clean saliva and gives it to a sick
person as medicine. Soil and saliva, or the medicines of a druggist with
certain effects, are all substances, materials, that is, they are dhâts. They
cannot be thought to have rank or virtue or to intercede. It is declared, “The Zamzam water has uses according to the
intention of the one who drinks it,”
in a hadîth sahîh in the Sahîh of Imâm Muslim ash-Shâfi’î (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ
’alaih). Zamzam water, when drank with the intention of obtaining whatever use,
whether it pertains to this world or the hereafter, renders that use. This has
been witnessed many times. Everyone knows that Zamzam water is a dhât, a
substance, and cannot be thought to affect through its rank or to pray and
intercede so that it may give health and help.
As defined in a hadîth sahîh and unanimously reported
by all scholars of fiqh, the place o visiting (tawâf) between the door of the
Ka’ba and the stone, Hajar
al-aswad, is called Multazam. If someone touches his belly to the wall of the Ka’ba at this place
and, making Multazam a means for the acceptance of his prayer, entreats Allâhu
ta’âlâ, He protects him against loss and defect. This has been experienced many
times. As everyone knows, Multazam is a group of several stones in the wall of
the Ka’ba. These stones are dhâts, that is, materials. As Allâhu ta’âlâ has
given certain peculiarities to each substance, so He has given these stones the
property of being a means for goodness, for good use. [As He has given aspirin
the effect to relieve pain, quinine to kill malarial plasmodia, and alcoholic
drink to cause intoxication, so He has given these stones the effect of being a
means for the acceptance of prayers, unlike other stones.]
Such useful effects have been given to the
visiting-place under the spout on the northern side of the Ka’ba, to the place
named Maqân al-Ibrâhîm, which is opposite the door of the Ka’ba in Masjid
al-Harâm, and to kissing and touching with the hand or face Hajar al-aswad, the
black stone on one corner of the Ka’ba. Allâhu ta’âlâ has given these substances
the effect of making acceptable the prayers of those who recommend themselves
through them, that is, who pray putting them as intermediaries. While it is
known, seen and believed that these substances act as means for the acceptance
of prayers, wouldn’t it be possible that prayers will be accepted through the
mediation of Rasűlullâh and
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s beloved servants who follow him? If
someone dares to say that the established beneficial causation or mediation of
earthly soil, some certain people’s saliva, Zamzam water, the stones of
Multazam, Maqâm al-Ibrâhîm, where there are the footprints of the Prophet
Ibrâhîm’s blessed feet, and Hajar al-aswad does not prove the graves of prophets
and awliyâ’ to be causes or intermediaries, these words of his show that he is
ignorant of Islam and is not ashamed of Allâhu ta’âlâ and Rasűlullâh and Muslims. For this reason, as-Sahâbat al-kirâm (’alaihimu
’r-ridwân) esteemed Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) honourable
personality very much and respected him very deeply.
’Urwat ibn Mas’űd as-Saqafî’s words which were quoted
by al-Bukhârî and others were well known: “I went to Rasűlullâh as the envoy for the unbelievers for the Hudaibia Peace. Afterwards, I
returned to Mecca and said to the notables of the Quraish, ‘As you know, I have
visited Persian shahs called Chostroe, Byzantian kings called Caesar and
Abyssinian sovereigns called Negus many times. I have not seen them respected
in any way as much as Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is respected by his
companions. I did not see his saliva fall to the ground -his companions catch
it with their hands and rub it on their faces and eyes. Rushing to catch the
water he used while taking ablution, they save it for its blessing. His
companions catch every hair of his before it falls to the ground when his hair
is cut or beard is trimmed, and they keep it as a most precious gem. They
cannot look at his face because of their respect for him and modesty.’ “ It is
understood from this report how much as-Sahâbat al-kirâm respected the tiny
particles from Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) dhât, even
the things which may be regarded as dirty and ugly by other people. Can it be
said that this deep respect and modesty were because his blessed saliva and the
ablution-water which touched his blessed organs would pray or intercede for
them, or had any rank or value? They were all substances. But they were
valuable for having come from the most honourable dhât, his [body] material.
The lâ-madhhabî, although they say that they are real religious men and
monotheists, hold Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) equal to the
idol al-Lât. They liken to idolatry what Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam) and his Companions (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în) had
done and ordered. We seek refuge in Allah from saying, thinking or believing as
they do.
There are so many hadîths which comfirm that it is
permissible to ask for a wish from Allâhu ta’âlâ by putting prophets
(’alaihimu ’s-salawâtu wa ’t-taslîmât) and distinguished, beloved awliyâ, who
have followed them, as intermediaries, that our wicked enemies cannot ever
answer them. They fall into utter bewilderment. As it is written in the books
of al-Bukhârî and Muslim, Asmâ’ bint Abî Bakr (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ wa
Abîhâ), showing a silken-collar, green gown (jubba) of our Prophet
to the people around her, said, “Hadrat ’Â’isha had this gown with her. I took
it after her death. We cure our sick people by putting it on. Our sick people
get well by wearing it.” As it is seen as-Sahâbat al-kirâm (’alaihimu
’r-ridwân) used that gown as a means to restore health, because Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
beloved Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa Âlihî wa sallam), the
possessor of all kinds of superiorities, had worn it.
Al-Hamîdî quotes ’Abdullâh ibn Mawhib in his book,
which he composed from the two sahîh books [of al-Bukhârî and Muslim], as
saying, “My wife gave me a cup of water and sent me to our mother Umm Salama.
Hadrat Umm Salama brought a silver box. These was Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed beard in it. She
stirred the water in the cup with the blessed [hairs of] beard and took it out.
People who were struck by an evil eye or had some other trouble used to bring
water and have it done so and recovered health by drinking it. I looked into
the silver box and saw a few red hairs.”
Al-Hamîdî quotes Sahl ibn Sa’d in the same book: “Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) gave me his blessed shirt as a
gift. My mother wanted to take it from me. ‘I shall keep it for my shroud,’ I
told her. She said, ‘I wanted to get blessings from our master Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed shirt.’ “ It is seen
that the Prophet’s Companions used his blessed shirt as a means and a
cause to attain salvation from punishment [in the next world].
It is written by al-Bukhârî and Muslim that Umm Salîm
said, “Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) was sleeping
near me. His blessed face was in pearls of sweat. He woke up while I was
collecting his sweat and putting it some where. ‘Oh Umm Salîm! What are you doing?’ he asked. ‘Oh Rasűl-Allâh! I want our children to be
blessed with your sweat,’ I said, ‘You are doing well,’ he said.” In the
commentary of the book Masâbih, Ibn Malak wrote: “This hadîth sharîf shows
that it is permissible to seek Allâhu ta’âlâ’s approval through the things that
the superiors
of tasawwuf, ’ulamâ’ and sulahâ’ used.”
Imâm Muslim wrote in his Sahîh: “Medinans used to take cups of water to Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) after he performed the morning salât. He would dip
his blessed hands into every cup.” And Ibn al-Jawzî wrote in his Bayânu ’l-mushkîli ’l-hadîth: “Thus, Medinans would attain blessings through Rasűlullâh. It is better that an ’âlim should not refuse those who come to him to
attain blessings in this way.” It is understood from this statement of Ibn
al-Jawzî and the writings of al-Imâm an-Nawawî in the commentary to the Sahîh of Muslim, of Qâdî ’Iyâd in Sharh-i Muslim and of the
Hanafî ’âlim Ibn Malak that this way of asking for blessings and advantages,
contrary to what the Khârijîs think, is not peculiar to Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) only.[1]
Al-Bukhârî quoted Ibn Sîrîn in his Sahîh: “It fell to my lot to have a piece of our master Rasűlullâh’s blessed beard. I mentioned it to ’Ubaida. ‘I would like more than
anything else in the world to have a hair of that blessed beard,’ he said.”
Al-Bukhârî wrote that Anas ibn Mâlik, who had the
honour of being is Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) service for
a long time willed that a hair of the blessed beard be buried with him, wishing
to enter Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Audience with it. It is written in the book Shifâ’: “One of Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam)
superiorities and karâmât and blessings is this: Khâlid ibn Walîd (radî-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’anh) used to carry in his turban a hair of the blessed beard of Rasűlullâh. He won all the battles in which he had that hair with him.” Why,
then, should not the wishes be granted by Allâhu ta’âlâ when Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed person is intended as
a intermediary, while Khâlid attained his wishes due to a blessed hair of his?
Al-Imâm al-Bűsűrî (rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih), the great scholar of Islam and a
lover of Rasűlullâh, expresses this subtlety very beautifully in Qâsidat al-Burda.
Al-Bukhârî and Muslim quote ’Abdullâh ibn ’Abbâs in
their Sahîhain as saying, “Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam) came by two graves. He understood that both of them were in
torture. He asked for a date branch. He broke it into two
[1] It is obvious that the Khârijîs either do not know of these scholars’ books devamý or knowingly persist in obstinacy which means they have evil intentions and thoughts.
and planted them on the graves. ‘Their suffering will be less as long as
these remain green,’ he said.” The Hadîth ash-sharîf teaches that green branches of a date tree may be put
on graves in order that the suffering be diminished. Allâhu ta’âlâ lessens the
torture in the grave as a blessing of green grass. Green grass is a dhât, a
substance. Diminution of torture through planting is not peculiar to Rasűlullâh. It is an unanimity among the ’ulamâ’ of Islam that green date branches
may be planted on graves at any time. It is for this that cypresses have been
planted in Muslim graveyards. Why should it not be permissible to put the most
superior of all beings and creatures [the Prophet] as a cause or an
intermediary, while such an object as a date branch can cause diminution of
torture? Can anyone have any objections to this if he has wisdom and can think
reasonably?
It is permissible to make the substance, the dhât, a
means to please Allâhu ta’âlâ. Hind, Abu Sufyân’s wife, had chewed a piece of
Hadrat Hamza’s (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhumâ) liver during the Battle of Uhud. Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) said, “Hamza is very estimable in Allah’s view,
and He will not burn any part of his body in Hell.”[1]
Rasűlullâh said, “The fire of Hell will not burn you!” to Mâlik ibn Sinân (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) when he
swallowed Rasűlullâh’s blessed blood. Similarly, when ’Abdullâh ibn Zubair
(radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) drank his blessed blood of cupping, he did not rebuke
him but said, “Many things
will happen to you through men. And many things will happen to men through
you.” And he said, “You will never suffer stomach pain,” to the woman who drank the remains of his drink. This
hadîth sharîf is sahîh, and her name was Baraka. Many ’ulamâ’, for example, Qâdî ’Iyâd in his book Shifâ’ and al-Qastalânî
in Al-mawâhib al-laduniyya, reported
this. Oh Muslims! While even blood and similar things which once belonged to Rasűlullâh’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed body are causes or
intermediaries for salvation from the fire of Hell and for relief of pain, why
should it not be believed that his blessed body, or person, can be an
intermediary or a cause for similar advantages? His blessed thât was of Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s Nűr (Divine Light), [so] his shadow never fell on the ground. Jâbir
and many others (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum) related this. If someone says, “He
cannot be taken as a mediator; he cannot be a cause for
[1] This hadîth sharîf clarifies once more that Hind became a believer and will not go to Hell.
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s creating,” should that person be
regarded as a member of his umma or an enemy of that exalted Prophet,
who is the darling of Allâhu ta’âlâ and the highest of prophets?
It has been stated in âyats that he is rahma (blessing) even for unbelievers.
Why should he not be a means and cause of rahma for Muslims and Ahl as-Sunnat wa ’l-Jamâ’a who love him?
The ’wasîla’ (intermediary, recourse) in the âyat
al-karîma, “Search for a
wasîla!” includes ’ibâdât, prayers
and also blessed, estimable dhâts (persons, substances, themselves). The
hadîths and events reported above prove this fact clearly.
There are many âyats indicating that it is permissible
to ask creatures for everything, even for things which men are unable to do but
Allâhu ta’âlâ may bestow upon His awliyâ’ as karâmât. One of these âyats is the
one in Sűrat an-Naml which quotes the Prophet Sulaimân
(’alaihi’s-salâm) as saying, “Oh my people! Who will bring her throne here?” There were genies and men and even satans among the
people he addressed. Ifrît, one among an evil group of genies, said, “I can
bring before you stand up.” Sulaimân (’alaihi’s-salâm) said, “I want it to be
brought faster.” Âsaf ibn Barhiyâ, Sulaimân’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) secretary,
said, ‘I can bring it faster.” Bilqîs’ throne was in the Yemen, and Sulaimân
(’alaihi ’s-salâm) was in Damascus. There was a distance of three months
between the Yemen and Damascus [on foot]. He brought [her with her throne] to
Damascus under the ground just at that moment. The throne was a couch
ornamented with gold and jewels. This was a karâma. Allâhu ta’âlâ grants
karâmât, outside His usual custom or laws to His awliyâ’, to His human servants
whom He loves. Allâhu ta’âlâ talks in praise of the karâma He granted to a
walî, a pious servant of His, in the Qur’ân al-karîm, and He did
not reprove Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm) because he asked for this karâma. He
does not question, “Why did you ask someone else for this while I am closer to
you than your aorta? Why did you not ask Me for something which men are not
able to do and which no one else but I have the power to do?” For this reason,
Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Prophet. He knew that
this word or wish of his was nothing but clinging to causes, which was
compatible with his religion; Allâhu ta’âlâ orders men to cling to causes.
Asking Rasűlullâh, martyrs and sâlih people for something is a similar
action. It is a way of making use of the karâmât granted to them by Allâhu
ta’âlâ. They are causes (sabab), means (wâsita) or recourses (wasîla). Allâhu
ta’âlâ is the only one who creates and makes. The karâmât of
awliyâ’ are [or stem] from the superiorities and
mu’jizas of prophets (salawât-Allâhi ’alaihim ajma’în). Awliyâ’ attain
karâmât through prophets, for they follow them.
The 89th âyat al-karîma of Sűrat al-Baqara is one of
the âyats which reveals that it is permissible to have recourse to and ask
intercession of Allâhu ta’âlâ’s beloved servants, and first of all, the master
of prophets, Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm). The ’ulamâ’ of hadîth
unanimously report that this âyat karîma descended for the Jews of Khaibar.
These Jews were in war with the Asad and Ghatfân tribes during the Jahiliyya Ages. They prayed, “Oh our Rabb! Help us
for the right of the Prophet You will send in the Last Age!” while they fought,
and they won victories by making an intermediary of the last Prophet.
But when Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) came and proclaimed
Islam, they envied and persisted in disbelieving him. In the book Badâyi’ al-Farâ’id, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya wrote, “Jews were in war
with their neighbour Arabs during the Jahiliyya Ages. They asked Allâhu ta’âlâ
for help through Rasűlullâh’s blessed body before he came to this world. Allâhu
ta’âlâ helped them and they became victorious. But they did not believe Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) after he started disseminating
Islam, and thus they became unbelievers. If they had not believed him before,
they would have not asked for help through him.” Some of the commentaries of
the tafsîr book by al-Baidâwî quote Sa’d ad-dîn at-Taftâzânî [Mas’űd ash-Shâfi’î,
d. Samarqand,
the Jews of Khaibar used of fight with the Arab
unbelievers called Ghatfân during the Jâhiliyya Ages and were always defeated.
After they prayed begging, ‘Oh our Rabb! Help us for the sake of Your beloved Prophet
whom You promised us You would send in the last Age,’ they became victorious
over the Ghatfân unbelievers. But they did not believe Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm) when Allâhu ta’âlâ sent him as the Prophet. They became
unbelievers. Allâhu ta’âlâ states this fact in the [above-mentioned] âyat
al-karîma. We see that Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is so estimable, honourable
and superior in Allâhu ta’âlâ’s view that He accepted even the prayers of
unbelievers who regarded him an intermediary. Although Allâhu ta’âlâ knew that
the Jews would become the most prominent enemies of that beloved Prophet
of His and that they would be very harmful for him, He accepted their prayers
when they made him a wasîla. While his honour and intercession were at such a
degree even before he honoured the world, can a wise, sensible person claim
that it is a sin to make him a wasîla, an intercessor, after the Prophet
was sent as a blessing upon all ’âlams (worlds of beings)? Hence, those who do
not believe this [intercession] are worse than the Jews. The prayer of the
first Prophet, Âdam (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was also accepted when he
prayed making him [Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm)] a wasîla, which is written in
books of tafsîr and hadîth in detail. Those who understand these documents will
fully see what kind of people are those who do not believe that it is
permissible to have recourse to him.”
Supplement: It is from their karâmât and superiorities that the
things asked from Allâhu ta’âlâ are granted when prophets and awliyâ’
are regarded as wasîlas and intercessors. They possess karâmât in their graves
after they die, too. The ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna unanimously reported that the
karâma is true and it is wâjib to believe in it. Allah declares that awliyâ’
have karâmât; as mentioned, an âyat karîma states that Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm)
wanted the throne of Bilqîs to be brought from Saba’ (Sehaba), in the Yemen, to
Damascus in a moment. This throne was ornamented with gold and jewels. Âsaf ibn
Barhiyâ brought it in a moment. The throne was brought without any harm to any
part of it. Âsaf was a walî. It was a karâma of his that he brought the throne
in a moment. Hadrat Mariam’s karâma is told in the 37th âyat-al-karîma of Sűrat
Âl ’Imrân in the Qur’ân
al-karîm. Though only the Prophet
Zakariyya (’alaihi ’s-salâm) used to go to her room, he would see fresh fruits
beside Hadrat Mariam
whenever he visited her. She would say that they had
come from Allâhu ta’âlâ. The ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna have unanimously declared
that awliyâ’ have karâmât like prophets have mu’jizât, since Allâhu ta’âlâ loves very much
those who obey and follow prophets. He grants them karâmât, in life as well as after
death. That prophets and awliyâ’ have mu’jizât and karâmât [respectively]
even after they die confirms that they were truthful, because the disbelieving
enemies who saw their mu’jizât and karâmât when they were alive thought that
they worked them after learning from others, and it is impossible to think and
say so about the mu’jizât and karâmât which occur after they passed away.
Allâhu ta’âlâ Himself creates the mu’jizât and karâmât. They occur solely by
His Power. He creates them as a benevolence and favour to His prophets
and awliyâ’, through them and through their intercession. Mu’jiza is [a miracle] witnessed of a prophet, and karâma is that witnessed of a pious believer who is known as a follower of a prophet.
Prophets are ma’sűm, that is, they never commit any sins. The
devil cannot appear in the shape or body of a prophet. Awliyâ’ are
the inheritors of prophets, and the devil cannot approach them. It was recorded
in many books that the devil fled from ’Umar, ’Abdullâh ibn Mas’űd and many
other Sahâbîs (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum). ’Alî ’Ushî al-Farghânawî
(rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih), in his qasîda entitled Bad’ al-Amâlî, says,
“Walî has karâma in the world;
They are the men of benevolence.”
There is nothing to be confused about in this couplet
for sensible, wise people. It stresses that the karâmât of awliyâ’ occur in
this world, because there was disagreement between Ahl as-Sunna and the
Mu’tazila about the karâmât in this world. The Mu’tazila said that there was no
karâma in this world. They thought that karâma would be confused with mu’jiza,
and a prophet could not be distinguished from a walî. According to
Ahl as Sunna, the possessor of mu’jiza had to announce that he was a prophet
while it is forbidden for the possessor of karâma to say that he is a walî. It
should be concluded that he is not a walî if he says so. If the lâ-madhhabî
understood this fact, they would not dare to slander awliyâ’ by using the ugly
words of zindîqs and liars as pretexts. The above couplet means, “The karâmât
of a walî occur in this world, too. Allâhu ta’âlâ grants the wishes of those
who ask a walî for something or for intercession.” Those with a short
comprehension take this couplet as meaning that a walî has
karâmât in this world only and say that no karâma
occurs from a walî after he dies. This interpretation is completely wrong,
because profound ’ulamâ’, for example, Sharaf ad-dîn Khalîl an-Najjârî
al-Yamânî al-Hanafî [d.
Innumerable karâmât of awliyâ’ have been seen after
their death. The ’umalâ’ have reported them unanimously. We are now going to
relate a few of them. Al-Bukhârî wrote in his Sahîh: “Hadrat ’Âsim, a Sahâbî
(radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), had promised Allâhu ta’âlâ that he would not touch
any mushrik and that no mushrik should ever touch him. Disbelievers wanted to
approach his corpse when they martyred him. Allâhu ta’âlâ, to protect ’Âsim
from being touched, sent bees. There were so many bees that they could not come
near him. This was a karâma granted to ’Âsim after his death... Disbelievers
imprisoned Hadrat Hubaib, a Sahâbî. They threatened him saying, ‘We shall
release you if you say that Muhammad [’alaihi ’s-salâm] is a liar. If you do
not say so, we will kill you!’ Hubaib said, ‘I would sacrifice my life lest a
thorn should hurt his blessed foot!’ They martyred him. A few Sahâbîs came at
night and cut the rope around the marty. [As they took him away,] his body fell
to the ground. They could not see him on the ground. They could not understand
where he had gone... A Sahâbî named Hanzala made haste to join Rasűlullâh who was going to a holy war. He had not had time to perform a ghusl.
He was martyred. Angels washed him. Therefore, he became well known with the
name Ghasîl al-Malâika.” It is written in the book Mishkât: “Hadrat ’Â’isha (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ) said, ‘The Abyssinian
sovereign Najâshî (Negus) became a believer. I have heard many people say that
nűr glowed over his grave all the time.’ Rasűlullâh reported that
Hadrat ’Alî’s brother Ja’fâr, after getting martyred, went to the town of Bîsha
in Yemen with angels and gave them the good news that it was going to rain.
A qâri’, that is, a hâfiz, was reciting Sűrat al-Kahf
by Hadrat Husain’s (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) blessed head. When the âyat
al-karîma, ‘As-hâb al-Kahf
were astounded by Our âyats,’ was
recited, a voice from the blessed head [of Hadrat Husain] was heard saying, ‘It
is a more astonishing event to kill and drag my body than that of the As’hâb
al-Kahf.’ Nasr al-Hazâ’î was hanged by Caliph Ma’műn ibn Hârűn [who passed away
in
Ibn ’Asâkir explained that ’Umair ibn Habbab as-Salamî
said, “We, eight friends, were imprisoned by Byzantine Greeks at the time of
the ’Umayyads. They took us to the Byzantine emperor. ‘Behead them!’ he
ordered. I went ahead before my friends to be killed first. The priests pitied
me. They were astounded by my behaviour. They implored the emperor, kissings
his hands and feet, so that he would forgive me. One of the priests took me to
his house. He brought a beautiful girl and intoduced her to me. ‘This is my
daughter. I will marry her to you, and you shall accept our religion,’ he said.
‘I will not give up my religion for a wife or wealth,’ I answered. After a few
days, his daughter invited me to their garden and said, ‘Why don’t you do as my
father advises?’ ‘I will not resign my religion for a woman or wealth,’ I
answered. ‘Would you like to stay here or return to your country?’ she asked. I
said I wanted to return home. Pointing at a star in the sky, ‘Go in the
direction of that star during the night and hide during the day! You will reach
your country,’ she said and went in. I walked for three nights. While I was
hiding on the fourth day, I heard some people calling me by name. I looked out
and saw my friends who had been martyred. ‘Have you not been martyred?’ I
asked. They said, ‘Yes, we have, but Allâhu ta’âlâ now ordered martyrs to
attend the funeral of ’Umar ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz (rahmat-Allâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih).’
They were on horseback. ‘Oh ’Umair! Give me your hand!’ said one of them. I
stretched out my hand. He gave me
a lift on the back of his horse. We went fast. I found
myself at home in Al-Jazîra.”
Ibn al-Jazwî wrote, “Abu ’Alî al-Barbarî was one of
the first three who settled in Tarsus. He fought against the Byzantine Greeks.
He and his friends were imprisoned. The same happened to them as it had to
’Umair. They martyred his friends. A priest saved him and took him to his
house. He offered his daughter to deceive him. But Allâhu ta’âlâ granted the
girl guidance [to the right path of Islam]. The two set out together. They hid
during the day. They heard footsteps. He saw his two martyred friends. There
were angels with them. He greeted his two friends and asked how they were. They
said, ‘Allâhu ta’âlâ sent us to you. We shall witness your marriage (nikâh)
with this girl.’ They went away after the nikâh. The couple came to Damascus
and long lived together. This event became well known in Damascus.”[1]
Such events and details of the dead’s life in the graves are noted in Ibn Abî
’d-dunyâ’s work, Abű Nu’âim’s Hilya and Ibn al-Jazwî’s Safwat as-safwa and ’Uyűn al-hikâyât and in
many other books. Ibn Taimiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, too, narrated the
karâmât of awliyâ’ beautifully.[2]
It is strange that a few Hanafî men of religious duty
and the Wahhâbîs do not believe that awliyâ’ may go to very distant places in a
short time [thay al-makâ], which is a kind of karâmât. The Hanafî ’ulamâ’ have
given good answers in their books of fiqh and ’aqâ’id to those who deny it.
They said, for example, that if a person from the West married a woman from the
East and if he stayed far away from his wife for a long time and if his wife
became pregnant a few years later, the expected child would be attributed to
that man, for it is possible that the man might go to
[1] Muhammad Ma’sum al-Fârűqî as-Sirhindî left India by ship at the beginning of the year 1068 A.H. (1658) and first went to al-Madînat al- Munawwara and came to al-Makkat al-Mukarrama at the beginning of the month of Rajab. After performing hajj with his blessed sons, he returned to India at the beginning of 1069. During his visits to the great personages at Jannat al-Mu’allâ and Jannat al-Baqî’ and to Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) at Hujrat as-Sa’âda in this one year, they appeared in their own figures and everyday he reported to his sons the good news they had given.
[2] Ismâ’il al-Műsulî (rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih), one of leading Shafi’î scholars who passed away in 654 A.H. (1255), proved with documents that awliyâ’ are the possessors of karâmât.
his wife by tayy al-makân. It is possible (jâ’iz) that
such a man might be a man of karâma. This has been unanimously declared by the
’ulamâ’ of fiqh and noted in books of ’aqâ’id, too. The book Wahhâbiyya writes: “Tayy al-masâfa, that is, traversing long
distances in a moment, is a karâma bestowed upon awliyâ’. It is wâjib to
believe in this.” This fact is also written in An-Nasafî, Al-fiqh al-akbar, As-siwâd
al-a’zam, Wasiyyatu Abî Yűsuf, Mawâqif and
Maqâsid and commentaries on them [and in Radd al-muhtâr]. Why should it not be believed while it is stated
openly in the âyat al-karîma? The ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna based this contention
on an âyat karîma. The event, as reported in the âyat, that the throne of
Bilqîs was brought do Damascus in a moment verifies that tayy al-masâfa is a
karâma.
The karâmât of awliyâ’ are finely explained in the
32nd article of the book As-siwâd
al-a’zam by Hakîm as-Samarqandî
Is’haq ibn Muhammad (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), whom we thought it proper to quote:
“It is necessary to believe in the karâmât of awliyâ’. Anyone who does not
believe in their karâmât becomes a man of bid’a, a heretic. There are two kinds
of disbelieving in their karâmât: one becomes a kâfir if he disbelieves the
âyats which narrate karâmât; if he believes in the âyats but says, ‘They were prophets,’
again he becomes a kâfir. If one believes in the âyats and does not say that
they were prophets, it is permissible for him to say, ‘The âyats
narrate the karâmât of awliyâ’.’ For this reason, Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the
[above-mentioned] âyat that the one who brought the throne of Bilqîs in a
moment was a learned man. That learned man was Âsaf ibn Barhiyâ. He was a walî.
He was not a prophet. He belonged to the umma of Sulaimân (’alaihi
’s-salâm). While a karâma of one among the umma of Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm)
is narrated in the Qur’ân
al-karîm, why should it not be believed
that the umma of Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) have karâmât? Certainly Muhammad
(’alaihi ’s-salâm) is superior to Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm) and the former’s
umma is superior to that of the latter. If the lâ-madhhabî say, ‘This karâma
belonged to Sulaimân (’alaihi ’s-salâm),’ we say, ‘The karâmât of this umma are
of Muhammad (alaihi ’s-salâm) as an answer. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares: ‘Pull the date-wood to yoursel! Therefrom
fresh dates will fall for you,’ in
the 24th âyat al-karîma of Sűrat al-Mariam. Allâhu ta’âlâ reveals that He grew
fruit from the dry date-Wood for Hadrat Mariam. who was not a prophet.
The fruits which Zakariyyâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) saw beside Hadrat Mariam and the
event of As’hâb al-kahf
were all karâmât. The ones who possessed these karâmât
were not prophets. Why should there not be awliyâ’ who have karâmât
among the umma of Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) while there were awliyâ’ who had
karâmât among the ummas of earlier prophets? The 110th âyat
al-karîma of Sűrat Âl ’Imrân declares, ‘You have come as the best of ummas.’ If those who do not believe in karâmât say, ‘A
person cannot go to the Ka’ba and come back in one nighttime,’ then we say,
‘Rasűllullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) was taken up through the
seven heavens to the places where Allâhu ta’âlâ wished and was taken back in a
moment. Could there be a karâma greater than this?’ And again we say, ‘Who is
estimable, a believer or an unbeliever? We know of an unbeliever who goes from
the East to the West and from the West to the East instantaneously, and we
believe it. This is Iblîs [the Satan] as we know. Why should the ability given
to an unbeliever not be bestowed upon Allâhu ta’âlâ’s beloved servants? One
should think deeply on this and be just,’ ” The translation from the commentary
to As-iswâd al-a’zam ends here. Ibn Taimiyya and many others wrote that
those who did not believe in the karâmât of awliyâ’ were the Khârijîs,
Mu’tazilîs and some Shî’ites. Therefore, these heretics do not have karâma.
There is not a man of karâma among them. Therefore, they do not see, hear or
believe any karâma.
The translation from Dâwűd ibn Sulaimân’s work Al-minhat ul-Wahbiyya fî raddi
’l-Wahhâbiyya, as a refutation to the
lâ-madhhabî author’s book, ends here. By this beneficial occasion, the
translation of the whole book came about.
’Abd al-Ghanî an-Nablusî wrote in his work Kashf an-Nűr min as-hâbi ’l-qubűr: “Allâhu ta’âlâ has bestowed karâmât upon those human servants of His who have approached Him. Karâmât are
the things that are created outside of customs (’âdat) and scientific knowledge
by Allâhu ta’âlâ that appear from human beings called awliyâ’. Allâhu ta’âlâ,
with His Power and Will, that is, whenever He wishes, creates such things in
these servants of His. The power in human beings, too, is created by Allahu
ta’âlâ. In the creation of such things, the power or will of servants does not
have any effect (ta’thîr). Their will and power only cause the creation of karâmât. One becomes a kâfir if he says and believes that a man may make a
karâma with his power whenever he wishes.
“A walî upon whom a karâma has occurred knows that
this karâma has been created with only Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Will and
Power, that his own will and power have had no effect.
Similarly, every moment he knows that his bodily senses of seeing, hearing,
tasting, feeling of hardness or heat, thinking, memorizing, remembering and the
functions of his external and internal organs, in short all his movements come
out always as a result of Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Will, Power and Creation. This is
what being a walî means; that is, one who knows and believes every moment that
all these happen as such has come close to Allâhu ta’âlâ and has become a walî.
This knowledge of his covers his whole existence every moment. Allâhu ta’âlâ
occassionally gives ghafla (unawareness) to His walî and makes him forget this
knowledge of his. His being a walî has left during this period, but because he
has been a walî formerly, he is still called a walî. Similarly, because one who
has îmân is called a believer, he is also called a believer while he is asleep
or in a state of ghafla. The time of ghafla is the walî’s inferior state (hâl).
The state of being dead mentioned by Allâhu ta’âlâ as in “You are certainly dead. They, too, are
dead,” is also similar to this state.
Therefore, awliyâ’ (Rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ) has called the state of their
understanding that their everything is from Allâhu ta’âlâ [‘fanâ’ fi ’llah’ or] ‘mawt ikhtiyârî’
(optional death). A hadîth
sharîf says, ‘One who recognizes himself will have
recognized his Rabb.’ One who
understands that all his actions, work and apparent or secret powers are not
from himself but are created by another possessor of will and power has, in
fact, understood Allâhu ta’âlâ who is the Possessor of that Power. A Muslim who
carries out all the fards ordered by Allâhu ta’âlâ and, in addition, does the
supererogatory (nâfila) ’ibâdât, that is, the ’ibâdât, way of living and ahwâl
of Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), gets close to Allâhu ta’âlâ and becomes a walî.
It becomes evident that his senses and actions are not from himself but from
Allâhu ta’âlâ. The hadîth ash-sharîf stating this fact is written in books on tasawwuf.
“According to ’ârifîn, in order to become a walî one
has to know that he is dead in the sense that is called mawt ikhtiyârî. For the
occurrence of karâmât on awliyâ’, they should be dead in this sense. Can a
person who understands this say that karâmât do not occur on the dead?
Ignoramuses and the ghâfil (those in ghafla) suppose that they do their actions
with their own will and power and forget that everything is created by Allâhu
ta’âlâ.
“The books on fiqh, too, report that awliyâ’ possess
karâmât also after death. In the Hanafî madhhab, it is makrűh to step, to sit,
to sleep or to break an ablution on a grave, because these mean
betrayal and insult. The hadîth ash-sharîf says, ‘I prefer to step on fire rather than stepping on a grave.’ These words state that it is necessary to respect
human beings also after their death; that is, our religion preaches that the
dead are possessors of karâmât; that is, they are respectworthy. As we have
reported above, ‘karâmâ’ is the work done outside customs. Because men’s
walking and sitting on the earth are customary, not stepping or not sitting on
a believer’s grave is a karâma, that is, a favour and an endowment on him. Our
religion, which gives such a karâma upon every believer after death, indicates
that more valuable karâmât are bestowed upon awliyâ’ who are the possessors of
’ilm and ’irfân.
“Our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) used to visit the
Bakî cemetery and prayed standing at the side of graves. This also shows that
the dead are the possessors of karâma; for he would not have prayed there if he
did not know that the prayer said at the grave of a believer will be accepted.
That the prayer said at the grave of a believer is acceptable shows that the
believer is a man of karâma. While there is such a karâma for every believer,
it is apparent that there should be many more for awliyâ’.
“It is necessary to wash, shroud and bury a believer
when he dies. Our religion orders us to do these. This order shows that a
believer is a possessor of karâma after death, too. There is no such karâma of
dead disbelievers and animals.
“A believer’s body becomes dirty (najâsa) when he
dies. Washing it has been ordered to clean, to free him from this dirtiness. This
order shows that a believer is a possessor of karâma after death, too.
“It is writen in the book Jâmi’ al-fatâwâ[1]
that it is not makrűh to construct a building or tomb over the graves of
’ulamâ’ and sayyids. The same book states that one who washes a corpse should
be clean, that it is makrűh for him to be junub (bodily unclean, so in need of
a ghusl, a bodily ablution). This, too, shows that every believer is a
possessor of karâma after death. However, not every believer possesses karâma
when alive. Only awliyâ’ possess karâmât also in life. Imâm ’Abdullâh an-Nasafî
[al-Hanafî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), who passed away in Baghdad in
[1] Author, Muhammad as-Samarqandî al-Hanafî passed away in 556 A.H. (1162).
death. This is because the one who is a prophet
or believer is the soul. When a human being dies, no change takes place in his
soul.’ ‘Human being’ means not the ‘body’ but the ‘soul.’ The body is the
temporary house for the soul. Not the house but those who stay in the house are
valuable. Jabrâ’il (’alaihi ’s-salâm) showed himself to our master, the Prophet,
in the figure of a human being, usually in the figure of Dihya, a Sahâbî. Some
of the as-Sahâbat al-kirâm also saw Jabrâ’il in the figure of a human being. It
cannot be said that Jabrâ’il became non-existent when he, discarding the human
figure and donned his own figure, became like a soul. It can be said that he
changed his figure. It is similar for the human soul, too. When a man dies, his
soul goes from one ’âlam (world) to another. Such a change in the soul does not
show the absence of karâmât.
“Many events and stories are written in books
revealing that awliyâ’ possess karâmât also after death. For example, various
karâmât of Abű ’Abdullâh ibn Zain al-Burî al-Ishbilî are written in the great
walî Muhyiddîn ibn al-’Arabî’s book Rűh al-Quds. A person
named Abu ’l-Qâsim ibn Hamdin became blind one night while he was reading a
book that critized and belittled Imâm Muhammad Al-Ghazâlî. He immediately
prostrated (sajda) and entreated Allâhu ta’âlâ. He vowed not to read that book
any more. Allâhu ta’âlâ accepted and favoured him with seeing again. This
exemplifies a karâma of al-Imâm al-Ghazâlî which happened after his death.
“Al-Imâm al-Yâfi’î [d. Mecca,
Some lied on board, while others on silk bed or among
fragrant flowers, and some were cheerful or laughing while others were crying.
He heard a voice saying that these states of theirs were the recompense for
their deeds in the world. Those good-tempered, martyrs, those who also
performed nâfila fasts, those who loved one another for Allah’s sake, those who
sinned and those who repented for their sins each were in different situations.
The state of those in graves is shown to some awliyâ’ while they are asleep and
to some other awliyâ while awake.’ In the book Kifâyat al-mu’taqat, also by al-Imâm al-Yâfi’î (rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih), it
is written that some awliyâ’ visited their fathers’ graves and talked with
them.
“In his book As-Sunna, [Hibatullâh]
al-Lalkâ’î [rahmat-Allâhi
’alaih, d.
“Abu Nu’aim [al-Isfahânî ’alaih), d.
“Al-Imâm at-Tirmidhî, Hâkim and al-Baihakî quoted
’Abdullâh ibn ’Abbâs as saying that he and some other Sahâbîs set up a tent
somewhere while travelling. They did not know of the presence of a grave there.
They heard someone recite Sűrat al-Mulk from beginning to end. When they
arrived in Medina, they reported it to Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam), who said, ‘This sűra saves the dead from ’adhâb.’ Abu ’l-Qâsim Sa’dî relates this in his book Ifsâh and comments, ‘This proves that a dead Muslim can recite the Qur’ân in
his grave.’
“[Muhammad] Ibn Mandah [rahmat-Allâhi ’alaih, d.
“When a human being dies, the soul does not die. The
soul is a different being than the body. Its relation with the corpse in the
grave does not end even after it becomes soil. Ignoramuses who have not read
the books by the ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna, the lâ-madhhabî and the heretics of
the seventy-two groups who, as reported, will go to Hell do not know that the
soul is a different being than the body. They suppose that, like a man’s
movements are lost when he dies, the soul also becomes non-existent as if it is
an attribute or property of the body. They say that, like other human beings,
awliyâ’, too, die and become soil, and their being human and spiritual cease to
exist. They do not show respect to their dead people but insult them. They deny
getting blessed
(baraka) and tawassul from awliyâ’ by visiting their
graves. One day, I was on my way to visit walî Arslan Dimishqî’s grave; a
heretic said to me, ‘Is soil to be visited?’ I was very surprised at this. Such
words of a person who says he is Muslim grieved me a lot.
“A hadîth
sharîf says, ‘The grave is either a garden among the
gardens of Paradise or a hollow among the hollows of Hell.’ This hadîth
sharîf openly explains that souls get
united with rotten corpses and reveals that believers’ graves are venerable and
blessed. It is feared that one becomes a disbeliever if he blemishes or hears
enmity against an ’âlim.
“Both dead and living people are the creatures of
Allâhu ta’âlâ. None of them has an effect (ta’thîr) on anything. The one who
has an effect on everything is solely Allâhu ta’âlâ. But, it is wâjib to show
respect (ta’zîm) towards a muslim whether he is alive or dead; because both the
dead and the living Muslims are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s sha’âir, and He orders us to show respect to them in the Qur’ân al-karîm: ‘Respecting
the sha’âir of Allâhu ta’âlâ stems from the hearts’ taqwâ.’ ‘Sha’âir’ means the ‘things that remind, reflect
Allâhu ta’âlâ!’ ’Ulamâ’ and sulahâ’, both when alive and dead, are sha’âir.
“Respectfulness
towards ’ulamâ’ and awliyâ’ can be done in various ways. One of them is to make
wooden coffins for them and to build domes over their graves. The size of their
turbans and ampleness and cleanliness of their dresses are also intended for
respecting them. In the book Jâmi’ al-fatâwâ, it is
written that constructing buildings and tombs over the graves of ’ulamâ’,
awliyâ’ and sayyids is not makrűh. In our opinion, it is permissible to put a
coffin, cover and turban on the graves of awliyâ’ so that they will not be
hated but be respected, or with the intention of protecting them against
insults and causing them to be venerated. In the time of Salaf as-sâlihîn these
were not done, but everybody showed respect to graves in those days. In the
books of fiqh, it is written that, after the farewell tawâf, Masjid al-Harâm
should be left walking backwards and that this manner of leaving will indicate
respect towards the Ka’ba. Salaf as-sâlihîn did not use to leave by walking
backwards, but their respect for the Ka’ba was not defective. The cover over
the Ka’ba was not formerly done, and the fatwâ rendering it permissible
(mashrű’) was issued later. Similarl, putting covers over graves has become
permissible. The Hadîth
ash-sharîf says, ‘If one opens a beautiful [that is,
conformable to Islam] way, he is given thawâb also as much as that
given to each of those who follow it.
“It is written in Jâmi’ al-Fatâwâ:
‘We have not seen any narration reporting that it is sunna or mustahab to put
one’s hand on graves. However, we cannot say that is not jâ’iz, either.’ Those
who say that it is harâm have no evidence or document at all. In order to
declare it as harâm, one has to Submit proof from one of the adillat al-arba’a, that is, the Qur’ân al-karîm, the Hadîth ash-sharîf, Ijmâ’ al-Umma or Qiyâs al-fuqahâ’. The
qiyâs made by one who is not a mujtahid is of no value at all. Some ignoramuses
say, ‘If the graves of awliyâ’ are respected, and if baraka and help are
requested from them, some people may think that they can do whatever they wish
and can affect like Allâhu ta’âlâ. Thus, those who think so become disbelievers
or polytheists. This is why we take preventive action and demolish their graves
and tombs. By our insulting them in this way, the people are saved from
becoming disbelievers or polytheists by seeing that they cannot protect
themselves against insults.’ This argument of the heretics is disbelief and
resembles the words of Pharaoh, who is quoted in the 26th âyat of Sűrat
al-Mu’min as having said, ‘Let
me kill Műsâ. Let him protect himself against me by supplicating to his Rabb. I
fear that he will change your religion and plot mischief on the earth.’ These ignoramuses deny that Allâhu ta’âlâ loves awliyâ’
and that He will accept the prayers of those whom He loves and that He will
create the wishes of their souls after they die. The ignoramuses are talking
out of surmise, suspicion, illusion and imagination. They are not able do
distinguish the truth from falsehood. One who is a Muslim cannot say that the Ummat al-Muhammadiyya of a thousand years have been in dalâla (heresy). He
cannot think ill of them. Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) did not expose any
munâfiqs, that is, those disbelievers who pretended to be Muslim, though he
knew all of them. To those who asked him about them, he would say, ‘We look at
words, actions and appearance. Only Allâhu ta’âlâ knows the hearts.’ ”[1]
If one hundred meanings can be derived from a
statement or action of a Muslim, and if one of them indicates that he is a
[1] Kashf an-Nűr min as’hâbi ’l-qubűr by ’Abd al-Ghanî an-Nabulusî, d. 1143 A.H. Hand-written copy in the Suleymaniyya Library, Istanbul. Magnificent first edition in Pakistan, Lahor, 1397 A.H. (1977); reproduced by photo-offset in a volume with the book Minhat al- Wahbiyya in Istanbul in 1398 A.H. (1978).
Muslim while ninety-nine of them show that he is a disbeliever, we have to say that he is a Muslim. That is, ninety-nine meanings that convey disbelief are ignored, and the meaning that indicates the presence of îmân is taken into account. Therefore, one should not say “disbeliever” or “polytheist” for Muslims; he should not think ill of Muslims. This word of ours should not be misunderstood! In order not to misunderstand this, attention should be paid to two points. Firstly, the person whose statement or action is in question is noted to be a Muslim. In contrast, if not only one statement or action, but many statements or actions of a disbeliever indicates îmân, he cannot be said to have become a Muslim. When a Frenchman praises the Qur’ân al-karîm, or a Briton says that there is only one Creator, or a German philosopher says that the best religion is Islam, it cannot be said that they are Muslims. In order for a disbeliever to become a Muslim, he has to say, “I believe in Allah. He is unique. Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is the Prophet of Allah. He has sent him as the Prophet for all the people who will live all over the world till the end of the world. I have believed in everything,” and immediately learn the six fundamentals of îmân and 33 fards and believe all of them. The second point to pay attention to is what was said about one hundred meanings from a single statement or a single action. If, however, one out of a hundred statements or actions indicates îmân while ninety-nine of them show disbelief, we are not ordered to call such a person a Muslim. Because, if only one statement or action of a person openly shows disbelief, that is, if it does not have a meaning that indicates the presence of îmân, he is judged to be a disbeliever. He is not protected from disbelief and is not judged to be a Muslim by his other statements or actions that show the presence of îmân in him.