for them on a blistering day, and they had not even finished lifting the hems of their clothes before rain poured down upon them. (1)
Maʿrūf’s prayers were granted on many other occasions as well, and Imam Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī devoted four separate booklets to recounting his virtues.
ʿUbayd ibn Muḥammad al-Warraq said, “Maʿrūf—while fasting—passed by a water-seller who was calling out, ‘May Allah have mercy on whoever drinks!’ So Maʿrūf drank in hope of that mercy. (2)
Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī has reported something unfounded: that Maʿrūf al-Karkhī served as the doorkeeper of ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Rida. He claims that they broke Maʿrūf’s rib and he died. (3) More likely, al-Rida had a chamberlain named Maʿrūf, whose name merely happened to coincide with that of the Iraqi ascetic.
Ibrāhīm al-Harbī said, “Maʿrūf’s grave is a tried-and-true antidote. (4) By this he meant…"
(1) Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 13, p. 207.
(2) Hilyat al-Awliya, vol. 8, p. 365.
(3) Tabaqat al-Sufiyya, al-Sulami, p. 85.
(4) This claim is untenable: no grave of a righteous deceased can be a “panacea” for the living, for the Quran contains no text that assigns special efficacy to supplication at any grave. The Prophet did not command it, legislate it for his community, or practise it himself; neither did the Companions, their pious successors, or the leading imams whose opinions are followed. Indeed, authentic reports expressly forbid travelling to the graves of prophets or saints for the purpose of prayer and supplication. Zayn al-Abidin Ali b. al-Husayn b. Ali b. Abi Talib—trustworthy jurist—once saw a man entering a niche near the Prophet’s tomb to invoke Allah. He called the man and said: “Shall I tell you a hadith that I heard from my father, who heard it from my grandfather, the Messenger of Allah? He said: ‘Do not turn my grave into a recurring festival, nor your houses into graves. Send blessings upon me, for your blessings and greetings reach me wherever you are.’” Reported by Ibn Abi Shayba, 2/375; Ismail al-Qadi, Fadl al-Salat ala al-Nabi, no. 20. A supporting chain appears in Abd al-Razzaq’s Musannaf, no. 6726, from Sahl, from al-Hasan b. Ali, who saw people at the grave and prohibited them, quoting the same hadith: “Do not take my grave as a festival.” The report is also found in Abu Dawud, no. 2042, and Ahmad, 2/367, through Abd Allah b. Nafi.