The bygone nations that were destroyed—we have been ordered, when passing by their ruins, to hurry on with tears in our eyes. How, then, can we regard those remains as precious heritage and emblems of glory?

As for the relics of the righteous, the danger is even greater, for they invite veneration and, thereafter, worship and polytheism—something Islam has most severely prohibited and against which it has issued the strongest warnings.

These places and relics, the so-called shrines, the structures raised over graves, and all that occurs in and around them are merely sites of harm. They rival the Houses of Allah, which He commanded to be exalted and wherein His name is to be remembered. Embracing such innovations is an endeavor to ruin Allah’s mosques and to divert people from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. Indeed, they are the temples of Satan, his very dwellings.

We ask Allah, exalted is He, to cleanse His earth of them and to protect us from deviation and misstep. He is the best Protector and the One Who answers. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.