none of the prophets’ graves is reliably authenticated except the grave of our own Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Some do maintain that another grave is verified as well, namely the grave of Abraham, the Friend, peace be upon him; yet even there one merely knows the grave lies somewhere in that vicinity, while its exact spot remains uncertain. The same applies to many of the Companions’ graves located at Bāb al-Ṣaghīr in Damascus. The ground there has been altered time and again, so to designate a particular tomb as that of Bilāl or anyone else is scarcely provable, save through very specific evidence; and even were it proven, no legal ruling would attach to the practices that have been introduced at such sites.

Our aim here is to clarify this first category: the veneration of places that possess no distinctive merit—whether one does so while knowing they have no distinction, or does so in ignorance of any distinction. Worship and actions undertaken without knowledge are forbidden, just as worship and actions that contravene one’s knowledge are forbidden. Had regulating such matters been part of the religion, they would not have been neglected, nor lost to a community whose religion is preserved and guarded from error.

Most of the stories connected with these places are propagated by their caretakers and the neighbors who live off them, devouring people’s wealth unjustly while turning them away from the path of Allah. They relate tales calculated to impress—how a man supplicated there and was answered, or vowed to give something to the site should Allah fulfill his need, whereupon his need was indeed met, and so on. It was by just such means that idols came to be worshipped: the people were sometimes addressed by the idols, and their needs would seemingly be met when they approached them; and in the same way