to draw down the blessing of the place through his prayer, just as he seeks blessing by praying in the three mosques and the like. Likewise, he forbade prayer at sunrise, when the sun is at its zenith, and at sunset, because those are the very times at which the idolaters look for the sun’s blessing through their prayers. A Muslim is therefore prohibited from praying at those hours—even when he has no such intention—in order to block every avenue that leads to that evil.

But if a person actually sets out to pray beside the grave of a prophet or a righteous servant, seeking thereby the blessing of that spot, he is openly opposing Allah and His Messenger, contravening the religion, and inventing a form of worship for which Allah has given no sanction. The Muslims are unanimously agreed—by that which is known necessarily from the religion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him—that prayer at a grave, any grave whatsoever, carries no special merit, nor does the locality confer any goodness at all; rather, it confers added harm.

Know that even if angels and mercy descend upon such a place, and even if it enjoys honor and virtue, the religion of Allah stands between excess and neglect. The Christians exalted the prophets until they worshipped them and their images, whereas the Jews treated them with such contempt that they killed them. The middle nation recognized their true rank: they did not exaggerate about them as the Christians did, nor were they negligent toward them as the Jews were.

For that reason the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in an authentic narration:

“Do not overpraise me as the Christians overpraised Jesus son of Mary. I am only a servant, so say: the servant of Allah and His Messenger.”

Accordingly, even if praying in that spot were assumed to draw down more mercy than praying elsewhere, the corruption that arises from praying there would still outweigh that benefit.