Iqtiḍāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm - Ibn Taimiya - (2/203)

Iqtiḍāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-MustaqīmIbn Taimiya

for which He has sent down no authority? Has any revelation come down from the heavens to endorse this?! Which of the two parties, then, has a better right to security—those who fear none but Allah and introduce no partners into His religion, or those who invent acts of shirk in His religion without His leave? Rather, those who believe and do not mix their faith with shirk—it is they who are the rightly guided. (1)

This is the straight-forward proof by which Allah elevates the people of knowledge and others like them.

If it is said: “But it has been reported from some that they declared, ‘The grave of Maʿrūf (2) is a tested remedy (3),’ and it is related that Maʿrūf instructed his nephew to supplicate at his grave.

Abū ʿAlī al-Khiraqī (4) recorded, in the accounts of those whom Aḥmad boycotted, that one such boycotted person used to come to Aḥmad’s grave and deliberately choose it as the place of supplication; I believe he mentioned this to al-Marwadhī. (5) Reports have likewise come from many people that they prayed at the graves of various prophets and righteous servants—members of the Prophet’s Household and others—and their supplications were answered; a great number of people still act upon this.

The scholars (6) who have authored works on the rites of Ḥajj have further stated that when one visits the grave of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—

(1) The printed edition reads: “So those are the ones who will be safe and rightly guided.” (2) Maʿruf ibn Firooz al-Karkhi was a celebrated worshipper and ascetic, noted for the acceptance of his supplications. In Sufi circles he had states and utterances at odds with the practice of the Companions and their Followers. He died in 200 AH. See: Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-Aʿyan 5:231–233 (no. 729); Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmuʿ al-Fatawa 10:468. (3) See Wafayat al-Aʿyan 5:232 and Ibn Abi Yaʿla, Tabaqat al-Hanabila 1:382, where this remark is attributed to Ibrahim al-Harbi. The expression al-tiryāq al-mujarab (“the tried antidote”) is a claim that supplications made at his grave are invariably answered and that visitors obtain blessing from it. Such assertions are among the fabrications of the Sufis; even if they were true, they would constitute a test and a temptation for innovators. (4) Al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Khiraqi, Abu Ali, studied with several of Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s pupils, including Harb and al-Marwazi. He died in 299 AH. See: Ibn Abi Yaʿla, Tabaqat al-Hanabila 2:45–46. (5) The printed edition states: “al-Marwazi mentioned that.” (6) The printed edition also adds: “and it was reported by later scholars.”

ينزل به وحيا من السماء؟! فأي الفريقين أحق بالأمن؟ من كان لا يخاف إلا الله، ولم يبتدع في دينه شركاء، أم من ابتدع في دينه شركا بغير إذنه؟ بل من آمن ولم يخلط إيمانه بشرك فهؤلاء من (١) المهتدين. وهذه الحجة المستقيمة التي يرفع الله بها وبأمثالها أهل العلم. فإن قيل: فقد نقل عن بعضهم أنه قال: " قبر معروف (٢) الترياق المجرب (٣) وروي عن معروف أنه أوصى ابن أخيه أن يدعو عند قبره. وذكر أبو علي الخرقي (٤) في قصص مَنْ هجره أحمد، أن بعض هؤلاء المهجورين كان يجيء عند قبر أحمد، ويتوخى الدعاء عنده، وأظنه ذكر ذلك للمروذي (٥) ونقل عن جماعات أنهم دعوا عند قبور جماعات من الأنبياء والصالحين، من أهل البيت وغيرهم، فاستجيب لهم الدعاء، وعلى هذا عمل كثير من الناس. وقد ذكر العلماء (٦) المصنفون في مناسك الحج إذا زار قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم

(١) في المطبوعة قال: فهؤلاء هم الذين لهم الأمن وهم مهتدون. (٢) هو: معروف بن فيروز الكرخي، من العباد والزهاد والمشاهير، مشهور بإجابة الدعوة، وله في التصوف أحوال ومقالات تخالف ما عليه الصحابة والتابعون، توفي سنة (٢٠٠هـ) . انظر: وفيات الأعيان (٥ / ٢٣١ - ٢٣٣) ، (ت ٧٢٩) ، ومجموع الفتاوى للمؤلف (١٠ / ٤٦٨) . (٣) انظر: وفيات الأعيان (٥ / ٢٣٢) ؛ وفي طبقات الحنابلة (١ / ٣٨٢) ، نسب هذه العبارة لإبراهيم الحربي، ومعنى الترياق المجرب: أنه مجرب في قبول الدعاء عند قبره، وانتفاع من يتبرك به، وهذا من ترهات الصوفية، وإن صح فهو ابتلاء وفتنة للمبتدعين. (٤) هو: الحسين بن عبد الله بن أحمد الخرقي، أبو علي، صحب بعض أصحاب أحمد كحرب والمروذي. توفي سنة (٢٩٩هـ) . انظر: طبقات الحنابلة (٢ / ٤٥، ٤٦) . (٥) في المطبوعة: ذكر ذلك المروزي. (٦) في المطبوعة: وقد ذكر المتأخرون.