Furthermore, it is firmly recorded in al-Shāfiʿī’s own writings that he considered the veneration of human graves reprehensible, fearing the temptation such practices may cause. Only someone lacking in knowledge and piety would concoct stories to the contrary.

At times these tales are passed on from an unknown narrator. Even if such freely circulating reports were attributed to the one “who does not speak from desire,” it would still be impermissible for us to act upon them until their authenticity is established—so how could we rely on what is attributed to anyone else?

Some accounts may indeed reflect a statement or action that their originator undertook by way of personal reasoning, which can be correct or mistaken; or he may have voiced it under numerous conditions and restrictions that remove any cause for censure, only for the transmission to distort his intent. The situation resembles what occurred when the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—permitted visiting graves after previously prohibiting it: those bent on falsehood assumed this license covered the kind of visitation they practice—turning graves into destinations for acts of devotion, praying at them, and seeking deliverance from those buried therein.

All such proofs, therefore, vacillate between a narration unfit to establish law and an analogy unfit to deem an act of worship recommended—especially when it is known that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, never legislated it. His deliberate omission, despite the presence of a motive to act, serves as a legislative indication in its own right. To found acts of worship on such stories and analogies, with no prophetic basis, is the habit of the Christians and their ilk.

What must be followed in establishing Allah’s rulings is the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the path