or to a shaykh, or to one of the Prophet’s Household—that such a visit is superior to making the pilgrimage to the Sacred House. They even call the visit “the greater ḥajj.” Some go so far as to claim that travelling to visit the grave of the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—is better than performing the ḥajj itself. Indeed, there are those who, once they reach Madinah, turn back, imagining that they have already achieved their goal.

They think the purpose of visiting graves is to supplicate at them, to seek intercession through them, and to petition and invoke the buried dead. Yet it is common knowledge that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is more virtuous than the Kaʿbah; had they understood that the true aim is to worship Allah alone, without partner, to ask of Him and call upon Him—and that the object of visiting graves is to pray for the deceased, just as one does in the funeral prayer—their hearts would have been freed from these notions.

For this reason many of them appeal to the dead or to someone absent exactly as they appeal to their Lord, saying, “Forgive me, have mercy on me, accept my repentance,” and the like. Often the image of the shaykh to whom they are directing their pleas is made to appear before them; in reality it is a devil who addresses them, just as the demons address idol-worshippers.

More serious still is when they deliberately travel to make supplication at the grave, or vow offerings to it, or to its caretakers who spend their days in attendance—whether relatives of the deceased or not—believing that by means of such vows their needs will be met or their calamity lifted.

Yet we have already explained, on the authority of the Truthful, the One Believed (the Prophet), that a vow to perform a lawful act brings no inherent good and that Allah has not made it a means for securing one’s need, whereas He has made supplication such a means. How, then, could a vow involving disobedience—one that it is impermissible to fulfil—possibly serve that purpose?