80 — The Danger of Attachment to Graves

We have already discussed the virtue of supplication, its place in the religion, and the fact that it is a right belonging exclusively to Allah that may not be directed to anyone else. Allah Most High says: “The places of worship belong to Allah, so do not invoke anyone alongside Allah.” 1 That is, do not associate anyone with Allah; rather, worship Him alone and devote your religion sincerely to Him.

A Muslim is required to ask Allah in every circumstance and to call upon Him for all his needs. He must ask Him alone, hope in Him and no one else, and entrust all his needs to Him. Yet astonishingly, in this grave matter, some people have turned instead to domed shrines, graves, mausoleums, and the like. They seek aid and deliverance from those buried there and ask them for victory, provision, well-being, the repayment of debts, relief from distress, aid in desperate straits, and all manner of other requests.

Thus, these people substituted something other than what they had been told: instead of supplicating for the deceased, they began supplicating to them besides Allah; and instead of asking Allah to have mercy upon them, they began asking them for mercy and forgiveness. It is inconceivable that invoking the dead, supplicating through them, or supplicating at their graves could be a prescribed practice or a righteous deed accepted by Allah.

Such was the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—concerning the occupants of graves throughout the twenty-odd years until Allah took him in death. It was also the Sunnah of his Rightly Guided Caliphs and the way of all the Companions and those who followed them with excellence. Can anyone on the face of the earth produce from any one of them a report—whether sound, weak, or disconnected—stating that whenever they had a need