they went to graves, supplicated there, and rubbed them for blessing—let alone prayed there, asked Allah through those buried in them, or asked them to fulfill their needs? Had this been a Sunnah or a virtuous act, it would have been reported from the noble Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the Companions and Successors would have practiced it. They had among them the grave of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the graves of the leading Companions, yet not one of them sought aid at a Companion’s grave, invoked him, supplicated through him or at his grave, sought healing through him, or sought rain through him. Far be it from them to have done any such thing. Rather, it is established that they denounced practices far less serious than these.

More than one narrator reported from al-Marūr ibn Suwayd, who said: “I performed the dawn prayer behind Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with him—on the road to Mecca. He recited, ‘Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the Army of the Elephant?’ and ‘For the accustomed security of Quraysh.’ He then saw people heading off in different directions and asked, ‘Where are these people going?’ He was told, ‘To a mosque where the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—prayed; they are going there to pray.’ He said, ‘Those before you were destroyed by precisely such practices: they would seek out the sites associated with their prophets and turn them into churches and synagogues. Whoever among you finds that prayer is due while he is at one of these mosques should pray; otherwise, he should continue on his way and not deliberately seek it out.’”1

Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—also sent someone to cut down the tree beneath which the Prophet’s Companions had pledged allegiance, lest it become a source of temptation for people.2

Muhammad ibn Ishāq related in his Maghāzī, from Khālid ibn Dīnār, who said that they had been told by