, and it is likewise an innovation, like the practice of the Christians (1) and those of this community who imitate them—innovators who (2) treat the pilgrimage and the prayer as if they were of the same kind as the acts of shirk and innovation they perpetrate. For this reason the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when one of his wives told him about a church in Abyssinia and spoke of its beauty and the images it contained, said: “When a righteous man (3) among those people dies, they build a place of worship over his grave and set up those images within it. Such people will be the worst of creatures before Allah on the Day of Resurrection.” (4)

Because of this, the scholars have prohibited every practice that involves worshipping other than Allah or petitioning the prophets and the righteous after their death (5)—such as writing a note and hanging it at the grave of a prophet or a righteous person, prostrating at his grave (6), calling upon him, or seeking his favor. They (7) have also ruled that it is impermissible to build mosques over graves, for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, five nights before he passed away, said: “Those who came before you used to turn graves into places of worship. Beware—do not turn graves into places of worship; indeed, I forbid you to do so.”