to drape the tarkība or the tabūt with a new cloth from time to time, and most of them do so out of ostentation (1), just as the Jews used to do.»

The Western unbelievers became aware of this deviation into which many Muslims—especially among the Shiʿah—had fallen, and they exploited it in pursuit of their colonial ambitions. His Eminence Shaykh Ahmad Hasan al-Baqurī, in a legal opinion forbidding the embellishment of graves and the erection of domes and mosques over them, said:

“On this occasion I recall that one of the eminent Oriental figures told me about certain colonial tactics in Asia. It had become necessary to divert the caravans that travelled from India to Baghdad across that vast region onto a new route that served the colonizer’s purpose, yet none of the usual propaganda methods succeeded in making the caravans choose it.

“Finally, they hit upon the idea of establishing a number of shrines and domes along…"