Taḥdhīr al-Sājid - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (67)

who took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.”

The Qur’an conveys the same meaning as this ḥadith, for Allah—mighty and exalted—says in the story of the Companions of the Cave: “Those who prevailed over their affair said, ‘We shall surely build a mosque over them’” (18:21). Thus, turning graves into sites for mosques is portrayed as the work of those who hold sway over affairs, which suggests that its basis is coercion, domination, and the following of desire, and that it is not the practice of people of knowledge and virtue who champion the guidance Allah sent down to His messengers.

Shaykh ʿAlī ibn ʿUrwah said in Mukhtaṣar al-Kawākib (10 / 207 / 2), following al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr in his Tafsīr (3 / 78):

“Ibn Jarīr reported two views concerning the ones who uttered that statement: (1)

The first: that they were the Muslims among them.

The second: that they were the polytheists among them.

(1) I note that Ibn al-Jawzi likewise cites both views in his Qurʾanic commentary Zad al-Masir, 5:123, without indicating a preference—consistent with his usual approach.

اتخذوا قبور أنبيائهم مساجد» . «وقد دل القرآن على مثل ما دل عليه هذا الحديث، وهو قول الله عز وجل في قصة أصحاب الكهف: ﴿قَالَ الَّذِينَ غَلَبُوا عَلَىٰ أَمْرِهِمْ لَنَتَّخِذَنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ مَسْجِدًا﴾ فجعل اتخاذ القبور على المساجد من فعل أهل الغلبة على الأمور، وذلك يشعر بأن مستنده القهر والغلبة واتباع الهوى وأنه ليس من فعل أهل العلم والفضل المنتصر لما أنزل الله على رسله من الهدى». وقال الشيخ علي بن عروة في «مختصر الكواكب» (١٠ / ٢٠٧ / ٢) تبعاً للحافظ ابن كثير في «تفسيره» (٣ / ٧٨) : «حكى ابن جرير في القائلين ذلك قولين(١) : أحدهما: أنهم المسلمون منهم. والثاني: أهل الشرك منهم.

(١) قلت: وحكاهما أيضاً ابن الجوزي في تفسيره «زاد المسير» (٥ / ١٢٣) دون أن يرجح أحدهما على عادته.