and from relics or persons, whether they are alive or dead, is impermissible, for it is either outright polytheism if one believes that the object itself confers blessing, or a pathway to polytheism if one thinks that visiting it, touching it, or rubbing against it is a means by which Allah will grant blessing. As for what the Companions used to do—seeking blessing from the Prophet’s hair, his saliva, and whatever separated from his noble body, as mentioned earlier (1)—that was exclusive to him, peace and blessings be upon him, during his lifetime while he was physically among them. The evidence is that, after his death, the Companions did not seek blessing from his chamber or his grave, nor did they head for the spots where he had prayed or sat in order to obtain blessing from them. How much less, then, should anyone do so at the shrines of so-called saints. Likewise, they never sought blessing from righteous individuals such as Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, or any of the other distinguished Companions, whether during their lives or after their deaths. They did not go to the Cave of Ḥirāʾ to pray or supplicate there, nor to the Mount on which Allah spoke to Moses to pray and supplicate, nor to any other of those mountain locations about which it is claimed that they contain stations of the prophets or