Thus this makes clear the difference between asking the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him and his family—or a righteous person while he is alive and present, and asking him after his death or when he is absent. None of the early generations of the ummah—in the days of the Companions, the Successors, or the Successors of the Successors—sought out ritual prayer and supplication at the graves of the prophets, asking them or calling upon them for rescue, whether in their absence or at their tombs; nor did they remain there in prolonged devotion (ʿakūf).

Among the gravest forms of polytheism is for someone to cry for help from a dead or absent person, as the questioner mentioned, calling upon him in times of hardship and saying, “O my master So-and-so!”—as though he were asking him to remove harm or bring about benefit. This is exactly what the Christians do with the Messiah, his mother, and their priests and monks. Yet it is well known that the best of creation and the one most honored before Allah is our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family,