such as those who claimed prophethood for ʿAlī, and al-Mukhtār ibn Abī ʿUbayd, who claimed prophethood for himself. Next after them come the ignorant, such as the extremists among misguided worshippers and the followers of shaykhs. After the Rāfidīs, they are the people who most revere graves, the most extreme in religious excess, and the most given to falsehood. Both groups resemble the Christians in some respects. The falsehood, association of partners with Allah, and religious excess of the Christians are well known to learned and ordinary people alike. These groups engage in such things to an extent that Allah alone can reckon.

The third consideration:

If a Muslim’s need is fulfilled after he has offered a supplication at a grave, how does he know that the grave had any influence on the fulfillment of that need? The same applies to the vows they make at graves or elsewhere when their needs are fulfilled.

It is established in the two Sahihs that the Prophet—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—forbade making vows and said:

“It brings no good; it merely extracts something from the miser.”

Another wording states:

“A vow brings the son of Adam nothing that was not already decreed for him. Rather, the vow brings him to the decree I have ordained.”

This authentic hadith establishes that a vow does not bring about the outcome upon which it is made conditional, whether securing a benefit or averting harm—even though the vow is a recompense for the fulfillment of that need and is conditional upon it, and despite the many people whose needs are fulfilled after they have made vows conditional upon their fulfillment. Graves are therefore even less likely to be a cause of such fulfillment.

Furthermore, that need must have been fulfilled either without his supplication or through his supplication. If the former is the case, there is nothing further to discuss; but if