a righteous man, they would build a place of worship over his grave and make those images in it. Those will be the worst of creation in Allah’s sight on the Day of Resurrection.”

In the Musnad and the Sahīh of Abū Hātim, Ibn Masʿūd relates that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Among the worst of people are those who are still alive when the Hour overtakes them, and those who take graves as places of worship.”

This is a broad subject whose detailed treatment belongs elsewhere. It has already been discussed at length in refutations of people more distinguished than this man, explaining how they opposed the Book, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus on this subject and others. Since those people were more learned and more distinguished, the response to them was commensurate with their standing. Allah knows best.

A transcription of the four judges’ endorsements on the reverse of the fatwa of Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Ibn Taymiyyah concerning “Traveling Solely to Visit the Graves of the Prophets”:

The statement transcribed on the inner side in answer to the question—that visiting the prophets is an innovation, or words to that effect, and that one may not avail oneself of concessions when traveling to visit the prophets—is false and is rejected. A number of scholars and leading imams have reported that visiting the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is a meritorious act and a Sunnah upon which there is consensus. The aforementioned mufti should be restrained from issuing such fatwas, which are invalid in the judgment of