than the hadiths recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. We have seen more lies and fabrications against the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, his Companions, and his relatives in their books than we have seen falsehoods in the books of the People of the Book—the Torah and the Gospel. Moreover, they leave neglected the mosques that Allah has commanded to be raised and in which His name is to be mentioned, holding neither Friday prayers nor congregational prayers there. They build mosques over graves, both spurious and genuine, treating them as shrines. Yet the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, cursed those who built mosques over graves and forbade his community to do so.

Five days before his death, he said:

“Those who came before you used to take graves as places of worship. Beware! Do not take graves as places of worship, for I forbid you to do so.”

They regard pilgrimage to these shrines, both spurious and genuine, as one of the greatest acts of worship. Indeed, some of their shaykhs prefer it to the pilgrimage to the House commanded by Allah and His Messenger. A full account of their condition would be lengthy. This makes clear that they are worse than the generality of those who follow deviant doctrines, and more deserving of being fought than the Kharijites.

This explains the widespread popular identification of the people of religious innovation with the Rāfida. Ordinary people commonly understand the opposite of a Sunni to be a Rāfidi alone, because their defiance of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the ordinances of his religion is more conspicuous than that of all other followers of deviant doctrines.