whose opinion carries weight in matters of consensus and disagreement. His dissent therefore does not invalidate a consensus, nor does consensus depend on his agreement. Even if a scholar qualified to exercise independent reasoning had disputed this, he would have been refuted by the mass-transmitted Sunnah and the agreement of the imams before him. How much more so when the objector is not qualified to exercise independent reasoning and has no evidence from the revealed law, but merely follows someone who speaks about religion without knowledge and disputes concerning Allah without knowledge, guidance, or an enlightening Book.

Indeed, not only did the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not prescribe this—so it is neither obligatory nor recommended—but he also forbade it and whatever leads to it, just as he forbade taking the graves of prophets and righteous people as places of prayer.

In Sahīh Muslim, Jundub ibn ‘Abd Allah reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said five days before his death:

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

In the two Sahīh collections, ‘Ā’ishah reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said before his death:

“May Allah curse the Jews and Christians: they took the graves of their prophets as places of prayer.”

He was warning against what they had done. ‘Ā’ishah said: “Were it not for that, his grave would have been left exposed, but making it a place of prayer was considered objectionable.”

Taking a location as a place of prayer means setting it aside for the five daily prayers and other prayers, just as mosques are built for that purpose. A place set aside for prayer is intended for worshipping Allah and supplicating to Him, not for supplicating to created beings. Thus he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade taking their graves as places of prayer with the intention of praying there, just as one goes to mosques for prayer—even if the person going there intends only to worship Allah alone—because this is