As for invoking the Messenger, asking him to meet one’s needs, and seeking his intercession at his grave or after his death, none of the early generations did this. It is well known that, had deliberately supplicating at the grave been prescribed, the Companions and Successors would have done so. The same applies to making requests through him; how much more, then, to invoking him and asking him directly after his death?

This shows that the statement in the account with a disconnected chain of transmission—“Face him and seek his intercession”—is falsely attributed to Mālik. It contradicts his statements and those of the Companions and Successors, as well as their practices, which Mālik and his followers observed and which the other scholars transmitted. None of them faced the grave to supplicate for himself, let alone faced it and sought his intercession, saying to him, “O Messenger of Allah, intercede for me,” or “Supplicate for me”; complained to him of afflictions concerning religious or worldly matters; asked him, other deceased prophets and righteous people, or angels whom they could not see to intercede for them; or complained to them of their afflictions.

All of this belongs to the practices of Christians and other polytheists, and of those innovators within this community who imitate them. It is not among the practices of the earliest forerunners among the Emigrants and Helpers, or of those who followed them in righteousness, nor is it anything that any of the imams of the Muslims instructed people to do. They did, however, offer greetings to him, since he heard the greetings of those nearby and the greetings of those far away were conveyed to him.

Ahmad and others cited as evidence the hadith reported by Ahmad and Abū Dāwūd with a good chain of transmission, through Haywa ibn Shurayh al-Misrī, who said: Abū Sakhr narrated to us, from Yazīd ibn Qusayt, from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whenever anyone greets me, Allah restores my soul to me so that I may return his greeting.”

The imams relied on this hadith as the basis for greeting him at his grave—may Allah’s blessings