Allah Most High has said:
“Put your trust in the Ever-Living, who never dies, and glorify Him with praise. He suffices as One fully aware of His servants’ sins.”
It is known as a matter of necessity in Islam that this practice is not prescribed. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited even practices short of this—taking graves as places of worship and the like—and cursed those who engaged in them, warning against imitating them, for this is the origin of idol worship.
As Allah Most High has said:
“They said, ‘Do not abandon your gods; do not abandon Wadd, Suwā‘, Yaghūth, Ya‘ūq, or Nasr.’”
These were righteous men among the people of Noah. When they died, the people remained devotedly at their graves, then made images of them, and then made idols in their likeness, as previously related from Ibn ‘Abbās and other scholars of the early generations.
Whoever understands the meaning of His words:
“You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help,”
will recognize that Allah alone provides help in worship in an absolute sense, while a created being may be asked for help with what lies within its power. Likewise, deliverance is to be sought only from Allah, and trust is to be placed only in Him:
“Victory comes only from Allah.”
Victory in the absolute sense—that is, bringing into being that by which the enemy is overcome—is within Allah’s power alone. This much is sufficient for anyone whom Allah has guided. And Allah knows best.
The forms of associating partners with Allah that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited are likewise prohibited in the revealed laws of the other prophets. The Torah states that Moses, peace be upon him, forbade the Children of Israel to invoke the dead or engage in other forms of associating partners with Allah, and explained that this is among the causes of Allah’s punishment of those who practise it. This is because the religion of the prophets, peace be upon them, is one, though their revealed laws differ. As authentically reported from Abū Hurayra, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“We prophets share one religion.”