In addition, when people visit the graves of saints and Companions—such as the grave of al-ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with him—they are, in most cases, aiming for a visit tainted with shirk: they seek help and support from the dead and try to obtain blessing from their shrines. Such a visit constitutes shirk, and we seek refuge with Allah from it. The visit that is sanctioned by the Sacred Law, on the other hand, is one whose purpose is to pray for deceased Muslims, to take heed from their condition, and to remember the Hereafter. The Prophet ﷺ said, “I had forbidden you to visit graves; now go ahead and visit them, for they remind one of the Hereafter.” Whenever he ﷺ passed by graves he would supplicate for their occupants, saying:

“Peace be upon you, dwellers of these abodes—believing people. If Allah wills, we shall join you. May Allah have mercy on those of us who have gone ahead and those who will come later. O Allah, do not deprive us of their reward, do not subject us to temptation after them, and forgive us and them.”

This—supplication for the dead and reflection—is the purpose of visiting graves.

If, however, a person visits in order to seek blessing from the dead, to ask them for aid, or to have his needs met through them, such a visit is one of shirk. Anyone who does so—seeking blessing from the dead or their tombs, or asking the dead for assistance—has committed major shirk.

A further condition for the lawful visit to graves is that it not involve travel. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Mounts are not to be saddled except for three mosques: al-Masjid al-Ḥarām, this mosque of mine, and al-Masjid al-Aqṣā.”

Therefore, a person must not set out on a journey to any location on earth with the intention of seeking its blessing or performing acts of worship there.