to Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—and Umar wrote back, instructing him to dig thirteen graves during the day and bury him at night in one of them, lest the people be led into temptation because of him (1).
Whenever Umar ibn al-Khattāb saw people taking turns visiting a place to pray there because it was associated with a prophet, he would forbid them and say:
“Those before you were ruined only because they turned the sites associated with their prophets into mosques. Whoever happens to be there when the prayer falls due should pray (2); otherwise, let him leave.”
This and similar measures were among the means by which they upheld the tawhīd (monotheism) with which Allah had sent the Messenger to them, following his sunnah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
Islam is founded upon two principles: that Allah alone be worshipped, and that He be worshipped only as He has prescribed, not through religious innovations.
The Christians departed from both principles, as did the religious innovators of this nation, including the Rāfidah and others.
Moreover, the Christians claim that the disciples who followed Christ are superior to Abraham, Moses, and the other prophets and messengers. They also claim that the disciples were messengers whom Allah addressed directly, because they say, “Allah is Christ,” while also saying, “Christ is the son of Allah.”
The Rāfidah regard the Twelve Imams as superior to the first forerunners among the—