Q50 :In the India-Pak region people visit tombs of
holy men (Aulias) whom they believe to have personal or spiritual
powers called ‘karamats’. People who visit these tombs believe that
those who are buried in them can give relief or remedy of physical or
spiritual illness, or can acnetplish other things as well. Is this
correct from the Islamic point of view? I found no such practices in
the Arabian world, apart from the fact that people visit the Prophet’s
tomb in Madinah.
A50 : Islam does not recognize any powers,
miraculous or otherwise, to any dead person, no matter how good or
‘holy’ he was in his life. For one thing, we cannot judge any person
fully. It is only Allah who judges people according to what He knows of
their intentions and their actions. No human being can pretend to know
the intentions of another. As you realize, it is easy to have wicked
intentions behind some action with appears to be good. Apart from
this, the Prophet has stated unequivocally that when we die we lose our
power to do anything. He says: When a human being dies, all his actions
nete to an end, except in one of three ways: a continuous act of
charity, or a contribution to knowledge which benefits mankind, or a
good child who prays for him. Reading his statements of the Prophet,
one is bound to realize that no dead man can relieve or cure an ill
person, or be indeed of any benefit to him, apart from the first two
ways which the Prophet spelled out. We derive our teachings from the
Prophet, not from any other source. This is what Islam requires of us.
No one can add to what the Prophet has conveyed to us as Allah’s
message to mankind. Any addition is thus rejected. I am afraid visits
to tombs of ‘holy’ men wit the aim of asking them to exercise their
assumed powers is not part of Islam. They cannot be of any benefit
whatsoever. All this is innovation which cannot be condoned. When we
go to Madinah, we visit the Prophet’s Mosque. This is because praying
in the Prophet’s Mosque earns us for every prayer we offer there the
reward of 1,000 prayer offered elsewhere, apart from the Grand Mosque
in Makkah. We also greet he Prophet in his grave, acknowledging that
he has conveyed to us Allah’s message and given us sound advice. We
also pray Allah that the Prophet may intercede on our behalf on the Day
of Judgment. We do not ask or pray the Prophet to cure our illnesses,
because he cannot. Only Allah can cure such illnesses or answer our
prayers, whatever they are. I strongly renetmend you to forget all
about ‘holy’ men and their special powers, for they have none.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )