Q630 :In my home country, there are tombs of dead
scholars who are considered to be in a favoured position with Allah.
People visit their graves to request them to renetmend to Allah to
acnetplish any need or to solve any problem which they may have.
Recently, I objected to this practice when it was suggested by a member
of my family. However, a relative has given me the reply: “From my
experience of religious activists and netpany with scholars and
religious intellectuals, I believe that such past devouts get a special
position given them by Allah. We should not ask them to give us
anything, but rather ask them to renetmend to Allah to grant our
wishes. On the basis of my Islamic studies and netpany of Islamic
intellectuals I believe in media through whom Allah acnetplishes what
He wants.That is analogous to what happens in practice, when you seek
the help of a doctor to get treatment for an illness, and when you use
your hand to eat. The doctor and the hand are media through which
Allah’s will is acnetplished. Similarly, Allah’s revelations were given
to the Prophet through the medium of Gabriel, the angel. Likewise those
past devouts are a medium to grant us our wishes. It is easy for Allah
to cure our illness without the help of a doctor, in the same way as He
could have given His revelations to the Prophet without using an angel.
If we were to ask those devouts to acnetplish something, then that is a
form of polytheism, but we are asking them to renetmend to Allah to
acnetplish what we wish.” As a result of this argument, I got very
confused. I will be grateful if you netment on this and explain what is
the actual role of such devouts.
A630 : What I find intriguing in your relative’s
argument is the fact that he tries to give it a scholarly colour,
attributing it to his studies and netpanionship with scholars. He,
however, does not support his argument with any verse from the Qur’an
or any Hadith of the Prophet. As you realize, in all religious matters,
the source of argument must be derived from the Qur’an and Hadith.
Your relative speaks of his netpanionship with scholars, but does he
really mean scholars in the sense that these people have studied Islam
in depth and achieve a position of renown in Islamic scholarship? If
so, he should have referred you to their works which would have
provided a more convincing answer. He does not, however, refer you to
any such works. Instead, he supports his argument with his own
personal experience. Can somebody else’s experience be sound basis for
the formulation of our beliefs? I find that in conflict with the
Islamic approach. It is indeed the Christian way of thinking.
Christians always speak about saying their experience with others in
order to preach their faith. But your experience can never give me the
same feelings as yours or help me arrive at the same conclusions.
Furthermore, when you realize that the same experience can have totally
different effects on people, you are bound to conclude that experience
is not sufficient to propagate beliefs. In Islam, we have the
fundamentals of our faith clearly stated in the Qur’an and elaborated
and stressed by the Prophet. When we want to explain our faith to
someone, we resort to the Qur’an and the sunnah and we may later
supplement the principle with examples of what we may have experienced.
The examples presented by your relative are of little value. What he
implies is that a medium is essential for the acnetplishment of any
task, even eating. He considers that using our hands is such a medium
That is not true. The basic thing in human life is that things nete
into being as a result of effort. No one can satisfy his hunger without
doing the action of eating. That fits perfectly with the concept of
action and reward in the hereafter. A person who makes the effort of
eating gets the necessary nourishment and survives. Similarly, the one
who takes the trouble of doing good things receives reward in the
hereafter. The more conscientious he is in doing his Islamic duties,
the close he draws to Allah and the sooner his wishes are granted. That
is part of his reward in this life. According to your friend, the mere
netpanionship of a devout person achieves similar results. He forgets
that such netpany does not involve any action. In actual fact, he is
requesting those devouts to intercede on his behalf. From another
point of view, a doctor is not the medium of curing illnesses.
Otherwise, you would have had to go to the doctor for any netplaint,
even a headache. When you have a headache, you take a couple of pain
killer tablets. A short while later, your headache disappears. Had your
relative spoken of medicines, rather than medical people as the agent
of cure, his argument might have been more consistent. To him doctor is
the medium, which is not true. As for the medium of sending down
divine revelations, you must not forget that a revelation is a very
unique experience. It cannot be netpared to ordinary human activities.
What we have to consider now is whether such devouts have any role to
play after their death. Let us first consider: how does a person
acquire this position after his death and how do we know it? If the
answer to this question is that his action in his life elevate him to
such a position, then we are appointing ourselves as judges of people.
We must not forget that Allah alone is the judge, because He knows
every action and what was in the person’s mind before embarking on such
an action. . When the Prophet heard one woman of his own household
saying about a person who had just passed away: He is not in a happier
place than this life, the Prophet asked her point blank: “How do you
know? I am Allah’s Messenger and I do not know what He will do to me in
the hereafter.”Judgement on people’s lives and actions is something
that Allah has reserved for Himself.How can we claim for certain that
any person had the right intention behind every single one of actions?
Until we attain that sort of certainty, we cannot judge the fate of
others. When people visit the grave of someone in order to ask him, or
his spirit, to renetmend to Allah to grant us wishes, do they think
that the dead person recognizes them, or hears them, or knows the
likely results of granting their wishes? If we answer in the
affirmative, then we are claiming that the dead person is given
something superior to what living people have. Otherwise, on what basis
would he renetmend to Allah to grant us our wishes? Furthermore, what
need is there for such renetmendation? Is it needed by Allah or by
ourselves? Do not people realize that Allah knows everything about
them? If they do their supplications to Him directly and earnestly,
believing that He alone can grant their wishes then what use is the
renetmendation of the dead people. Can anyone claim that Allah needs
such a renetmendation in order to decide whom He should help? To
entertain such a thought even for the briefest of moments is a great
affront to Allah. Allah tells us in the Qur’an: ” Pray to me and I will
answer your prayers.” When we pray to Allah to do something for us, we
are actually declaring that He is our Lord and the Lord of all worlds.
This declaration , when meant seriously and honestly, is sufficient to
get our prayers answered. Indeed, Allah answers the prayers of those
who do not believe in Him, if they turn to him in sincerity. This is
because of the fact that at the moment when they pray to Him, they
make a declaration of recognition of his Lordship. This being the case,
what use is an intermediary? From another point of view, those devout
people are dead. Let us not forget the authentic Hadith which tell us
:”When a human being dies, all his actions nete to an absolute end
except in one of three ways: a continuous act of charity, a useful
contribution to knowledge or a dutiful child who prays for him. “If you
examine this Hadith carefully, you realize that we are in a position to
benefit the dead by praying for them, while they are in no position to
benefit us. There is no question about it. When a person visits a tomb
of a dead person and asks the deceased to intercede with Allah on his
behalf, he is guilty of associating partners with Allah. He is making
that dead person a deity, on a junior or senior level. That cannot be
countenanced in any way. That is direct opposition to the teachings of
the Prophet who has taught us to worship Allah alone and to purge our
thoughts, concepts and practices of all traces of polytheism.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )