Q657 :You have written in the past on the worship of
graves and saints. On occasions you have touched on the practice known
as Urs in some parts of India (and Pakistan). I am sending you a
leaflet inviting people to nete to such Urs. I will be grateful for
your netments.
A657 : Thank you very much for enclosing the leaflet
which is published in four languages and which tells of an occasion
named “Urs Mubarak” and defined as “death anniversary”. It is one
week-long netmemoration of someone whose exact name is difficult to
identify, because it is mixed with so many titles. He is described as
Sultan-Ul-Hind Hazrat Khawajah Moinuddin Hassan Sanjari Chishti Summa
Ajmeri Ghareeb Nawaz. The leaflet calls on the recipients to nete over
with members of their families. The reason for which a gathering and
big occasion which, incidentally, takes all the duties and Sunnahs of
pilgrimage is to achieve the fulfillment of people’s “heartfelt desires
and cherished wishes.” How is this done? Simply because the said
Khawajah “after his sad demise” continued to hold a highly revered
position and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage for the people of
the world at large”. The writer of the leaflet who calls himself Afsar
Ahmad Niazi wants those who cannot attend the death anniversary to let
him know their “inner hearty desires so that he may be able to beseech
on their behalf and entreat Khawajah Sahib to pray for fulfillment of
their innermost desires.” At the end of the leaflet he solicits
donations. I feel very sad that such practices still continue in parts
of the Muslim world. Basically, such a practice is an outright
indictment of the state into which Muslims of the world have sunk.
People are encouraged to travel from their homes to take part in this
week-long deception. Even if that man, Khawajah Moinuddin, was a
highly religious person, or a great scholar or a great servant of
Islam, why should his death be celebrated? People normally celebrate
the birth of a child, but they are sad when someone dies. In this
instance, we are told that it is the death anniversary of the man which
is celebrated over a week. If that man had any great contribution to
the cause of Islam, I am not aware of it. He was no scholar of
standing. Otherwise, his writings would have earned him recognition in
other parts of the Muslim world. We are told that after his death, he
continued to hold a highly respected position. With whom? The only
position that counts after one’s death is the man’s position with
Allah. How could anyone tell of the position someone is given by Allah
after his death? The Prophet himself says: “I myself, Allah’s
messenger, do not know what will happen to me in the hereafter.” Allah
instructs His messenger in the Qur’an to say to people: “I do not know
what will benete of me or you.” (46;9) Now if Allah’s messenger has
not been given this sort of information about himself, how do these
people claim to know about their man? Moreover, the leaflet speaks of
the man’s tomb, beneting “a place of pilgrimage”. We know only one
place of pilgrimage, namely, the Kaaba, the first house ever erected
for the worship of Allah. Moreover, the Prophet says that there are
only three mosques in the Muslim world to which people may travel.
These are : The Haram in Makkah, i.e. Kaaba, the Prophet’s Mosque in
Madinah and Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. When we visit Madinah, we make
our intention clear that we are going there to visit the mosque. We
certainly greet the Prophet, but we do not undertake the journey to
visit his tomb or grave. If people travel in order to visit the tomb
of this man, which is said to be a place of pilgrimage, then that is
the beginning of the worship of graves. This is one of the worst types
of shirk, or associating partners with Allah. Now we nete to the
crunch. What is the purpose of such a visit? Is it to have innermost
desire fulfilled? In other words, there is a temptation to people from
all over the world to nete over, spend their money, indulge in
unacceptable practices, merely to have their wishes fulfilled. How? The
key to the answer to this question is best expressed in the suggestion
made by the writer of the leaflet to those who cannot attend. He wants
them to netmunicate their desires to him and he would beseech the dead
man to pray Allah on their behalf. So, we have a living man entreating
a dead man to speak to Allah on behalf of people. How absurd! This is
a preposterous suggestion which flies in the face of the teachings of
the Prophet and Qur’anic revelations. The Prophet tells us in a most
authentic Hadith that when a human being dies, he cannot avail himself
of anything, let alone be of any avail to others. He says: “When a
human being dies, all his actions nete to a netplete termination,
except in one of three ways: A continuing act of charity, a useful
contribution to knowledge or a dutiful child who makes supplication to
Allah on his behalf.” In other words, the living can be of avail to the
dead, but not the reverse. This man who wrote the pamphlet wants to
appeal to a dead person to intervene with Allah. Let me tell everybody
who has ever contemplated going on such a journey that if there is a
sure way of not having one’s wish fulfilled, this is the one. The
reason is that by asking the dead man to entreat Allah on his behalf,
he is associating that dead man with Allah as a partner. In a Qudsi
Hadith, Allah says: “I am the least in need of a partner. If anyone
associates a partner with Me, I abandon him to that partner.” If we try
to apply this sacred or Qudsi Hadith to this situation, we conclude
that Allah would abandon those who attend this Urs and those who
organize it to a dead man to answer their prayers. What can a dead man
do? He cannot defend himself against worms and other insects which eat
up his flesh. If anyone has a dear wish which he or she wishes to have
fulfilled, there is only one way of seeking Allah’s help, namely, to
pray Him directly. Allah says in the Qur’an: “Your Lord says: Pray Me
and I will answer you.” (40;60). He also says in the Qur’an: “When My
servants ask you about Me, I am near, I respond to the supplication of
anyone who prays Me. Let them, then, respond to Me and believe in Me so
that they may be rightly guided.” (2;186) Note here how Allah has
phrased this verse. He is first addressing the Prophet who may be asked
by people about Allah. He does not say to the Prophet: Tell My servants
that I am near. He answers them directly “When My servants ask you
about Me, I am near.” With this direct answer all that we need is to
address our supplication to Allah directly. What is important is to
strive to be a good Muslim. Let us repent of our sins, fulfill our
duties and make our supplication to Allah. This is the surest way of
having it answered. We will never need Niazi or his dead man, or indeed
any person, dead or alive, to intervene for us [ Save Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him, on the day of Judgment]. Allah is our Lord and we
pray Him directly. Urs: Graves and saints
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )