The Ruling on Seeking Intercession from the Dead
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: There are those who say that a person seeking intercession from the dead, without offering any worship along with it, such as slaughtering an animal or the like, is not committing major shirk (associating partners with Allah), but rather it is a bid'ah (religious innovation), or rather a bid'ah and minor shirk. They claim that there is no disagreement on this issue among the Salaf, and that the disagreement is a later occurrence. They also say that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah does not say that it is major shirk. Is this correct?
Answer:
No, it is not correct. Seeking from the dead is shirk, major shirk, whether it is seeking intercession or anything else. Nothing is sought from the dead; nothing is sought from the dead, neither intercession nor anything else. Intercession is only sought from the living, from the living, in the sense that you ask him to make du'a' (supplication) for you, and du'a' is intercession. "Make du'a' for me, so-and-so, for such and such." But nothing is sought from the dead. If something is sought from the dead, that is shirk. The one who says that it is not shirk must repent to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, because he is trying to mislead people. They go to the graves and say, "So-and-so told us that this is not shirk." There is no power and no strength except with Allah. He bears his own sin and the sins of those he has misled. One does not go to the graves except for one of two purposes. The first purpose is to take a lesson and be admonished by death.
The second purpose is making du'a' for the dead and seeking forgiveness for them. As for seeking anything from them, that is not permissible, and it is shirk, whether the one who says this likes it or not.
Do not mislead people with this fatwa (scholarly legal ruling) and these doubts. Adhere to the words of the Salaf. Do not invent things and independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) on your own, thereby making the scholars and imams wrong. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: There are those who say that a person seeking intercession from the dead, without offering any worship along with it, such as slaughtering an animal or the like, is not committing major shirk (associating partners with Allah), but rather it is a bid'ah (religious innovation), or rather a bid'ah and minor shirk. They claim that there is no disagreement on this issue among the Salaf, and that the disagreement is a later occurrence. They also say that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah does not say that it is major shirk. Is this correct?
Answer:
No, it is not correct. Seeking from the dead is shirk, major shirk, whether it is seeking intercession or anything else. Nothing is sought from the dead; nothing is sought from the dead, neither intercession nor anything else. Intercession is only sought from the living, from the living, in the sense that you ask him to make du'a' (supplication) for you, and du'a' is intercession. "Make du'a' for me, so-and-so, for such and such." But nothing is sought from the dead. If something is sought from the dead, that is shirk. The one who says that it is not shirk must repent to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, because he is trying to mislead people. They go to the graves and say, "So-and-so told us that this is not shirk." There is no power and no strength except with Allah. He bears his own sin and the sins of those he has misled. One does not go to the graves except for one of two purposes. The first purpose is to take a lesson and be admonished by death.
The second purpose is making du'a' for the dead and seeking forgiveness for them. As for seeking anything from them, that is not permissible, and it is shirk, whether the one who says this likes it or not.
Do not mislead people with this fatwa (scholarly legal ruling) and these doubts. Adhere to the words of the Salaf. Do not invent things and independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) on your own, thereby making the scholars and imams wrong. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 30 من 64\شرح عمدة الأحكام (شرح كامل مع أسئلة)\الصيام\الصوم في السفر وغيره\صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (1:04:16)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.