What is the ruling on seeking blessing from the soil of the shrines of the righteous?

Question:
The questioner says: In our custom, when a young child falls ill, the father goes to the shrine of one of the righteous, takes some soil from there, dissolves it in water, and then gives it to the child to drink so that he may be cured. Is this method valid?

Answer:
This is shirk (associating partners with Allah). Seeking blessing from the soil of the grave and believing that it cures the sick is a belief in the deceased and that his soil cures. This is shirk with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This action is not permissible; it must be abandoned, and one must be prohibited from it. One should treat illness with permissible medicines and with the Shari'ah-prescribed ruqyah (healing by Qur'anic recitation): reciting the Qur'an over the patient, reciting the Shari'ah-prescribed supplications, and blowing on the patient, or reciting into water and having the patient drink it. This is what is prescribed. As for taking soil from the grave, this is shirk with Allah, seeking a cure from other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If one believes that the deceased cures, this is major shirk that takes one out of the religion. If one believes that the soil is a cause for the cure, and that the Healer is Allah, but that this is a cause, then this is a false cause and a means of shirk.