The ruling on circumambulating the grave according to the intention of the doer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is circumambulating the grave considered disbelief or a religious innovation (bid'ah) according to the intention of the doer?
Answer:
If he circumambulates the grave to draw near to the grave, it is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), because he has directed the circumambulation to other than Allah, and circumambulation is an act of worship. If he circumambulates for the sake of Allah, his intention is for Allah, but he believes there is good in doing it at the grave, then it is a means to shirk. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is circumambulating the grave considered disbelief or a religious innovation (bid'ah) according to the intention of the doer?
Answer:
If he circumambulates the grave to draw near to the grave, it is major shirk (associating partners with Allah), because he has directed the circumambulation to other than Allah, and circumambulation is an act of worship. If he circumambulates for the sake of Allah, his intention is for Allah, but he believes there is good in doing it at the grave, then it is a means to shirk. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، تتمة فصل ثم جرى الأمر على السداد والاستقامة والأمة واحدة والدين واحد والمعبود واحد — islamhouse.com (49:39)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.