The Ruling on Taking an Interest in and Searching for the Ruins of Ancient Nations

The questioner:
I ask Allah for you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner asks: Is it permissible to take an interest in the ruins of ancient nations?

The Shaykh:
Is it permissible?

The questioner:
Is it permissible to take an interest in the ruins of ancient nations and to excavate them from under the ground?

The Shaykh:
The Salaf did not do this, and it is not what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded. Taking an interest in ruins is the practice of non-Muslims. What is required of us is to take an interest in the ruins of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), which are the hadiths, the hadiths, and the Sunnah; this is what is required of us. As for caring for clay, walls, cisterns, and the like, this is a waste that does not benefit us; rather, it diverts efforts and money to something of no benefit to the Ummah. This is one aspect. The second aspect is that some ruins may be a means to shirk (associating partners with Allah). If the ruins are attributed to the prophets or to the righteous, Satan beautifies for the ignorant people the seeking of blessing from them, visiting them, praying in them, and making supplication at them. At that point, shirk occurs. At that point, shirk occurs, because this is among the means, among the closest means, to shirk. It is obligatory for Muslims to take an interest in what is in their benefit and what benefits them, and to leave these trifles that Yes.