What is your opinion on running with the deceased's wooden plank and circling with it around the shrines?
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Question:
What is your opinion on running with the deceased's wooden plank, as he called it, and circling with it at the shrines, even though this custom is widespread in some regions?
Answer:
This is a pre-Islamic custom. Circling the funeral procession at the shrines is based on the belief that these dead people benefit him and that they intercede for him. Associating them with Allah the Exalted by seeking intercession for the living or the dead is shirk (associating partners with Allah), because nothing is sought from the dead, as they are unable to do anything. They have no power over anything, unlike the living person who is present. Yes, it is permissible to ask him for what he is able to do, but what he is not able to do, and what only Allah is able to do, is not sought from the living or the dead. However, the dead are more incapable due to their severance from this world. Circumambulating the funeral procession at the graves of the dead, and believing that they benefit him, is shirk (associating partners with Allah); because it is seeking benefit from the dead, and they are not able to do that. And believing that the dead benefit or harm without Allah the Exalted is major shirk, which takes one out of the religion. It is obligatory to repent to Allah the Exalted from that, and to do for the Muslim's funeral what Allah and His Messenger prescribed, such as washing, shrouding, praying over him, and making du'a' (supplication) for him, then taking him to his grave and burying him according to the Sunnah. As for anything other than that, it is either bid'ah (religious innovation) or shirk (associating partners with Allah). So it is obligatory to repent to Allah, abandon this practice, and warn against it. These shrines and graves must be known to be of no benefit and no harm, and that attaching oneself to them is shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah the Exalted. We ask Allah for safety.
And if the calamity of being led astray by graves has spread in many lands of the Muslim world due to ignorance, and the failure of scholars to fulfill what Allah obligated upon them of calling to Allah and warning against shirk (associating partners with Allah). Yes.
What is your opinion on running with the deceased's wooden plank, as he called it, and circling with it at the shrines, even though this custom is widespread in some regions?
Answer:
This is a pre-Islamic custom. Circling the funeral procession at the shrines is based on the belief that these dead people benefit him and that they intercede for him. Associating them with Allah the Exalted by seeking intercession for the living or the dead is shirk (associating partners with Allah), because nothing is sought from the dead, as they are unable to do anything. They have no power over anything, unlike the living person who is present. Yes, it is permissible to ask him for what he is able to do, but what he is not able to do, and what only Allah is able to do, is not sought from the living or the dead. However, the dead are more incapable due to their severance from this world. Circumambulating the funeral procession at the graves of the dead, and believing that they benefit him, is shirk (associating partners with Allah); because it is seeking benefit from the dead, and they are not able to do that. And believing that the dead benefit or harm without Allah the Exalted is major shirk, which takes one out of the religion. It is obligatory to repent to Allah the Exalted from that, and to do for the Muslim's funeral what Allah and His Messenger prescribed, such as washing, shrouding, praying over him, and making du'a' (supplication) for him, then taking him to his grave and burying him according to the Sunnah. As for anything other than that, it is either bid'ah (religious innovation) or shirk (associating partners with Allah). So it is obligatory to repent to Allah, abandon this practice, and warn against it. These shrines and graves must be known to be of no benefit and no harm, and that attaching oneself to them is shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah the Exalted. We ask Allah for safety.
And if the calamity of being led astray by graves has spread in many lands of the Muslim world due to ignorance, and the failure of scholars to fulfill what Allah obligated upon them of calling to Allah and warning against shirk (associating partners with Allah). Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما رأي فضيلتكم بالجري بخشبة الميت والدواران بها حول المقامات؟ الشيخ صالح بن فوزان الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.