The Shaykh’s remarks on seeking blessing from the Prophet’s relics and the invalidity of those who seek blessing from them after his death.

The Shaykh : In our time, a man who is a scholar, a noble person, a righteous person, a righteous person—take whatever synonymous words you like to emphasize this. We will say that your analogy of this righteous, righteous, scholarly, scholarly man to Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)—and you say, and I do not want to say it now, you claim that the Messenger approved them in doing so. Here lies the second answer, so pay attention. Your analogy is of the kind of analogy that is like comparing blacksmiths to angels. The one who denies all analogy says in some of his refutations of the rationalists, “This is an analogy, and all analogy is invalid. Even if there were truth in it, this would be the very essence of falsehood.” This analogy is the very essence of falsehood because it is of the kind of analogy that compares blacksmiths to the infallible Messenger of Allah, whom one cannot imagine being affected by delusion or arrogance. “Why did so-and-so kiss his hand? Why did so-and-so not stand up for him?” The incident occurred among Shaykhs who claim to be guides, who appointed themselves to guide thousands upon thousands of Muslims. The necks of these thousands submitted to them, believing that they were truly guides. If one of the people among those they call “murids” (disciples) kissed his hand and another did not, then the former is treated differently from the latter in their estimation. The Messenger of Allah, may he be kept safe from such things, would not be affected by such matters. So, answer number one: this is of the kind of analogy that compares blacksmiths to angels, and this is an invalid analogy by obvious reasoning. But more precisely, in terms of knowledge, because this reality requires analogy, and few jurists are skilled in analogy who have saturated themselves with the jurisprudence of the Book and the Sunnah. But I hope you pay attention to the fact that the statement of some scholars that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved his Companions in seeking blessing from his relics—this statement is correct or incorrect? Incorrect in its absolute form, correct if it is qualified. That is, if it is said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved the Companions in seeking blessing from some of his relics for a period of time, then this is correct. But to say today, after fifteen centuries, that he approved them in doing so, this is incorrect. Rather, the truth is that he did not approve them in doing so. Because among the authentic hadiths that I have extracted in a part or volume of the volumes of “Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah” (The Chain of Authentic Hadiths), and I do not remember now whether it was published after this volume containing this hadith or not, there is a hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in some of those incidents where he saw some of the Companions rushing to seek blessing from his ablution water, the water that fell from his ablution, said to them—and this is one of the marvels of the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and it indicates to us that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when He described him with His saying: , his life (peace and blessings be upon him) translated this verse. Therefore, it came in “Sahih Muslim” that a man asked the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) about his character (peace be upon him). She said to him, “Do you read the Qur'an?” He said, “Yes.” She said, “His character was the Qur'an.” Meaning: . The hadith has a continuation. The meaning of the hadith extracted in “Silsilah” is that when he saw them one day rushing to seek blessing from the water of his ablution (peace be upon him), he said to them: . They said: “The love of Allah and His Messenger.” This is the truth, but here I must pause. Do you see, are the Muslims today who kiss the hands of their Shaykhs and scholars all like this? Say it clearly.
The student: No.

The Shaykh : They are not equal, for example, some out of reverence for knowledge and respect, and some out of intention. So, the analogy here is also different. The analogy of the Muslims of the last age to the Muslims of the first age is completely different. The important thing is . And here is the point, and here is the elevation from the matter that he had established them upon or approved them upon to something else. He said: . Perhaps there is a third sentence here that I do not remember now. So, this is a wonderful style in guiding people from emotional matters that have sensitivity in their hearts. It is not appropriate when he sees this noble, righteous scholar—claiming to be special—rushing to him to kiss him and then pushing him away like that with all force and harshness and saying to him, “Hey, this is an innovation.” This would not be the style of the Messenger (peace be upon him). But if he sees it as not good, he swallows it, he lets it go. But after that, after that, after that, he makes an occasion of the occasions and speaks about this topic that it is not good and not prescribed, and so on. This is how the Messenger (peace be upon him) moved them from the state they were in to a state that they should live in throughout their lives, which is holding fast to Islamic morals and not paying attention to formalities. Let us say now, the official. This confirms the Prophetic guidance. This confirms the Prophetic guidance. What 'Umar ibn al-Khattab did in his caliphate when he performed Hajj and stopped at one of those stations, he saw people among those who were with him heading toward a direction. He asked, “Where are these people going?” They said, “O Commander of the Faithful, there is a prayer place where the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, so they are going to pray there.” So he addressed the people and said: “O people, whoever catches the prayer in one of these places where the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, let him pray, and whoever does not, do not do it. For indeed, what destroyed those before you was their following the traces of their prophets.” So, we can now say, and this is the summary of the topic: if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had approved them in seeking blessing from his relics until the last breath of his life, we would say this was specific to him, for the first reason I mentioned. The evidence is that 'Umar al-Faruq, who is among the most knowledgeable people about the Shari'ah first, and about the Messenger and his morals second, forbade the people from following the traces of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and said, and truly he said, . May Allah have mercy on you. . So, whoever is convinced that this matter was specific to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), this is sufficient for him to stop at the Messenger and not go beyond him to others. And whoever has reached the second knowledge that the Messenger approved them one day and then forbade them in a very gentle style, moving them from one state to another, and this is from the wisdom of legislation that manifested in a ruling known to Muslims, even many of the common people: the gradual prohibition of intoxicants, because it is very difficult to surprise people with what they had lived with for a long time, especially if the matter does not reach prohibition like the prohibition of intoxicants. So, the matter requires gentleness with people. But gentleness with people does not require following people and accommodating people, but rather deceiving people, implementing what was said, “So deceive, for in deception there is deception.” No, this is not it, but rather, “Accommodate them as long as you are in their abode.”