Reading from the author's text with commentary and collation of manuscripts: "How is it permissible, given this situation, that supplication at their graves would be more responsive and better
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The reader: "How is it permissible, given this situation, that supplication at their graves would be more responsive and better, while the Salaf (the earliest generations) disapproved of it, did not know it, forbade it, and did not command it.
Yes, it became found scattered in the speech of some people from around the third century: so-and-so is expected to have his supplication answered at his grave".
The Shaykh : At his grave, not near him?
The student: At his grave.
The reader: A manuscript indicated it.
The Shaykh : That it is a manuscript?
The reader: Yes.
The Shaykh : At his grave is better, even though the context is in the grave, but being explicit is preferable.
The reader: "So-and-so is expected to have his supplication answered at his grave, and so-and-so is supplicated to at his grave, and the like. And the disapproval of whoever says this and commands it, whoever he may be, if his best state is that he is a mujtahid (a scholar qualified to derive rulings) in this issue or a follower of a scholar without knowing his evidence, may Allah forgive him.
As for the claim that what he said implies that this is recommended, that is not the case. Rather, it can be said: this is of the same kind as the statement of some people: such-and-such a place accepts vows, and such-and-such a location is vowed to, and they designate a spring, or a well, or a tree, or a cave, or a stone, or other idols. Just as such a statement is not a basis in the religion, so is the first statement. And it has not reached me, up to this moment, from any of the Salaf (the earliest generations) a dispensation for that, except what Ibn Abi al-Dunya narrated in his book on graves, with his chain of narration from Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Abi Fudayk, who said: Sulayman ibn Yazid al-Ku'bi informed me, from Anas ibn Malik, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:. Ibn Abi Fudayk said: And 'Umar ibn Hafs informed me that Ibn Abi Mulaikah used to say: Whoever wants to stand facing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), let him place the lamp that is in the qiblah (the direction of prayer) at the head of the grave on his head. Ibn Abi Fudayk said: And I heard some of those I lived to see say: It reached us that whoever stands at the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and recites this verse: [Al-Ahzab 33:56] and says: "May Allah send blessings upon you, O Muhammad," until he says it seventy times, an angel would call out to him: "May Allah send blessings upon you, O so-and-so," and no need of his would go unmet.
So this report from Ibn Abi Fudayk, it can be said in it that it implies the recommendation of intending to supplicate at the grave, and there is no proof in it for several reasons:
The first is that Ibn Abi Fudayk narrated this from an unknown person, and that unknown person mentioned that it was a report from someone who is not known, and such a thing does not establish anything at all. And Ibn Abi Fudayk is late, around the second century, he is not from the Tabi'un (the generation after the Companions), nor from their famous followers, so that it can be said that this was known in the three centuries. And it is sufficient for you that the reliable scholars of Madinah did not transmit anything of that.
And what weakens it is that it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:As-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Nasa'i 64:555 So how can the reward for the one who sent blessings upon him seventy times be that an angel from the angels sends blessings upon him? And his preceding hadiths clarify that the sending of blessings and peace upon him reaches him from far and near.
The second is that this only implies the recommendation of supplicating for the visitor within the visit, as the scholars mentioned that in the rituals of Hajj (the major pilgrimage). And this is not our issue, for we have previously stated that whoever makes a prescribed visit and supplicates within it, this is not disliked, as some scholars mentioned, despite the dispute in that, and despite what is transmitted from the Salaf (the earliest generations) of the dislike of standing at the grave to supplicate, which is more correct.
And the only disliked thing we mentioned is intending to supplicate at the grave initially, just as if someone enters the mosque, prays the greeting of the mosque, and supplicates within it, that is not disliked, or if he performs wudu' (the ablution for prayer) in a place and prays there and supplicates within his prayer, that is not disliked. But if he specifically seeks supplication in that spot, or in a mosque that has no special status in the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) over other mosques, then prohibition is issued for this specific designation".
The Shaykh : So it is prohibited, prohibition is issued for this.
The reader: "So prohibition is issued for this specific designation"
Yes, it became found scattered in the speech of some people from around the third century: so-and-so is expected to have his supplication answered at his grave".
The Shaykh : At his grave, not near him?
The student: At his grave.
The reader: A manuscript indicated it.
The Shaykh : That it is a manuscript?
The reader: Yes.
The Shaykh : At his grave is better, even though the context is in the grave, but being explicit is preferable.
The reader: "So-and-so is expected to have his supplication answered at his grave, and so-and-so is supplicated to at his grave, and the like. And the disapproval of whoever says this and commands it, whoever he may be, if his best state is that he is a mujtahid (a scholar qualified to derive rulings) in this issue or a follower of a scholar without knowing his evidence, may Allah forgive him.
As for the claim that what he said implies that this is recommended, that is not the case. Rather, it can be said: this is of the same kind as the statement of some people: such-and-such a place accepts vows, and such-and-such a location is vowed to, and they designate a spring, or a well, or a tree, or a cave, or a stone, or other idols. Just as such a statement is not a basis in the religion, so is the first statement. And it has not reached me, up to this moment, from any of the Salaf (the earliest generations) a dispensation for that, except what Ibn Abi al-Dunya narrated in his book on graves, with his chain of narration from Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Abi Fudayk, who said: Sulayman ibn Yazid al-Ku'bi informed me, from Anas ibn Malik, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Whoever visits me in Madinah with the intention of seeking reward, I will be his intercessor and witness on the Day of Resurrection
من زارني بالمدينة محتسبًا كنت له شفيعًا وشهيدًا يوم القيامةIndeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]
إن الله وملائكته يصلون على النبيSo this report from Ibn Abi Fudayk, it can be said in it that it implies the recommendation of intending to supplicate at the grave, and there is no proof in it for several reasons:
The first is that Ibn Abi Fudayk narrated this from an unknown person, and that unknown person mentioned that it was a report from someone who is not known, and such a thing does not establish anything at all. And Ibn Abi Fudayk is late, around the second century, he is not from the Tabi'un (the generation after the Companions), nor from their famous followers, so that it can be said that this was known in the three centuries. And it is sufficient for you that the reliable scholars of Madinah did not transmit anything of that.
And what weakens it is that it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:
Whoever sends blessings upon me once, Allah sends blessings upon him ten times.
من صلى علي مرة صلى الله عليه عشراThe second is that this only implies the recommendation of supplicating for the visitor within the visit, as the scholars mentioned that in the rituals of Hajj (the major pilgrimage). And this is not our issue, for we have previously stated that whoever makes a prescribed visit and supplicates within it, this is not disliked, as some scholars mentioned, despite the dispute in that, and despite what is transmitted from the Salaf (the earliest generations) of the dislike of standing at the grave to supplicate, which is more correct.
And the only disliked thing we mentioned is intending to supplicate at the grave initially, just as if someone enters the mosque, prays the greeting of the mosque, and supplicates within it, that is not disliked, or if he performs wudu' (the ablution for prayer) in a place and prays there and supplicates within his prayer, that is not disliked. But if he specifically seeks supplication in that spot, or in a mosque that has no special status in the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) over other mosques, then prohibition is issued for this specific designation".
The Shaykh : So it is prohibited, prohibition is issued for this.
The reader: "So prohibition is issued for this specific designation"