What is the meaning of: {And if only, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you}?

Question:
Allah the Exalted said: So, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you a judge in what has become a dispute between them, and then they find no discomfort in their souls regarding what you have judged, and they submit in full submission [Surah al-Nisa: 64-65].
The question is: Some Muslims take this verse to mean that there is no blame on a Muslim for traveling to the grave of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to ask the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to seek forgiveness for him while he is in his grave. Is this action correct as Allah the Exalted said? And does the meaning of "came to you" in the language mean they came to you in your life or in your death? And does a Muslim become an apostate from Islam if he does not judge by the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)? And is the dispute over worldly matters or over religion?

Answer:
This noble verse contains an exhortation for the community to come to him when they wrong themselves with some of the sins, or fall into something greater than that, such as shirk (associating partners with Allah), so that they come to him repentant and regretful; so that he may seek forgiveness for them, (peace and blessings be upon him).
The intended meaning of this coming is: coming to him in his life (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was calling the hypocrites and others to come to him to declare their repentance and return to Allah, and to ask him, (peace and blessings be upon him), to ask Allah to accept their repentance and to rectify their conditions; for this reason he said: .
So obedience to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is only by the permission of Allah; meaning the cosmic, decreed permission. So whoever Allah permits and wills to guide, he is guided, and whoever Allah does not permit to be guided, he is not guided. So the matter is in His hand, (Glorified and Exalted is He); what Allah wills comes to be, and what He does not will does not come to be [Surah al-Takwir: 29].
As for the legislative permission, He, (Glorified and Exalted is He), has permitted all the two groups (humans and jinn) to be guided, and He willed that from them legislatively, and commanded them to do so, as He, the Exalted, said: [Surah al-Baqarah: 21] And He, the Exalted, said: [Surah al-Nisa: 26] Then He said: [Surah al-Nisa: 64]; meaning: repentant and regretful, not just mere words. ; so it is an exhortation for them—meaning the servants—to come to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to declare their repentance to him, and to ask Allah for them.
It is not intended after his death (peace and blessings be upon him) as some ignorant people think, so coming to him after his death for this purpose is not prescribed (mashru'). Rather, one comes to greet him, (peace and blessings be upon him), if one is in Medina, or arrives there from outside for the purpose of praying in the mosque and reciting in it and the like. So if one comes to the mosque, he greets the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his two companions, but he does not travel specifically for the purpose of visiting the grave only, but for the purpose of the mosque, and the visit to his grave (peace and blessings be upon him) and the grave of al-Siddiq and 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) is subsidiary to the visit to the mosque; due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Agreed upon as authentic.
So graves are not traveled to, but when one arrives at the Prophet's Mosque, it is prescribed for him to greet him (peace and blessings be upon him), and to greet his two companions (may Allah be pleased with them both); but he does not travel for the purpose of visiting only; due to the aforementioned hadith.
As for what concerns seeking forgiveness: this is done in his life, not after his death; and the evidence for this is that the Companions did not do that, and they are the most knowledgeable people about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the most learned people in his religion; and because he, (peace and blessings be upon him), does not possess that after his death, (peace and blessings be upon him), as he said (peace and blessings be upon him):
As for what he, (peace and blessings be upon him), informed about, that whoever prays upon him, his prayer is presented to him, that is a specific matter concerning the prayer upon him, and whoever prays upon him, Allah prays upon him ten times for it, and he, (peace and blessings be upon him), said: It was said: O Messenger of Allah, how is it when we are gone?—meaning when we are afflicted with death—he said: ; so this is a specific ruling concerning the prayer upon him.
And in the other hadith from him (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: , so this is a specific matter for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that it is conveyed to him.
As for coming of one who has wronged himself to repent at the grave and seek forgiveness at the grave, this has no basis, rather it is reprehensible and not permissible, and it is a means to shirk (associating partners with Allah); such as coming and asking him for intercession, or healing of the sick, or victory over enemies, or the like, or asking him to pray for him, so this is not permissible; because this is not among his specific attributes (peace and blessings be upon him) after his death, nor among the attributes of anyone else, so everyone who dies is not called upon, nor is intercession sought from him; neither the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) nor anyone else, rather intercession is sought from him in his life, so it is said: O Messenger of Allah, intercede for me that Allah may forgive me, intercede for me that Allah may heal my sick, or that He may return my missing one, and that He may give me such and such.
And so on the Day of Resurrection after the resurrection and rising; for the believers will come to Adam to intercede for them to Allah until judgment is passed between them, so he excuses himself, and refers them to Noah, so they come to him and he excuses himself, then Noah refers them to Ibrahim, so he excuses himself, so Ibrahim refers them to Musa, so he excuses himself, then Musa refers them to 'Isa, so he excuses himself, all of them (peace and blessings be upon them), then 'Isa refers them to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So they come to him, and he, (peace and blessings be upon him), says: , so he advances, and prostrates under the Throne and praises his Lord with great praises which Allah opens for him, then it is said to him: , so he, (peace and blessings be upon him), intercedes for the people of the standing place until judgment is passed between them.
And so he intercedes for the people of Paradise until they enter Paradise; because he, (peace and blessings be upon him), is present; but in the barzakh (the interval between death and resurrection) after his death (peace and blessings be upon him), intercession is not sought, nor healing of the sick, nor return of the missing, nor any other of these matters.
And so it is with the rest of the deceased; they are not asked about any of these matters. Rather, they are called upon and forgiveness is sought for them if they were Muslims. These matters are only sought from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), such as when a Muslim says: "O Allah, let Your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intercede for me. O Allah, heal my sick one. O Allah, help me against my enemy," and the like. For He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: [Ghafir:60], and He (peace and blessings be upon him) says: the verse [al-Baqarah:186].
As for His saying, the Exalted: the verse [Surah al-Nisa: 65], it is general in its apparent meaning, so it is not permissible for Muslims to go out from the Shari'ah of Allah, rather it is obligatory upon them to judge by the Shari'ah of Allah in everything, in what concerns acts of worship, and in what concerns transactions, and in all religious and worldly affairs; because it encompasses everyone, and because Allah, (Glorified and Exalted is He), says: [Surah al-Ma'idah: 50], and He says: [Surah al-Ma'idah: 44], [Surah al-Ma'idah: 45] [Surah al-Ma'idah: 47].
So these verses are general for all affairs in which people dispute and differ; for this reason He, (Glorified and Exalted is He), said: ; meaning the people, Muslims and others ; meaning Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him); and that is by making him a judge (peace and blessings be upon him) during his life, and making his Sunnah a judge after his death.
So making his Sunnah a judge is making a judge of what was revealed of the Qur'an and the Sunnah ; meaning: in what they disputed in, this is what is obligatory upon them: that they judge by the Noble Qur'an and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in his life and after his death by following his Sunnah; which is an explanation of the Noble Qur'an, and an interpretation of it, and an indication of its meanings.
As for His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): , its meaning is that their hearts must expand for His ruling (peace and blessings be upon him), and that no distress should remain in their hearts regarding what He has decreed by His ruling (peace and blessings be upon him). For His ruling is the truth in which there is no doubt, and it is the ruling of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) . Therefore, it is obligatory to submit to it, to have one's heart expand with it, and to have no distress, rather they must submit to it completely; with satisfaction with the ruling of Allah and tranquility in it.
This is what is obligatory upon all Muslims in what has become a dispute between them of claims and lawsuits; whether they are related to acts of worship or to wealth or to marriages or to divorce, or to other of their affairs.
And this negated faith is the foundation of faith in Allah and His Messenger; with respect to making the Shari'ah a judge and being satisfied with it, and believing that it is the judgment between people, so this is necessary, so whoever claims that it is permissible to judge by other than it, or says: it is permissible for people to refer to fathers or to grandfathers, or to the man-made laws that men have established—whether they are Eastern or Western—so whoever claims that this is permissible, then faith is negated from him, and he thereby becomes a disbeliever with major disbelief, so whoever sees that the Shari'ah of Allah is not obligatory to make a judge, but if it were judged by it would be better, or sees that the law is better, or sees that the law is equal to the ruling of Allah, he is an apostate from Islam, and it is of three types:
The first type: that he says: the Shari'ah is better, but there is no harm in making other than the Shari'ah a judge.
The second type is when one says: The Shari'ah and the law are the same, and there is no difference.
The third type is when one says: The law is better and more appropriate than the Shari'ah. This is the ugliest of the three, and all of them are disbelief and apostasy from Islam.
As for the one who holds that it is obligatory to judge by the Shari'ah of Allah, and that it is not permissible to judge by laws or anything else that contradicts the Shari'ah of Allah, but he may judge by other than what Allah has revealed; out of a desire in his heart against the one being judged, or for a bribe, or for political matters, or similar causes, and he knows that he is unjust, wrong, and contrary to the Shari'ah, then this person has deficient faith, and the perfection of the obligatory faith has been negated in his case. By this, he becomes a disbeliever with minor disbelief, an unjust person with minor injustice, and an open sinner with minor open sinfulness, as the meaning of this is authentically reported from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), Mujahid, and a group of the Salaf (may Allah have mercy on them). This is the statement of the people of the Sunnah and the community, contrary to the Khawarij, the Mu'tazilah, and those who follow their path. And Allah is the One to be sought for help.