Seeking Forgiveness from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) After His Death

At the beginning of this episode, we return to the letter of our brother Ahmad al-Huri from Damascus. We presented some of his questions in a previous episode, and in this episode he has a set of questions. He says: Allah the Exalted said in His Noble Book: [Al-Nisa: 64-65]. The question is: Some Muslims take this verse to mean that there is no harm in a Muslim traveling to the grave of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), while he is in his grave, to seek forgiveness for him. Is this action correct as Allah the Exalted said? And does the meaning of in the language refer to their coming to him during his lifetime or after his death? And does a Muslim become an apostate from Islam if he does not rule by the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? And is the dispute here about worldly matters or about religion?
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for the rest: This Noble Verse encourages the Ummah to come to him if they wrong themselves with some of the sins or fall into something greater than that, such as shirk (associating partners with Allah), that they come to him repentant and regretful so that he (peace and blessings be upon him) may seek forgiveness for them. This is intended for his lifetime (peace and blessings be upon him), where he calls the hypocrites and others to come to him to declare their repentance and return to Allah and ask him (peace and blessings be upon him) to ask Allah to accept their repentance and rectify their conditions. For this reason, he said: [Al-Nisa: 64]. Obedience to the Messengers is by the permission of Allah. Whoever Allah permits and wills to guide, he is guided, and whoever Allah does not will to guide, he is not guided. So the matter is in His hand . What He wills happens, and what He does not will does not happen. [At-Takwir: 29]. Then He said: meaning: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) meaning: repentant and regretful, not merely by words. meaning: he prayed for their forgiveness. So it is an encouragement for the servants to come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to declare their repentance to him and ask Allah for them. It is not intended after his death (peace and blessings be upon him) as some ignorant people think! No, after his death, one does not come for this purpose, but rather to greet him for those who are in Medina, or who arrive there from outside for the purpose of praying in the mosque and reading in it, and the like. So if one comes to the mosque, he greets the Prophet (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 mosque, and the visit to the Noble Grave and the graves of Abu Bakr and Umar is incidental to the visit to the mosque; due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , so graves are not traveled to. But when one arrives at the mosque and intends to greet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his two companions, or does not intend that, it is prescribed for him to greet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and greet his two companions (may Allah be pleased with them both). But he does not travel for the purpose of visiting the grave only, due to the previous hadith.
And as for what concerns seeking forgiveness and repentance, this is done in his lifetime, not after his death. The evidence for this is that the Companions and may Allah be pleased with them did not do that, and they were the most knowledgeable people about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the most learned in jurisprudence. And because he (peace and blessings be upon him) does not possess that after his death (peace and blessings be upon him), as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And he (peace and blessings be upon him) informed that whoever prays upon him, his prayer is presented to him (peace and blessings be upon him). This is a specific matter regarding the prayer upon him (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: . And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
So this is specific to the prayer and greetings upon him (peace and blessings be upon him). And in the other wording: So this is a specific matter regarding the prayer and greetings upon him (peace and blessings be upon him) that it is conveyed to him. But as for one who wrongs himself coming to repent at the grave and seek forgiveness at the grave, this has no basis, rather it is reprehensible and not permissible. It is a means to shirk (associating partners with Allah), a means to come and ask him for intercession, or ask him to heal the sick, or so on, or ask him to pray for him. And 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, and intercession is not sought from him, neither the Prophet nor anyone else (peace and blessings be upon him). Rather, intercession is sought from the Prophet in his lifetime (peace and blessings be upon him). The man says: O Messenger of Allah! Intercede for me so that Allah forgives me? Intercede for me so that Allah heals my sick one, so that He returns my lost one, so that He gives me such and such.
And so on the Day of Resurrection after the resurrection and rising; because they are alive .
And so on, he intercedes for the people of Paradise until they enter Paradise; because he is alive, standing, and present. But in the barzakh (the interval between death and resurrection) after his death (peace and blessings be upon him), intercession is not sought from him, nor is he asked to seek forgiveness for people, nor to heal the sick, nor to return the lost, nor any other of these matters. And so the rest of the dead are not asked for any of these matters. Rather, supplication is made for them and forgiveness is sought for them if they are Muslims. Yes.
Similarly, His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: [Al-Nisa: 65]. The verse is to be taken at its apparent meaning, meaning it is not permissible for Muslims to deviate from the Shari'ah of Allah. Rather, it is obligatory for them to rule by the Shari'ah of Allah in everything, in what concerns acts of worship, in what concerns transactions, and in all affairs. Because Allah says : [Al-Ma'idah: 49]. And He says : [Al-Ma'idah: 50]. And He says, Exalted is He: [Al-Ma'idah: 44], [Al-Ma'idah: 45], [Al-Ma'idah: 47].
This is general in all affairs. For this reason, He says, Exalted is He: meaning: the Muslims, meaning: Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), meaning they should rule by his Sunnah after his death, rule by it in his lifetime (peace and blessings be upon him) and after his death, the ruling is by his Sunnah along with the Great Qur'an. meaning: in what they disputed about. This is what is obligatory for them: to rule by the Noble Qur'an and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in his lifetime, and after his death, his Sunnah, which is an explanation of the Qur'an, an interpretation of the Qur'an, and an indication of its meanings. [Al-Nisa: 65] meaning: their hearts should be expanded and there should remain no hardship in their hearts regarding his ruling (peace and blessings be upon him); because his ruling is the truth in which there is no doubt. So the obligatory is submission to it, expansion of the heart with it, and no hardship. Rather, the believer submits to it completely, satisfied with the ruling of Allah and reassured by it.
This is what is obligatory for all Muslims regarding the disputes and lawsuits that arise among them, whether they concern acts of worship, or wealth, or marriages, or divorce, or other of their affairs. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. The faith here, Shaykh Abdul Aziz , is the faith here complete, meaning the perfection of faith, or faith in general?
The Shaykh: The foundation of faith regarding the ruling by the Shari'ah and satisfaction with it, and believing that it is the judgment between people, this is necessary. So whoever claims that there is something that is ruled by other than that, and that it is permissible for people to resort to the customs of fathers and grandfathers, or to the man-made laws established by men, whether they are Eastern or Western, whoever claims that this is permissible, then faith is negated from him. It is major shirk (associating partners with Allah). So if he sees that the Shari'ah of Allah is not obligatory to be ruled by, but if it were ruled by it would be better, otherwise it is not obligatory to be ruled by, or he sees that the law is better, or he sees that the law is equal to the ruling of Allah, all of this is apostasy from Islam. And it is three states:
The first state: That he says: The Shari'ah is better, but there is no harm in ruling by other than the Shari'ah. This is also apostasy, even if he says: The Shari'ah is better.
The second: That he says: The Shari'ah and the law are the same, and there is no difference. This is also apostasy.
And the third state: That he says: The law is better and more appropriate than the Shari'ah. And this is the worst of the three and the ugliest, and it is also disbelief and apostasy from Islam.
As for the one who holds that it is obligatory to judge by the Shari'ah and that it is not permissible to judge by man-made laws, but he judges by other than what Allah has revealed due to a desire in his heart against the one being judged, or for a bribe, or for similar reasons, and he knows that he is unjust, mistaken, and contrary to the Shari'ah, then in his case, the negation of faith is the negation of the obligatory faith, not the negation of the essence of faith; because he is a believer, a Muslim who believes that the ruling of Allah is the truth, and that he is a sinner in his action, but his love of money compelled him to judge by other than what Allah has revealed because of the bribe, or because of enmity between him and the one being judged, or out of love for the one in whose favor he judged and his kinship, and the like of that. So this is a great denial and a great major sin and a type of disbelief, but it is like what Ibn 'Abbas said: “Disbelief less than disbelief, injustice less than injustice, and open sinfulness less than open sinfulness.” Likewise, Mujahid and a group of scholars said: The ruling in this case is minor shirk (associating partners with Allah), minor open sinfulness, and minor injustice; because he believes in the ruling of Allah and is convinced by it, knowing that it is the truth and that what he judged by is an invalid ruling, and that he is a sinner against Allah. Therefore, by this, his faith becomes deficient and weak, and faith is negated from him in the sense of negating the complete, obligatory faith, not negating its essence which would make him an apostate. And this is the truth upon which the majority of scholars agree, and there is no doubt that it is the relied-upon position. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you. Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz, this issue has its importance, especially for the Muslim who feels that his Muslim brother has a right over him. It seems to me that it is in need of further presentation and further research, especially since there are people who believe they are among the believers and believe they are among the Muslims, yet the Shari'ah does not find its way in judging between them?
The Shaykh: This is undoubtedly one of the great evils, and many countries currently claiming affiliation with Islam have fallen into this. So by this action, if they hold that the ruling of the law is better and more appropriate, or that it is equal to the ruling of Allah, or that it is permissible to judge by it, then this is major shirk (associating partners with Allah) and apostasy from Islam, we seek refuge in Allah, by the consensus of the Muslims, there is no dispute in this. The discussion is only about the case where they know that they are mistaken and that they are sinning by this matter, but they did it out of desire, or to please some of the people, or for other reasons; they did not believe that what they did was lawful, but they know that they are sinning in what they did, but they did it just as the judge who takes a bribe, or rules in favor of his relative against a non-relative, while he knows that he is a sinner and that he is contrary to the ruling of Allah. In that case, he does not become an apostate, but he is a sinner, and he has committed disbelief less than disbelief, injustice less than injustice, and open sinfulness less than open sinfulness. This is the meaning of the words of the Salaf (the earliest generations) in this matter, such as Ibn 'Abbas and others. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you. How does Your Eminence view raising this topic again and again, especially since there are people who may not know this detail?
The Shaykh: Raising it is very important so that the Muslim world pays attention to this matter, and so that the rulers pay attention, we ask Allah for guidance for us and for them. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.