Veneration of graves

Brief

The extract of Ighathat al-Lahfan gives the view of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya on the veneration of graves: praying at them, supplicating and seeking help from their occupants, circling them, building on them and lighting lamps beside them. The author holds that this veneration is the root of idol worship and leads to shirk ¹.

How the author describes the trial

He holds that the trial of graves appeared first among the people of Noah, who devoted themselves to the graves of their righteous men and then made images of them. They combined the trial of graves with the trial of images, which the author treats as the two trials the Prophet ﷺ warned against ¹ ². He cites hadith against taking graves as mosques and the report that earlier communities took the graves of their prophets as places of worship ².

The arguments in the extract

Prayer at graves is forbidden. The author claims the Muslims agree on this, and says that praying there resembles prostrating to idols ³.
The prohibition is not because of the impurity of the graveyard but because of the shirk that attaches to whoever prays there. The author rejects the view that it applies only to graves that have been dug up ³.
No Companion or Successor is reported to have sought help or intercession at a grave. The author argues that if prayer at graves had any merit, it would have been transmitted ⁴ ⁵.
He reports that Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him) saw Anas ibn Malik (may God be pleased with him) praying at a grave and objected, and that Umar cut down the tree under which the Companions had given the pledge once people began visiting it ⁴ ⁵.

Stages of the trap

Quoting a shaykh of his, the author describes Satan leading people in stages: first a supplication made at the grave, then swearing by its occupant, then seeking help from him, then building, guarding and vowing at it, and finally making it a festival and a place of rites ⁶ ⁷.

For the reader

This is the author's position, presented as his. The academic view and the views of other jurists on visiting graves and praying beside them are not yet added here; they need their own sources.

Opinions on the question

The question: Is it permitted to seek nearness through graves and their occupants, and where do visiting and praying at graves stop?

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Prayer at graves, building mosques on them and seeking help from their occupants are forbidden; this protects tawhid, and the lawful visit is limited to greeting, prayer for the dead and reflection

Ibn Qayyim, as the extract presents him, describes Satan leading people step by step at graves: from visiting, to praying there, to seeking help from the occupants, to worshipping them. He argues that the Companions and Successors transmitted nothing of this, that the hadith against taking graves as mosques or as festivals is explicit, and that the claim of consensus is that prayer at graves is forbidden. He rejects the argument that the place is blessed or that the dead answer prayers there as a proof of legitimacy.

Held by: ابن قيم الجوزية Ighathat al-Lahfan

Basis: Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi pp. 2-5 (the prohibition on taking graves as mosques and on praying at them), pp. 14-16 (the Companions' and Successors' silence on it), p. 18 (the stages of the trap)

Sources

Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi , p.2

Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi , p.3

Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi , p.4

Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi , p.15

Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi , p.16

Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi , p.18

Extract from Ighathat al-Lahfan — Rumi Efendi , p.19

Provision as Lordship's gift and the imamate as the gift of divinity

Sha'rawi separates two gifts: provision is a gift of Lordship that believer and disbeliever both receive, because God called all creatures into life and secured their sustenance, while the imamate and the values of the way are a gift of divinity that only the believer receives. He reads Abraham's prayer for the land's safety and provision as a request that the blessing last, and holds that the enjoyment of this world is small however varied.

At a glance