VISITING GRAVES DESPITE WAHHABI ATTACKS ON AHLUS SUNNA WAL-JAMAA (Part One)
By Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Ed. Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad
Picture: Tomb of Imam al-Jazuli (author of Dala'il al-Khayrat) in Marrakesh.
TOUCHING THE GRAVE AND KISSING IT OUT OF LOVE (MAHABBAH) AND TO OBTAIN BLESSINGS (TABARRUK) IS PERMISSIBLE ACCORDING TO IMAM AHMAD BIN HANBAL
AND EVEN DESIRABLE (MUSTAHABB)
Wahhabis recently wrote an article in which they accused me of making sujud on top of a grave and towards a grave on the basis of a picture which they published in a newspaper article, and a video which they produced and posted on youtube. All these claims are un-Islamic and false but typical of the method of Wahhabis in tampering and manipulating and distorting the truth to create FITNAH AND CHARACTER ASSASSINATION. From the Islamic perspective and the Shar'i obligation we must know the following points with regards to those fabrications and lies:
1. Mufti Ali Jumu'ah (Allah preserve him) said: The honor of
the Muslim deserves better than to be violated on the basis of
what the eye sees or the ear hears through electronic devices.
Shari'ah has the highest standards of verification. And Wahhabis are subject to it like everyone else, they are not above the law. Allah said: قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ “Qul hatu burhanakum in kuntum sadiqeenn” "Say: Give us your proof and demonstration if you speak truth!" (al-Baqarah
2:111). And everyone knows that media productions are the
easiest things to manipulate in order to represent falsehood in
the guise of truth. For example: even if a punishable act is
seen on video, it does not constitute proof of Shari'ah, you
still need four witnesses. Otherwise the accuser is lashed for
libel (qazf) and sent on his way and marked as a FASIQ. Let
alone, when there is no authentic evidence to that effect, but
rather anonymous claims and tampered pictures, spread by
anonymous cowards. Beware also of false witness (Shahadat
az-zur) which is one of the top five gravest sins (Kaba'ir) next
to shirk, murder and treachery.
2. Furthermore, the claimed prostration may not be a
prostration at all, even if it looks like it, such as looking
for something under a chair, or helping the shaykh put on his
Khuffs (leather socks). But from a distance it looks like a
prostration; or bowing such as kissing the hands of one's
parents, or entering though a low door. This was mentioned by
Habib Ahmad Mashhur AlHaddad in his book Miftahul Jannah. So
the one looking from a distance may refuse to give the benefit
of good opinion and blame the innocent good Muslim for no
reason.This happened when the Khalif Marwan b. Abdul Malik
came one day and saw a man putting his face on the grave of
Prophet (saw). He grabbed him by the neck an said, Do you have any idea what you are doing? The man turned around and said yes, and it was Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari (r). He said "You must know that I came to the Prophet (saw), not to some stone! Furthermore, I
heard the Prophet say: 'Don't weep over religion as long as it
has qualified leaders in charge, but weep over it when the
rabble (ruwaybidha) take over!” Imam Ahmad narrated this
in his Musnad, and also Majd Ad-Din Ibn Taimiyyah (the
grandfather of Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah) in his book of “Carefully
Selected Hadiths of the Prophet” (Al-Muntaqa fi Ahadith
al-Mustafa).
The same act of kissing the grave and crying over it is related from the great tabiee Muhammad ibn Al-Munkadir, whom Imam Sufyan ibn Uyaynah called an ocean of truthfulness. Imam Adh-Dhahabi – whom Wahhabis respect and adore – even excused someone who prostrates for the grave out of love, saying : “Allah is most forgiving and most merciful, and I swear by Allah, that the Muslim only gets emotional and cries out and kisses the walls and weeps, because he loves Allah and His Messenger, and THAT LOVE IS THE ONLY CRITERIA OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF
PARADISE AND THE PEOPLE OF HELLFIRE!”
3. Imam Abdullah bin Ahmad, the son of Imam Ahmad bin
Hanbal, asked his father: "What do you say about one who
touches the minbar of Prophet (saw) and tries to get its
blessings (tabarruk) by touching it, and kisses it; and he does
the same thing with the grave, or anything else of that sort,
asking to draw nearer to Allah?" IMAM AHMAD SAID: “THERE IS NO HARM IN THAT” (La ba'sa bihi). This is narrated in the book of Imam Ahmad “Al-'Ilal wa Ma'rifat Ar-Rijal” Volume 2 page 492, and in “Almu'jam Al-Kabeer” of Imam Dhahabi volume 1 page 73 - Saudi edition. Then Adh-Dhahabi comments, “Show me the cretin who will criticize Imam Ahmad! MAY ALLAH PROTECT YOU AND ME FROM THE HERESIES AND INNOVATIONS OF THE KHAWARIJ.”
See how Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari and Imam Dhahabi are calling those people -- LIKE THE WAHHABIS OF TODAY -- "UNQUALIFIED DEVIANTS, REBELS, HERETICS, INNOVATORS, CRETINS, KHAWARIJ, AND PEOPLE OF HELLFIRE." The Khawarij are those fanatic extremists who split the Ummah, always condemning other Muslims and fighting them, in the past and in our time.
4. Ibn Muflih Al-Hanbali said in his encyclopedia of fiqh
entitled “Al-Mubdi'” (Extraordinary reference-book) in Hanbali
fiqh – vol. 2 page 281: “It is mustahabb (desirable) for someone
making ziyarah to stand in front of the grave, as close as he
would if he visited him in his life. And it is allowed to touch
the grave with his hand, because it resembles handshaking the
living, especially if he hopes to obtain his blessings (barakah).
The same is found in the faqih Mar'i Al-Karmi al-Hanbali's book
“Ghayatul Muntaha” volume 1, page 259.
5. Kissing the grave of your parents is allowed in the
Hanafi Madhhab. This is explicitly mentioned in the encyclopedia
of fatawa called “Fatawa Hindiyyah”, also known as “Fatawah
Alamjiriyyah”, and the commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih by
Abdul Haqq Muhaddith Dihlawi entitled “Ashi'atu al-Lama'at”
chapter on burial. Futhermore Imam Nawawi said: "A shaykh is more important than a biological father." He said this in his book
“At-Taqrib wat-Taysir fi Marifati Sunan al-Bashir an-Nadhir”.
Therefore our Shuyukh are more deserving of our love and respect in this life, and after their death. Allah said, بَلْ أَحْيَاء
عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ “Bal Ahya'un 'inda rabbihim
yurzaqun” "Rather, they are alive in the presence of their Lord
and receiving provision" (Al Imran 3:169).
May Allah subhan wa taala save Malaysia and all Muslim countries of the FITNAH AL WAHHABIYYA and their batil. All previous great Muftis and true Ulema in our time have warned against the Wahhabiyya such as Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan, Sayyid Alawi bin Taher Al Haddad the Mufti of Johore, Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki, Allamah al-Sawi, Sayyid Yusuf bin Hashim al-Rifai, Allama Muhammad Amin Abidin al-Shami, Sayyid
Zayn bin Sumayt and countless others. It is time now to warn against them yet again and this is the real jihad to defend the Word of Haqq against jawr (crime) and batil (falsehood). Stay with the Ahlus Sunna wal Jamaa, keep respect for Ahl al-Haqq and Tasawwuf, keep love for Ahlul Bayt, make dhikr and Salawat, keep Silatur Rahm with Awliya whether in dunya or Barzakh, fast and pray, and throw out fitnah and the people of fitnah who try to divide the Ummah.
This is just one quick rebuttal but we have much more and many more proofs that will be published in due time according to need in sha Allah. Prophet (saws) described these false teachers as wolves disguised as sheep and he said Allah subhuan wa taala said of them, "Are these false teachers not afraid of me? Are they trying to provoke Me?" And Allah said, بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ
فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ وَلَكُمُ الْوَيْلُ مِمَّا تَصِفُونَ Nay, We hurl the Truth against falsehood, and it knocks out its brain, and behold,
falsehood doth perish! Ah! woe be to you for the (false) things ye
ascribe (to Us) (al-Anbiya 21:28). Walhamdu lillahi Rabbil Alamin.
Servant of Knowledge
MUHAMMAD HISHAM AL-KABBANI AL-HASANI AL-HUSAYNI AL-SHAFII AL-NAQSHBANDI
