17 - On the 271st and the following pages, he says:
"It was declared, 'I am afraid that heretical imams will come upon my umma.' That is, leaders and imams who will mislead Muslims will come and issue fatwas disagreeing with the Book. Most of such people say, 'He who is in trouble or who has a request shall come to my grave: I shall fulfill his wish. I am very close to Allah. I have been exempted from worshiping. Awliya' help whomever they want. One shall ask his requests from them. Those who are in trouble will attain prosperity if they hold on to the dead or living awliya', who can do whatever they wish. They display karamat. They know what is in the Lawh al-mahfuz. They apprehend the secret thoughts of men.' And such people build domes over the graves of prophets and awliya'. All these mean to worship something other than Allah. A hadith says, 'Munafiqs deceive by telling the truth.' Another hadith says, 'The Last Day will not come till most of my umma become idolaters.' What can those who worship graves and attribute them as partners to Allah say to this? The fitna of worshiping idols has increased so much these days that no one notices it. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab stood up and prevented this idolatry. Although some governments tried to oppose him, his name became famous everywhere. There were many who believed him, as there were many who did not believe. Abu Tahir says, 'The Sa'udi Dynasty conveyed Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's flag of monotheism to every corner of Arabia.' It is necessary to prevent polytheism from dissemination and to annihilate it. Domes built over graves are of this kind. All of them have become idol-houses. None of them should be left on earth. Most of them are treated like the idols al-Lat and al-'Uzza. Most Muslims have become polytheists. 'Thirty dajjals will appear amongst my umma,' is a well-known hadith. Sayyid Siddiq Hasan Khan wrote in his Kitab al-izagha that the wicked European Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiani was one of the dajjals. This Indian disbeliever first said that he was al-Mahdi, but later, backed by a Christian government, he declared he was a prophet. Mukhtar as-Saqafi, too, was one of the dajjals, who lived during 'Abdullah ibn Zubair's caliphate. He said he loved Ahl al-Bait and would revenge Hadrat Husain's murder. He killed many Muslims. Later he claimed that he was a prophet and that Jabrail brought revelations to him."
The writer of this passage reports that heretical and irreligious governments and men of religious position will preside over Muslims. The scholars of Islam (rahimahum-Allahu ta'ala) have unanimously decided that heretical men of religious position would mislead Muslims from the right path. The la-madhhabi places spies in Muslim countries and deceives Muslims through these mercenary la-madhhabi spies. Publishing corrupt books, they strive to destroy Ahl as-Sunnat and defame the great 'ulama' and awliya of Ahl as-Sunnat.
Al-Imam ar-Rabbani (qaddas-Allahu ta'ala sirrahu 'l-aziz) declares in his 225th letter, "Hadrat al-Mahdi (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala) will disseminate Islam. He will bring into sight the sunnas of Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam). The contemporary man of religious authority in al-Madinat al-Munawwara, who will have been accustomed to committing and disseminating bidat' in the name of Islam, being perplexed by al-Mahdi's words, will say, 'This man wants to annihilate our faith.' Hadrat al-Mahdi will command that he shall be killed." This passage predicts that la-madhhabism will last the longest in Medina and will be totally annihilated by Hadrat al-Mahdi.
This writer, as he usually does, again quotes the ayats and hadiths about disbelievers, polytheists and munafiqs, and, by adding the explanations given by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat in detail, pretends to be a defender of the right path. Then he attacks the innocent Muslims who belong to Ahl as-Sunnat. In order to call domed tombs "idol-houses" and awliya' "idols," he is not ashamed of misinterpreting ayats and hadiths. Anyone who misinterprets those ayats or hadiths with tawil becomes a man of bidat, that is, a heretic, if he knows the tawil. One who, misinterpreting the clear nasses which need no tawil, attacks Islam and calls Muslims "mushriks" becomes a disbeliever. Although one who performs the tawil of nasses wrongly does not become a disbeliever, he brings discord among Muslims. To him, only he is the true Muslim and for centuries millions of Muslims have been mushriks. He alleges further that today most Muslims are worshiping the dead.
It is evident who the ignorant and heretical imams referred to in the hadith ash-Sharif are. Dissenting from the Muslim path of a thousand years, they have deviated. And every believer knows who the tyrannous statesmen who mislead Muslims are. They are the ones who, under the name of "Islam" and "Ahl at-tawhid" (monotheists), have tyrannized and killed Ahl as-Sunnat, the faithful of the right path. By misinterpreting the Qur'an al-karim and hadith ash-Sharif, this writer has been making up fatwas that disagree with the Qur'an al-karim and has been calling Muslims "polytheists." No Muslim scholars have ever said, "He who is in trouble or has a request shall come to my grave; I will fulfill his wish." The writer makes up this false statement and slanders Muslims. Scholars of Islam never said that they had approached Allahu ta'ala. Further, they never wanted even the karamats bestowed on them by Allah to be heard of. They taught that the greatest karamat was to obey the rules of Islam, its commands and prohibitions and to follow Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam). One day, when 'Abd al-Qadir al-Geilani (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala) was walking under lightning and thunder in the desert with his disciples, the sky darkened and a voice from the clouds said, "My servant 'Abd al-Qadir! I love you very much. I have exempted you from performing 'ibadat from now on!" The great wali replied instantly, "Kadhdhabta ya Kadhdhab! You lie! Oh the liar Satan! You cannot deceive me. Allah's Beloved Muhammad (alaihi 's-salam) was not exempted from performing 'ibadat!"; he almost crawled to the mosque to attend the jamaat even during his last illness. No one is exempted from performing 'ibadat!" This writer does not feel ashamed of calumniating such blessed awliya' and regards having tawassul with and entreating dead awliya' as polytheism. Whereas, our master Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) declared, "Ask the ones in graves for help when you are confused about your affairs!" Muslims, following this hadith ash-Sharif, visit the graves of awliya' and expect help from them.
The scholars of Islam (rahimahum-Allahu ta'ala), following this hadith ash-Sharif, have visited the graves of awliya' and said that they received faid. Al-Imam ar-Rabbani (qaddas-Allahu ta'ala sirrahu 'l-aziz) wrote in his 291st letter, "I visited the honorable grave of my master Muhammad Baqi Bi'llah in Delhi on an 'Iyd day. When I concentrated my attention upon his blessed grave, he kindly noticed me with his holy soul. He treated this faqir with so much kindness that he granted me the faid he had received from Khwaja 'Ubaid-Allah al-Ahrar (qaddas-Allahu ta'ala sirrahu 'l-'aziz). After this share (nisba) was attained, the reality of the marifas of Tawhid resulted."
The above hadith ash-Sharif has been quoted in many books and has become very well-known among Muslims. The great alim Ahmad Shamsaddin ibn Kamal Effendi (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala), who was the ninth Shaikh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire and the Mufti as-Saqalain (the Mufti who issued fatwas to both men and genies), explained in his book Sharh al-Hadith al-arbain [Turkish translation published in Istanbul, in 1316 A.H..] the eighteenth hadith, "Idha tahayyartum fi'l-umur, fastainu min ahli 'l-qubur!" (Ask the people in graves for help when you are confused about your affairs!) as: "Man's soul is in love with his body. This love does not fade away when he dies and the soul departs from the body. The soul's attraction to and interest in the body does not end after death. Therefore, it was prohibited in a hadith ash-Sharif to break the bones of the dead or to step on graves. When one visits a wali's grave, the souls of the two meet and much benefit accrues. It was for this benefit that visiting graves is permitted. It has, of course, some other secret advantages as well. [Ibn Abidin (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala), who passed away in Damascus in 1252/1836, wrote in the preface to his book Radd al-muhtar, "Imam Muhammad ash-Shafi'i was very modest and respectful to al-Imam al-azam Abu Hanifa (rahimahum-Allahu ta'ala). He said he attained blessing by visiting Abu Hanifa's grave, where he performed a two rak'a salat and prayed to Allahu ta'ala when he had a difficult question, the answer of which thus soon occured to him."] The soul of the Muslim in the grave and that of the visitor are like mirrors which reflect on each other. When the visitor looks at the grave and gives himself up to Allahu ta'ala's qada', his soul perceives this and his knowledge and moral qualities attain faid, which is then reflected to the heart of the one in the grave. And the knowledge and faid that have come from Allahu ta'ala to the soul of the dead are reflected to the visitor's soul. The Shafi'i scholar Ala ad-din 'Ali ibn Ismail (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala), who passed away in 792/1329, wrote in his book Al-alam fi hayati 'l-anbiya' 'alaihimu 's-salatu wa 's-salam, 'Prophets' and all Muslims' souls come down to their graves and to the place where their names are mentioned. Their souls have a relation with their graves. Therefore, grave-visiting is mustahab. They hear and reply to those who greet them,' In his 'Aqiba, Hafiz (hadith scholar) 'Abd al-Haqq al-Ashbili al-Maliki (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala), who passed away in 582/1187, quotes the hadith ash-Sharif, 'If anyone visits the grave of a Muslim brother of his and greets him, the dead recognizes him and replies to his greeting.' Shaikh Fakhr ad-din Ghazanfar at-Tabrizi said, 'I had thought deeply about a matter but could not understand it. I sat by the tomb of my shaikh, Taj ad-din at-Tabrizi (rahimah-Allahu ta'ala) and thought over the matter. Then I solved it.' Some scholars said that 'the ones in graves' mentioned in the hadith ash-Sharif, 'Ask the ones in graves for help when you are confused about your affairs,' [This hadith sharif is explained in the Arabic book Al-basa'ir li munkiri't tawassuli bi-ahl al-maqabir (photo-offset reproduction in Istanbul in 1395/1975).] were the awliya' who, obeying the order, 'Die before you die,' had advanced on the way of tasawwuf."
The hadith ash-Sharif, "Munafiqs deceive Muslims by telling the truth" alludes to this writer, whose book is filled with ayats, hadiths and the true words of the 'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat while heretical ideas are sprinkled in between them. Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) ordered us to ask the ones in graves for help. But this writer calls those who do so "polytheists" and forbids the order in this hadith. He calls Rasulullah's order "polytheism."
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