213. Can recommendations from the pious be solicited.
These verses of the Quran (10:18, 39:3) give a befitting reply to those with false religious ideology.They believe the so called pious men dead or alive could take them closer to God and beseech those other than the creator, in asking for favors on their behalf. The prayers that ought to be made to God alone are redirected by these people towards others expecting favors.
And these people declare, those from whom they are expecting favors are also slaves of Allah and do not possess any divine powers. ‘But we still believe they are closer to God and are in a better position to receive favors from Him and deliver the same to us. When we do not expect them to do anything on their own how can the belief be considered as misplaced ,they ask.
A superficial look may render this argument valid, but it is completely unjustified.
It is true these people do not believe the so-called pious persons possess powers equal to God. But at the same time we cannot deny they do believe in these saints having equal power to God
From where ever be the call, immaterial from any number of people calling at the same time in whatever part of the day they call , and in whatever language they call ,Allah is the only source to recognise all, contrary to the belief of these of people who the saints possess the same attributes of God.
Thus we find the reason people from many parts of the world invoke the blessings of these saints treating them on par with God Almighty.
Creating an equal to God does not necessarily mean an outright belief in creations other than God ,but even in believing that others possess at least one or two attributes of Allah.People who do not understand such basics pray to others than God.
These two verses (10:18, 39:3) of the Quran make clear about the belief of infidels on the so-called saints of Makkah. These people of Makkah prayed to them in the belief that they can receive favors from God on their recommendations. But Allah rejects their belief and declares them as infidels.
The infidels of Makkah those days accepted Allah as the monotheistic God, and have created smaller gods to recommend them to the only great God.
Verses 10:31, 23:84,85, 23:86,87, 23:88,89, 29:61, 29:63, 31:25, 39:38, 43:9, 43:87 of the Quran say the infidels of Makkah believed,everything, heavens, earth ,the food they eat , including themselves were created the great God.
These verses declare without doubt the infidels of Makkah believed in the power of Allah as the only creator.
Here we come to know the similarities in the belief of the shrine worshippers and the Makkan infidels of those days.
To say more about the Makkan infidels, they were found to be in a better position than the shrine worshippers of these days, because they never took refuge in the smaller gods for petty favors.This can be seen mentioned in the following verses of the Quran.6:63, 64, 6:40, 41, 10:22, 17:67, 29:65, 30:33, 34, 31:32, 39:8, 39:49, 41:51.
Some may raise a doubt that the Makkan infidels did not call the saints for help,but prayed only to the powerless idols.
This is a doubt by these people without any fundementals.
We have been commanded not to worship or pray to any other than the great God. In this regard there is absolutely no differentiation between a grave or an idol, both are to be treated as one and the same, we don’t find any reason or rhyme to believe they are different from each other.
These people also raise another question by asking ‘ the Makkan infidels prayed to the evil idols, but we are praying in the graves of good people who are saints.
This argument also is wrong ,because the infidels of Makkah prayed mostly to the pious and the messengers of God. There is proof in the Hadith books.
Prophet Muhammad as a victor in Makkah entered Kaaba only after removing with his cane the idols of Ibrahim (AS) and Ismail (AS) they found there.
Narrator: Ibnu Abbas.(RA)
1601, 3352, 4289,Hadith Book :Bukhar.i
In another hadith it is being declared the idols of Prophet Ibrahim and Maryam (AS) were also there.
2351 Hadith Book:Bukhari 2351
If praying to pious good dead people were not prohibited in Islam, Prophet Muhammad would not have had the necessity remove the idols in Kaaba.
It has been narrated by Ayisha (RA): Prophet Muhammad said May Allah’s wrath be upon the the Jews and Christians for they made the graves of the messengers as places of worship.
Narrator : Ayisha (RA).
Hadith Book:Bukhari, 436, 437, 1390, 3454, 4441, 4444, 5816,
Do not turn your dwellings as places of burial.Do not make the place of my burial into spots for celebrations.
Narrator :Abu Huraira (RA)
1746, Hadith Book Abu Dawood :1746.
When a pious person passes away they build a place of worship for themselves over his grave, They carved their images on it .Prophet Muhammad said, these people are the worst among the creations of God.
Narrator: Ayisha (RA)
Hadith Book Bukhari :427, 434, 1341, 3873
Prophet Muhammad was against buildings on top of graves, and plastering them. He also prohibited people from sitting on top of graves.
Narrator :Jabir (RA)
Hadith Book : Bukhari 1765.
In Islam graves and idols are viewed as one and the same can be seen from these sayings of Prophet Muhammad.
It has been narrated by Ayisha (RA): Prophet Muhammad said May Allah’s wrath be upon the the Jews and Christians for they made the graves of the messengers as places of worship.
Narrator:Ayisha (RA)
Hadith Book:Bukhari, 436, 437, 1390, 3454, 4441, 4444, 5816,
Do not turn your dwellings as places of burial.Do not make the place of my burial into spots for celebrations.
Narrator :Abu Huraira (RA)
1746, Hadith Book Abu Dawood :1746.
When a pious person passes away they build a place of worship for themselves over his grave, They carved their images on it .Prophet Muhammad said, these people are the worst among the creations of God.
Narrator: Ayisha (RA)
Hadith Book Bukhari :427, 434, 1341, 3873
Prophet Muhammad was against buildings on top of graves, and plastering them. He also prohibited people from sitting on top of graves.
Narrator :Jabir (RA)
Hadith Book : Bukhari 1765.
In Islam graves and idols are viewed as one and the same can be seen from the above sayings of Prophet Muhammad.
After being declared by Prophet Muhammad that even worshipping the shape of the grave by these people does not give them any chance of escaping the wrath of Allah,we do not find any justification in the argument that graves or shrines can be worshipped upon.
It is not possible for us to directly approach or meet persons in the top hierarchy of power, we find an intermediary to talk and recommend us to get our work accomplished.
These people who are shrine and grave worshippers bring in the same paralell to justify their act.
They argue that similar to people in the top hierarchy of power cannot be approached directly and can be done with the help of an intermediary, so is the reason to approach God with the help of a saint or a pious dead or living.
The Shaitan portrays their such acts as good, but even this argument of theirs is senseless.
It is a fact we cannot approach those in the top hierarchy of a power structure directly, because those in the top hierarchy do not have information about us.
The same thing cannot be said about the relation between man and God, do they mean to say God knows nothing about us? Does God come to know about men only on information from saints and pious people? They fail to ponder.
What could be worse than comparing a weakling as a man (an intermediary dead or alive) to the Almighty who is Omniscience.
They also argue since we do not fight our cases in the court of law directly but with the help of lawyers ,similar is when we take the help of a vali in approaching God they say.
Of course a lawyer is required to argue a case, who with the help of his expertise can turn a case either way, and the. the judge in a case decides on the facts of the case presented to him, and issues a verdict.
Is the position of Almighty with that of the judge one and the same? Is God in a similar position like a judge who passes verdicts based on talented arguments by the lawyers?
Do pious and good people represent a lawyer, are they going to enter into an argument with God to prove the rights and wrongs of a person ? If all this is answered in the negative for what is the need for a lawyer with God.
When talking about God, quoting of similarities such as a lawyer, judge, an official ,should be avoided. Allah says there is nothing like Him and not to be compared with anything.
Don’t quote examples of Allah, He is the Knower while you do not know. The Quran 16:74
There is nothing like Him, He is the listener, He is the One who sees.The Quran 42:11.
No one is comparable to Him. The Quran 112:4
He (The Man) is quoting examples of Us, he has forgotten we have created him. The Quran 36:78.
We come to understand from the above verses that the Almighty cannot be compared with anything or anyone.
When we say to seek help from God alone, they raise a counter question.
In our everyday life we take help from various people in our in fulfilling our daily needs.And there is no one earth who could live independently without other’s assistance, including Prophet Muhammad himself.
The question posed by these people is ,when it is well established that no one can live without the help of others, what is wrong in seeking the help of the pious dead ?
We are very much duty bound to know more about this.
Keep helping each other in goodness and in God fearing, Do not assist one another in sin and transgression.-The Quran 5:2.
In this verse of the Quran we find Allah permitting men helping each other,and lays emphasis on it.
Islam refutes seeking help from man only when he is believed to possess attributes of the great God.
When one calls a dead person seeking help from him, it is under the concept that the called person possesses an attribute of God, this is not similar to one asking for help from a live person.
For example let’s take the case of a person who seeks cure for his ailment from a dead person, and at the same time another one seeking cure for his ailment from a physician.Both cases superficially viewed intentionally are the same.But there is a huge difference.
The person approaching the physician sees him personally, and the physician also sees him.
The person seeking cure from the dead person had not seen him at all.The reason this person calls the dead for his rescue and cure is, he believes, similar to Allah watching him unseen, so does the dead person.
This person believes the attribute of watching creations remaining unseen by Allah is also there in the dead person. But seeking help from a physician does not fall under this category.
When the physician is approached, he tries his best to cure the person.However best the physician tries to cure the person, it sometimes may not be effective, and the sick person approaches the doctor with the same mentality.
But the mindset of the person reaching the dead person is not the same, he believes if the dead person decided to cure him ,there is nothing that could stop him.And he believes the dead person is above all weaknesses and has power over everything.
We approach a physician, with a belief that he can listen to one person at a time.
At the same time the person approaching the dead very well knows different people from different parts are seeking his help at the same time altogether.This person seeking cure believes the dead person can listen and answer many people calling him at the same time, immaterial of the number of people calling and their location. Here we witness the person surrendering the attribute of God to this dead person.
One believes a physician’s hearing power is as same as that of any living person. In the same way this person who trusts the dead believes the hearing power of the dead is equal to that of his.
We have personally witnessed the physician’s capacity to cure.And there is proof that Allah has given the power to the physician to cure.
We have not witnessed the power to heal in the case of a dead person.And there is no proof whatsoever the dead has the power to heal.And moreover we find whatever capacity the dead person had while alive is also lost. We have evidence to prove this.
The physician with the help of medicines, tablets, injections, and various other tools practices medicine, to heal people.
But on the other hand a dead person is believed to cure people with magical powers and without all these medicines and tools. The belief here is the dead cures people the same way as God does.
We have quoted the example of a physician here.The same may for example apply to in the case of a minister , or an official, or an industrialist, or a worker, or a businessman, or whosoever as their individual capacities.
But the assistance from saints, pious people, and other spiritual gurus are expected with placing them in a position in par with God. These people do not understand this difference and seek answers for all kinds of stupid questions.
Everything said and done, people while seeking help from one another do not initiate with the understanding that men have divine powers. But the help that is requested from the dead place the dead person at the level of the creator.
To know more about the fallacy of those justifying shrine worshiping please refer explanation points 17, 41, 49, 79, 83, 100, 104, 121, 122, 140, 141, 193, 215, 245, 269, 298, 327, 397, 427, 471.
