Sunday, April 1, 2012

Part 3 - The Ruling of the Dome Built upon the Grave of the Messenger of Allaah - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam


The Ruling of the Dome Built upon the Grave
of the
Messenger of Allaah - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam

By the
Shaykh, Muhadith of the land of Yemen
Muqbil bin Hadi al-Waadi'ee

Translated by
Abbas Abu Yahya

Part 3
The Sharia's stance towards extremism

From what has preceded, it becomes clear that Allaah has raised the status of His Prophet above what humans can comprehend, and if they try to increase anything of his status then this would be extremism, out side of the Deen.

With this you should know that those who celebrate the Prophet's birthday, or build domes on the Prophet's grave, or beautify his Masjid in the name of glorifying him, then all of this is extremism.

Allaah and His Messenger have prohibited extremism, Allaah Ta'ala mentions, showing the misguidance of the Christians due to extremism:
<< Surely, they have disbelieved who say: "Allaah is the Messiah, son of Maryam." But the Messiah said: "O Children of Israel! Worship Allaah, my Lord and your Lord." Verily, whosoever sets up partners in worship with Allaah, then Allaah has forbidden Paradise for him, and the Fire will be his abode. And as for the Zâlimûn (polytheists and wrong­doers) there are no helpers. 
Surely, the disbelievers are those who said: "Allaah is the third of the three (in a Trinity)." But there is no ilâh (god) (none who has the right to be worshipped) but One Ilâh (Allaah). And if they cease not from what they say, verily, a painful torment will befall the disbelievers among them.  Will they not repent to Allaah and ask His Forgiveness? For Allaah is Oft-­Forgiving, Most Merciful. 
The Messiah, son of Maryam, was no more than a Messenger; many were the Messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a righteous person. They both used to eat food. Look how We make the Ayaat clear to them, yet look how they are deluded away (from the truth).  Say: "How do you worship besides Allaah something which has no power either to harm or to benefit you? But it is Allaah Who is the All-­Hearer, All­-Knower."  Say: "O people of the Book! Exceed not the limits in your religion (by believing in something) other than the truth, and do not follow the vain desires of people who went astray in times gone by, and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the Right Path. >>[1]
<< O people of the book! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, nor say of Allaah anything but the truth. The Messiah Jesus, son of Maryam, was (no more than) a Messenger of Allaah and His Word, which He bestowed on Maryam and a spirit created by Him; so believe in Allaah and His Messengers. Say not: "Three (trinity)!" Cease! (it is) better for you. For Allaah is (the only) One Ilâh (God), Glory be to Him above having a son. To Him belong all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allaah is All­-Sufficient as a Disposer of affairs. >>[2]
<<And the Jews say: 'Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allaah, and the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allaah. That is a saying from their mouths. They imitate the saying of the disbelievers of old. Allaah's Curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the truth! They took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allaah, and (they also took as their Lord) Messiah, son of Maryam, while they were commanded to worship none but One Ilâh (Allaah). None has the right to be worshipped except Him.  Praise and glory be to Him, (far above is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him).">>[3]
<<It is not (possible) for any human being to whom Allaah has given the Book and Al-Hikma  and Prophet hood to say to the people: "Be my worshippers rather than Allaah's." On the contrary (he would say): "Be you Rabbaniyun (learned men of religion who practice what they know and also preach to others), because you are teaching the Book, and you are studying it." Nor would he order you to take angels and Prophets for lords (gods). Would he order you to disbelieve after you have submitted to Allaah's Will? >>[4]
<< And they worship besides Allaah things that hurt them not, nor profit them, and they say: "These are our intercessors with Allaah." Say: "Do you inform Allaah of that which He knows not in the heavens and on the earth?" Glorified and Exalted be He above all that which they associate as partners with Him! >>[5]
<< And they say: "The Most Beneficent has begotten a son." Indeed you have brought forth (said) a terrible evil thing.  Whereby the heavens are almost torn, and the earth is split asunder, and the mountains fall in ruins, that they ascribe a son to the Most Beneficent.  But it is not suitable for (the Majesty of) the Most Beneficent that He should beget a son.  There is none in the heavens and the earth but comes unto the Most Beneficent as a slave. >>[6]
There are very many Ayaat in the Noble Qur'aan which prohibit extremism, and condemn the people who go to extremes.  As for the Ahadeeth then we will limit it to the following Ahadeeth:
1- On the authority of Umar – radiAllaahu anhu – who said:  I heard the Prophet - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – saying: " Do not over praise me, like the Christians over praised the son of Maryam. Indeed I am a slave of Allaah and His Messenger."
Narrated by Bukharee (5/300) and Ahmad (1/23, 24, 47, 55)

2 - On the authority of Ibn Abbas – radiAllaahu anhu – who said: The Messenger of Allaah - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam –said early in the morning on the day of 'Aqabah while he was on his she-camel: ' Find me some stones." So I looked for seven stones for the Prophet, the stones where like stones for throwing, and he began to shake them in his hand, then he said: "Throw stones like these." After that he said: ' O you people beware of extremism, in the Deen, since extremism is what destroyed those before you."

Narrated by an-Nisaaee (5/218), Ibn Majah and this is his wording (2/1008), Ahmad (1/215), Ibn Hibban as it is mentioned in 'Muwwarid athaman' (249) and Hakim (1/466), and he said this hadeeth is authentic according to the conditions of Bukharee and Muslim, but they did not narrate it and Dhahabi affirmed the hadeeth.

If this is the situation regarding stones, what about other than that, from those who seek assistance from the Messenger of Allaah and other religious people.  They also perform worship of the Messenger of Allaah of that which is not permissible except for Allaah.

3 - On the authority of Muttaruf who said: that my father said: I went with the delegation of Bani ‘Aamir to the Messenger of Allaah - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – and we said to him: ‘You are our Sayyid (master).’
He said: ‘The Master is Allaah.’
We said: ‘You’re the best of us in excellence and the greatest of us in excellence.
So he said: ‘Say what you have to say, or some of what you have to say, and don’t let Shaytaan drag you along.’
Narrated by Abu Dawood, Abu al-Teeb said in ‘Awnal Mabood’ (4/402): the chain of the hadeeth of Abdullaah bin Shahkheer is authentic.’ It is also narrated by Ahmad. I say it is in ‘al-Musnad’(4/25).

4 - On the authority of Anas bin Maalik – radiAllaahu anhu – that a man said: O Muhammad, the best of us, the son of the best of us, our master and the son of our master.
The Messenger of Allaah said: ‘Say what you have to say, do not let the Shaytaan pull you along, (or Shayyateen- plural, or he said one of these two).  I am Muhammad the son of Abdullaah, I am Muhammad the slave of Allaah and His Messenger.
I hate that you raise me above the status, which Allaah -Azza wa Jal- has placed me in.’
Narrated by Ahmad (3/249). The narrators of this hadeeth are the narrators in the Saheeh of al-Bukharee.

There are many, many Ahaadeeth, however what we have mentioned from the Ayaat and Ahaadeeth is convincing enough for the one who wants the truth and the one who is obedient to the truth.
As for the one who follows his desire, and follows what his father and grandfathers were upon, or follows what the majority are upon, even if you brought all the Ayaat they would not comply with them.  Rather they receive these Ayaat with obstinacy and pride, just like the situation of the blind followers.
I do not doubt that beautifying the Messenger’s grave and building a dome over it is major extremism. This is exactly what the Messenger - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam – prohibited.

Indeed many of the common folk have been tested with this beautification.  There is none worthy of worship except Allaah - and how crowded it is around the grave of the Messenger - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam –with the people raising their voices. And how many of the people rub the windows, the pillars, the pulpit and the doors.

They do all of this due to the beautification in the Prophet’s Masjid, which opposes the guidance of the Prophet - sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam –, where he said: ‘I have not been commanded to extravagantly build the masajid.’
The hadeeth has been narrated by Abu Dawood and authenticated by Ibn Hibban, this is what al-Hafidh mentioned in ‘Blughal Muraam.’

Ibn Abbas said: You will beautify the masajid just like the Banu Israeel used to beautify theirs.
This is what has been facilitated from the introduction, and now we begin researching into; who entered his noble grave into his masjid? When was the dome built? Then we will mention, from what has been made easy for us, of the Ahaadeeth which show the prohibition on taking graveyards as places of worship, and praying to graves, and praying on top of them. This is now the time to enter into the topic of research.

Allaah is the One who gives the capability and the One to guide to the straight path.  Allaah is sufficient for us and He is the Best Disposer of affairs.

The introduction has been completed and all praise belongs to Allaah.


All Praise belongs to Allaah, may His peace and blessings be upon our final Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who follow his guidance.



[1]  Al-Maidah: 72-77
[2]  An-Nisa: 171
[3]  At-Tauba: 30-31
[4]  Aal-Imraan: 79-80
[5]  Yunus: 18
[6]  Maryam: 88-93

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