Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 2 of 2

444 'Ali's attitude towards the Kharijites and Shia
said: "The Messenger of Allah (g) forbade praying on graves, sitting
on them, or building strnctures over them."639 It was also narrated
that Abn Abdullah said: "Do not build structures over graves ... for
the Messenger of Allah (g) disliked that."@0 It was narrated from
his forefathers that the Messenger of Allah (SJ forbade plastering
over graves. 641
Al-Hum d-'kli claimed that this prohibition included every
grave except the graves of the Prophet (g) and the Imams (s), and
that the prohibition meant only that it was disliked.642 However, the
general meaning of these reports is clear, as is the evidence for its
being hah. Al-'hli has no evidence for his contention except the
strangeness of the real-life practice of his group and the oddness of
some of their reports. This oddness itself is proof of invalidity
because it is contrary to the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His
Messenger and the consensus of the Ummah, including Ah1 al-Bayt.
A warning against this was narrated from Ah1 d-Bayt, because it is a
means that leads to associating others with Allah. Moreover, the
reason for this prohibition does not differentiate between one grave
and another; in fact, the danger is greater with regard to the graves of
the Imams because the likelihood of people going to extremes with
regard to them is greater. Hence the cause of polytheism is
exaggerating about the righteous.643
3.4.4. Their belief that the Imam forbids
what he wants and allows what he wants
The Shia claim in their reports that: "Allah (g) created
Muhammad, 'Ali and Fstimah, and they remained for a thousand
years, then He (s) created all other things and made these three
witnesses to their creation. He (g) enjoined His creation to be
obedient to them and delegated the affairs of creation to them, so they
permit what they want and forbid what they want."644 Their shaykh