Advice for the Muslim

certainly have fulfilled those conditions? We say that Allâhu
ta’âlâ makes the souls of His beloved servants capable of hearing,
and, for their love, creates the things wished. We slaughter
animals and recite the Qur’ân al-karîm for the sake of Allâhu
ta’âlâ, send the thawâb to a dead Muslim’s soul and seek his
intercession and help. He who performs ’ibâda for the sake of the
dead certainly becomes a polytheist, but he who performs ’ibâda
for the sake of Allâhu ta’âlâ and sends the thawâb to the dead
does not become a polytheist or a sinner. [1]
The author of the
Wahhâbite book, too, reports the karâmât of Hadrat Maryam,
Asyad ibn Hadîr and Abu Muslim ’Abdullâh al-Hawlânî [2]
(rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ). Because Allâhu ta’âlâ’s beloved
servants’ souls, not only when alive but also when dead, help
living people with the force and permission bestowed by Allâhu
ta’âlâ, we ask the souls of awliyâ’ (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ) for
help. With this belief in heart, to ask their help does not come to
mean to worship someone other than Allâhu ta’âlâ, but it means
to ask of Him.
Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (died in 751/1350), who is called
“’Allâma” (eminent master) and whose writings are used as
documents in the Wahhâbite book, is quoted elsewhere [3]
as
having written in his Kitâb ar-Rûh: “When someone visit a grave,
the dead person in the grave recognizes the visitor and hears his
voice. He becomes cheerful and responds to his greeting. This is
not peculiar to martyrs; it is the same for other dead people, too.
This is not restricted to a certain time, either; it is always as such.”
The writer’s statements contradict these words of his own
master.
9 - On pages 179 and 191, he quotes the hadîth ash-sharîf, “Oh
Fâtima! Ask me for whatever property you wish! But I cannot
rescue you from Allâhu ta’âlâ’s punishment!” and goes on:
“It is permissible to ask a human being for what he can do in
the world. It is permissible to ask of only Allah to be forgiven, to
go to Paradise, to be rescued from Hell and similar things solely
Allah can do. Only Allah may be entreated for succour, for help
or to get redeemed from trouble. Those who are far away and
[1] See the following 24th article for a detailed explanation of this
subject translated from the Arabic Al-minhat al-wahbiyya.
[2] Abdullâh al-Hawlânî passed away in Damascus in 62.
[3] Al-basâ’ir li-munkiri ’t-tawassuli bi-ahli ’l-maqâbir, originally edited
in Pakistan; Istanbul impression, 1980, p. 22.
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