Islams Reformers

Muslims.” A hadîth reported in the Sahîh of Muslim declares, “I
prohibited to visit graves before. From now on, visit them!” Najm
ad-dîn ’Umar ibn al-Hajjî, in his book Al-jawâb fi’r-raddi ’alâ Ibn
Taimiyya, proved that it was permissible to visit tombs and
refuted Ibn Taimiyya with sound evidences. Also Burhân ad-dîn
Ibrâhîm ibn Muhammad wrote a beautiful book under the same
title. [1]
Wahhâbîs say that an act prohibited by Ibn Taimiyya is
unbelief. According to him, people make vows or pray beside
shrines, walk around them, kiss their covers, take samples of soil
from them, as well as those who ask for help from Awliyâ’, are
disbelievers. He claimed that those who do not consider these as
disbelief are disbelievers, too. In fact, he wrote, “It is halâl to kill
those who benefit from Prophets and Awliyâ’ as mediators
between Allâhu ta’âlâ and themselves for the purpose of becoming
to Allâhu ta’âlâ, and to confiscate their property,” [2] which was in
effect an indirect command to slaughter Muslims and to plunder
their proprety. The fact, however, is that he who does not believe
the well-known indispensable beliefs in the religion, e.g. the
Oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ or the fact that it is fard to perform salât
five times a day, will be an unbeliever. A Muslim who believes what
are declared clearly cannot be called an unbeliever because of a
mere doubt. Ibn Taimiyya should have used the word ‘shirk’
(polytheism) for such people to mean minor polytheism, but
Wahhâbîs say it is polytheism equivalent to unbelief. It is open
polytheism to worship idols. The hidden polytheism (shirk khafî),
however, is to ask something from anyone besides Allâhu ta’âlâ.
Men cannot escape hidden polytheism. Even prophets begged
Allâhu ta’âlâ to protect them against it. Following the nafs, sexual
desires and ostentation are examples of this kind of polytheism,
which removes the thawâb of worship. But no scholar has said,
“Ostentatious people are unbelievers. It is halâl to kill them and to
confiscate their property.”
Prostration (sajda) towards the sun, the moon, stars, idols or
statues for the purpose of worshipping them is unbelief. It is not
unbelief but a sin to prostrate before other things for reverence
without the purpose of worshipping them. Though it is unbelief to
sacrifice an animal for something whom one worships, it is not
[1] These two books exist in the Suleymâniyye Library, in the “Beshir
Aga” section with call number 142.
[2] Muhammad ibn ’Abd al-Wahhâb, Kashf ash-shubuhât, also translated
into Turkish.
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