The Aqeeda of Yemenite scholars on asking help from Auliyah
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Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Jamal al-Din Yusuf ash-Shafiee Yemeni [Shaykh, The Imam, Allama — see Ghayat al-Amani 1/623] wrote قصيدة في الرد على التقي السبكي والدفاع عن ابن تيمية (“A poem in refutation of at-Taqi as-Subki and in defense of Ibn Taymiyyah”).
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Sayyid Badr al-Din al-Hussaini (d. 855 H).
The Yemeni scholar, the descendant of Musa Kazim, al-Sayyid al-Sharif Badr al-Din Husain bin Abdur Rahman Al-Hussaini (d. 855 H), who also had the privilege of meeting Sakhawi, the student of Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani, said:
“والاستغاثة بالمشايخ الأموات والأحياء مما أطبق عليه المتأخرون من المتصوفة، ولم يُنقل عن السلف المتقدمين لمعرفتهم بأنّ الاستغاثة بغير الله تعالى لا تجوز ولا تنفع، قال الله تعالى: {قُلِ ادْعُوا الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُم مِّن دُونِهِ فَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ كَشْفَ الضُّرِّ عَنكُمْ وَلَا تَحْوِيلاً} وغير ذلك من الآيات.
ولم يُنقل أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أذِن لأحد من الصحابة رضي الله عنهم في الاستغاثة به في شدّة قط، وكان حاضرًا يوم أُحد فلم يملك من الأمر شيئًا كما قال الله تعالى: {لَيْسَ لَكَ مِنَ الأَمْرِ شَيْءٌ}، وإنما يُستشفع به إلى الله تعالى في تفريج الكرب وتسهيل الشدائد، وكذا بالصالحين من عباد الله فاعلم ذلك ولا تتبع جهالات المتأخرين”
“Asking help (Istigatha) from shuyukh who are dead and living is the practice of the later Sufis.
It was not transmitted from the early predecessors because they knew that seeking help from other than Allah Almighty is neither permissible nor beneficial.
Allah says:
‘Tell them: Call upon those whom you fancy to be (your helpers) instead of Him! They have no power to remove any affliction from you, nor can they shift it (to any other).’ (17:56) and other verses like this.
It was not reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, gave permission for Istigatha from him to any of his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, in hardships, and he was present on the Day of Uhud, and he had no control over the matter, as Allah says:
‘You have no authority in the matter.’ (3:128)
And verily, they turn towards Allah through them to ease their afflictions and difficulties, as well as the righteous servants of Allah. Know that and do not follow the ignorance of the mutakhireen (later Sufis who are not from the Salaf and who innovated istigatha).”
“Matalib Ahl al-Qurbah fi Sharh Du’a Abi Harbah [manuscript, folio: 83b], and this manuscript is in the library of Shaykh Ahmad Muhammad Yusuf Harbah. Taken from the book Al-Majmu’ al-Thameen fi Hukm Du’a Ghayr Rabb al-‘Alameen [by Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Maqshi].”
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Sayyid Husain bin Mahdi the Yemenite.
The descendant of al-Hasan bin Ali bin Abi Talib, al-Sayyid Husain bin Mahdi [1139هـ/1187هـ] said:
“The evil practices that happen while visiting the graves cannot be written here, as the pen is incapable of writing all of it.”
Then he said:
والمشروع فيها إنما هو تذكر الدار الآخرة والإحسان إلى الميت المزور بالدعاء والترحم، والاستغفار، وسؤال العافية. فقلب القبوريون الأمر وعكسوا وعاكسوا مقاصد الشرع، وجعلوا المقصود بالزيارة: الشرك بالميت، والدعاء به، وسؤاله الحوائج، واستنزال البركات، والنصر على الأعداء فأساءوا إلى أنفسهم وإلى الميت
“And what is legislated regarding them [graves] is only the remembrance of the Hereafter and showing kindness to the deceased who is visited, by supplicating for him, seeking mercy for him, seeking forgiveness for him, and asking for well-being. But the grave-worshippers reversed the matter, inverted it, and opposed the objectives of the Sacred Law. They made the purpose of the visit shirk with the deceased, supplicating through him, asking him for needs, seeking to bring down blessings, and seeking victory over enemies. So they wronged themselves and wronged the deceased.”
[معارج الألباب في مناهج الحق page 120-121]
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The Yemenite Muhammad bin Ismaeel al-San’ani (1099 H – 1182 H) VS the Yemenite al-Shawkani (1173 H – 1250 AH).
Al-San’ani said:
(Kufr al-Amali) Disbelief in action includes asking help from (dead) Auliyah, asking help from them in pain, tawaf of the graves, kissing the wall of the grave, and vows for them. These are disbelief in action and not in belief (Kufr al-Aitiqadi). This person will be included among those who believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Day of Judgement, but Satan beautified this belief for them that Auliyah have the power to benefit and harm, and that they can intercede. So he had the same belief for them (Auliyah) which the kuffar had for the idols in the days of Jahiliyah. But these people prove tawheed for Allah and do not make the auliyah their god…. So they should be stopped through naseeha and let them know about their ignorance…. [al-Fath al-Rabbani min Fatawa al-Imam al-Shawkani, page 364]
Al-Shawkani responded by saying this is actually Kufr in Aiteqad rather than Kufr in Action, and that the grave worshipers of his time are even worse, as the Mushrikeen used to ask help from Allah at the time of grief and they used to ask help from idols generally (quoted al-Isra 67, al-Anaam 40, Luqman 32). Whereas the grave worshipers of his time used to ask help from the dead even in calamities; only a few would call Allah. [al-Fath al-Rabbani min Fatawa al-Imam al-Shawkani, page 368, Maktaba al-Jaleel al-Jadeer, Yemen, San’a]
Shawkani said:
A man who traveled to Hajj via the sea informed me that when there was a great storm in the sea, I saw most of the travelers asking help from the dead. No one was asking help from Allah. I had a great fear of drowning at that time that this type of shirk is going on with Allah. [al-Fath al-Rabbani min Fatawa al-Imam al-Shawkani, page 368, Maktaba al-Jaleel al-Jadeer, Yemen, San’a]
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Muhammad bin Ismaeel as-San’ani said:
فإن هذه القباب والمشاهد التي صارت أعظم ذريعة إلى الشرك والإلحاد، وأكبر وسيلة إلى هدم الإسلام وخراب بنيانه، غالب، بل كل من يعمرها هم الملوك والسلاطين والرؤساء والولاة، إما على قريب لهم أو على من يحسنون الظن فيه، من فاضل أو عالم أو صوفي أو فقير أو شيخ أو كبير، ويزوره الناس الذين يعرفونه زيارة الأموات، من دون توسل به ولا هتف باسمه، بل يدعون له ويستغفرون، حتى ينقرض من يعرفه أو أكثرهم، فيأتي من بعدهم فيجد قبرا قد شيد عليه البناء، وسرجت عليه الشموع، وفرش بالفراش الفاخر، وأرخيت عليه الستور، وألقيت عليه الأوراد والزهور، فيعتقد أن ذلك لنفع أو لدفع ضر، ويأتيه السدنة يكذبون على الميت بأنه فعل وفعل، وأنزل بفلان الضرر، وبفلان النفع، حتى يغرسوا في جبلته كل باطل، ولهذا الأمر ثبت في الأحاديث النبوية اللعن على من أسرج على القبور، وكتب عليها وبنى عليها١، وأحاديث ذلك واسعة معروفة، فإن ذلك في نفسه منهي عنه، ثم هو ذريعة إلى مفسدة عظيمة.
“For indeed, these domes and shrines have become the greatest means leading to shirk and atheism, and the biggest cause of the destruction of Islam and the ruin of its structure. The majority — indeed, all — of those who build them are kings, sultans, rulers, and governors, either over a relative of theirs or over someone they think highly of, whether a virtuous person, a scholar, a Sufi, a poor man, a sheikh, or an elder. And people who know him visit him as one visits the dead, without seeking a means through him or calling out his name. Rather, they supplicate for him and seek forgiveness for him, until those who knew him — or most of them — pass away. Then those after them come and find a grave over which a structure has been built, candles have been lit, luxurious bedding has been spread, curtains have been drawn, and litanies and flowers have been placed upon it. So he believes that this is for obtaining benefit or averting harm. And the caretakers come to him, lying about the deceased, claiming that he did such and such, and that he brought harm to so-and-so and benefit to so-and-so, until they plant every falsehood into his very nature.
And regarding this matter, it is established in the Prophetic narrations: the curse upon those who light candles on graves, write upon them, and build upon them. And the narrations on this are extensive and well-known. For this practice is in itself prohibited, and furthermore, it is a gateway to a great corruption.”
Tathir al-I’tiqad page 83
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What happened when al-ʿAllāmah Ṣāliḥ ibn Mahdī al-Maqbulī (d. 1108 AH) said to someone seeking help from saints.
He said:
نعم: فإذا ركبت البحر اليوم فيما شاهدنا من مكة إلى اليمن إذا مسهم الضر وأشرفوا على الهلاك صاح كلٌ بشيخه، ونادى أهلُ المراكب المسافرين ليدعو كلٌ بشيخه، فربما نودي عشرون أو خمسون أو مائة شيخ, ولو قال لهم القائل: ادعوا الله وحده، لكان من شر الخليقة عندهم.
وقلتُ لرجل مرة وقد مسنا اليأس من الحياة وهو ينادي يا سيدي فلان، يا سيدي فلان: أتدعو في الضرورة غير الله وقد اقتصر الكافرون على دعائه في مثلها؟! فقال: إنهم معنا أينما كنا، حاضرون لا يغيبون، فإنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
“Indeed, when one boards a ship nowadays, as we’ve witnessed on trips from Mecca to Yemen, if the people are struck with hardship and fear destruction, each one starts calling out to his shaykh, and the crew shout to the passengers: ‘Everyone, call on your shaykh!’
So, you may hear twenty, fifty, or even a hundred names being called! And if someone were to say to them, ‘Call upon Allah alone!’ he would be considered the most wicked among them.
I once said to a man, while we were overtaken by despair and he was shouting, ‘O my master so-and-so! O my master so-and-so!’ ‘Are you calling on someone other than Allah in a moment of dire need, while even the disbelievers called on Allah alone in such situations?!’
He replied: ‘They (the saints) are with us wherever we go; they are present and never absent.’
Inna Lillah Wa Inna Iliyhi Rajioon.”
Al-Abhāth al-Musaddadah fī Funūn Mut’adidah (P: 165)
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He also said after mentioning some of the fabricated stories spread by certain Sufis regarding the supposed powers of saints:
“ومن سمع [أي: تلك الأكاذيب] صدّق، ومن لم يصدِّق أو سأل عن صحة ذلك عقلاً أو نقلاً، قالوا: لا يقول بالأولياء، فلنعرض عنه ونحذر منه، حتى أنهم يثبتون على هذا إذا مسهم الضر في البحر لا تسمعهم إلا يدعون المشايخ، ويهتفون بالركبان: ليدع كلٌ منكم شيخه، فيرتج المركب بالأصوات بذكر الشيخ، فإذا الكفار كانوا خيراً من هؤلاء؛ لأنهم كانوا إذا مسهم الضر في البحر ضلّ من يدعون إلا إياه.
اللهم إنا نبرأ إليك من حال هؤلاء، ونسألك أن تكتبنا من الناهين عن ضلالهم والمناوئين لهم، ونستغفرك من التقصير، وقد علمت عجزنا عن السيف أن نفضي به إليهم، وعن اللسان أن يعمهم وينادي به عليهم إلا بمثل هذه الأساطير، وإلا في الفرص الممكنة بحيث عُرفنا بذلك بينهم. والحمد لله”
“Whoever hears these stories believes them. And whoever doesn’t believe or dares to question their authenticity either by reason or by revelation, they say: ‘This person does not believe in the saints; let us turn away from him and be cautious of him.’
They remain firm on this even in times of danger at sea; you hear nothing but their calls upon the shaykhs, and shouting to the passengers: ‘Let each of you call upon your shaykh!’
The ship roars with voices mentioning their shaykhs’ names. But the disbelievers were better than these people, for when hardship struck them at sea, they abandoned all others and called only upon Allah.
O Allah, we disassociate ourselves before You from the condition of such people. We ask You to make us among those who oppose their misguidance and confront them.
We ask Your forgiveness for our shortcomings, for we know that we are unable to confront them by the sword, and even the tongue cannot reach them except through stories like these, or when an opportunity arises to openly declare our stance among them.
And all praise is due to Allah.”
Al-Ittiḥāf li-Ṭalabat al-Kashshāf [Makhṭūṭ, Lawḥah 131-132]. Taken from Kitāb al-Majmūʿ al-Thamīn fī Ḥukm Duʿāʾ Ghayr Rabb al-ʿĀlamīn, P. 36.
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He also said:
ثم قد صوروا كذبات قالوا: مشى الجنيد في البحر وهو يقول: يا الله يا الله، وقال لتلميذه: قل أنت: يا جنيد يا جنيد. قال: مشيا ثم قال تلميذه: يا الله، فغرق، فنهره الشيخ، فتاب، وقال: يا جنيد، فمشى فوق الماء.
“They propagate fabricated tales, claiming: ‘Al-Junayd walked on water crying “O God!”, then told his disciple: “Now say: O Junayd!” They walked together until the disciple said “O God” and began drowning. The sheikh chastised him until he repented and said “O Junayd,” whereupon he walked on water again.'”
Al-Abhāth al-Musaddadah fī Funūn Mut’adidah (ص: ١٥٨).
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Shaykh Muqbil bin Hadi was Yemenite as well, and his aqeeda is well known.
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Muhammad Abdullah al-Imam, also Yemenite, spoke against these practices in Tahdhir al-Muslimin min al-Quburiyyin 91.
Various other quotes can be presented, but these are enough.