Dargah and wasila of Awliya
Mu' meneen
Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Assalam,
Whatever status you
have i respect it but I am afraid to tell you that
you are misleading a lot of people concerning Dargah`s and Awliyah`s.
First of all i wish to ask you what is the meaning of Awliyah Allah?
As you know Death for
them means immortality.They simply cross the stage of
fana to reach the station of BAKA.
Allah Almighty has
glorified them to such an extent that they shall be ever remembered.
i agree with you that you cannot bestow towards their
grave, you cannot ask them what you want because it is only Allah who gives and
takes.But you definitely can go to darga and use Awliyaah Allah`s as Wasila.
Allahu Ta`ala declares: "Oh
believers! Fear Allah and look for a wasila to
approach him"(Al Maida, Verse35)
I will definitely
gather up all the necessary information i have about Dargha`s and Awlia Allah and will
forward them to you.
I would also like to
know whether it is considered to be a shrik using Awlia Allah as Wasila ?
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Dargah and wasila of Awliya
In the
name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness.
Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray,
none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no
person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Q-1: First of all i wish to ask you what is the meaning of Awliyah Allah?
‘Awliya’ is the plural of the word ‘wali’,
which basically means a friend or a patron.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 257: Allah is the ‘Wali’ of those
who have faith: from the depths of darkness, He will lead them forth into
light. Of those who reject faith, their
‘Awliyaa’ are the Evil One (Shaitaan): from light they will lead them forth into the
depths of darkness. They will be
companions of the fire to dwell therein (for ever).
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 107: Knowest thou not that to Allah belongeth the dominion of the
heavens and the earth! And besides Him ye have neither ‘Wali’ (patron) nor helper.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 18 Surah Kahf verse 102: Do the Unbelievers think that they can take my servants as ‘Awliyaa’ besides Me? Verily
We have prepared Hell for the Unbelievers for (their)
entertainment.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 76: Those who believe, fight in the cause of
Allah and those who reject faith fight in the cause of evil: so fight ye
against the ‘Awliyaa’ (friends) of Shaitaan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Shaitaan.
Q-2: As you know Death for them
means immortality.They simply cross the stage of fana to reach the station of BAKA.
Allah
Almighty has glorified them to such an extent that they shall be ever
remembered.
The only
Being who is Immortal, and will never ever die is the Being
of the Merciful Lord Alone!
If death
approaches a being, then he obviously cannot be called ‘immortal’!!
Q-3: i
agree with you that you cannot bestow towards their grave, you cannot ask them
what you want because it is only Allah who gives and takes.But
you definitely can go to darga and use Awliyaah Allah`s as Wasila.
Allahu Ta`ala declares: "Oh
believers! Fear Allah and look for a wasila to
approach him"(Al Maida, Verse35)
The translation of the full Aayah 35 of Surah Maidah is as follows: O ye who believe! Fear Allah and seek the ‘wasila’
(means of approach) unto Him; and strive with might and main in His cause: that
ye may prosper.
Under no
circumstances or contexts can the above Aayah of the
Glorious Quran even remotely imply that ‘wasila’ means to take the graves of the pious righteous
deceased slaves of Allah Subhanah and start invoking
these ‘Awliyaas’ as a means of approaching Allah Subhanah!
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 39 Surah Zumar verse 3: Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due? But those who take ‘awliyaas’
other than Allah (say): "We only serve them (the awliyaas)
in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah." Truly Allah will
judge between them in that wherein they differ.
But Allah guides not such as are false and ungrateful.
But ‘wasila’ is a means to approach Allah Subhanah
by doing righteous good deeds like Jihad (striving in His Cause), Prayer,
Fasts, Charity, etc.; the striving of
doing righteous good deeds are the means whereby one may approach the Pleasure
and Good Will of the Merciful Lord and Creator; and the one who does so will
indeed be deemed successful.
Your Statement: But you definitely
can go to darga and use Awliyaah
Allah`s as Wasila.
It has
indeed always happened that when some true and pious servant of Allah Subhanah died, some people declared him after his
death as a ‘Wali’(plural Awliya) from themselves, and shared some of Allah’s Rights and
Attributes with this departed person!
Some made images and worshipped them, some made idols and invoked them, and some turned their graves into places of
worship and invocations!
Allah
Alone is All-Hearing;
but some ignorant people shared this Noble Attribute of Allah
with their Awliyaas and declared them to be
all-hearing too!
Similarly, Allah Alone is
All-Seeing; but some ignorant people
shared this Noble Attribute of Allah with their Awliyaas
and declared them to be all-seeing too!
This is
precisely what has been termed ‘shirk’ in the Glorious Quran!
One who
we think is a righteous and pious man and declare him
a ‘wali’, may or may not be a ‘wali’;
for Allah Subhanah Alone knows the condition of his
heart and his intentions. But there is
absolutely no doubt that all the Messengers of Allah Subhanah
are His ‘Walis’!
And the Messenger of Allah (saws) invoked the curse of Allah Subhanah on those who made and used the graves of the Noble
Prophets of Allah as dargahs or places of worship!
Abu Hurairah reported: "The
Prophet (saws) said: 'May Allah destroy the Jews, because they used the graves
of their prophets as places of worship (dargahs).''
Related Bukhari and Muslim.
Abu Hurairah narrated: "The
Prophet (saws) said: 'May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians for they
turned the graves of their Prophets into places of worship' (dargahs).''
Related by Bukhari and Muslim.
Aishah reported: "Umm Habibah
and Umm Salamah mentioned to Allah's Messenger (saws)
a church in which they saw drawings while in Abyssinia, whereupon he (saws)
said: 'Those people used to build a place of worship (dargah)
over the grave of a righteous man among them when he died, and make such
drawings in it. These will be the worst of people in the sight of Allah on the
Day of Resurrection.''
Related by Bukhari and Muslim
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 7.706 Narrated
by Aisha and Abdullah bin Abbas
When the disease of the Messenger of Allah (saws) got aggravated,
he covered his face with a Khamisa, but when he became
short of breath, he would remove it from his face and say, "It is like
that! May Allah curse the Jews and Christians because they took the graves of
their prophets as places of worship. (dargah)" By that he
warned his followers of imitating them, by doing that which they did.
It is
indeed unfortunate and absolute and utter ignorance, that after being
specifically warned by the Messenger of Allah (saws); some people who profess
their belief in him and his message start making and using the dargahs of the deceased pious slaves of Allah Subhanah as places of worship and invocation!
Your Question: I would also like
to know whether it is considered to be a shrik using Awlia Allah as Wasila ?
If one
invokes anything or anyone other than Allah Subhanah,
or if one invokes or calls upon anything or anyone with Allah Subhanah… there is absolutely no doubt that such a person
will be committing the heinous abomination of ‘shirk’!!!
It is the
strict command and sole Right of Allah Subhanah, as
the Creator and Sustainer of the World, that He and He Alone should be invoked
for anything one desires and needs; for there is none in the Universe who can
give anything if Allah does not will to give, and there is none in the Universe
who can stop Allah if He wills to show mercy on His slaves!
If one so
much as even tries to invoke someone or something other than Allah Subhanah Alone, he will be committing the most heinous of
crimes in the sight of Allah Subhanah; that is,
‘shirk’!!!
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah
Yunus verse
18: These people serve beside Allah those which can neither harm nor benefit
them, and say, “These are our ‘shofa’a’
(intercessors) with Allah!” (O
Mohammed), tell them, “Do you wish to inform Allah of that thing which He knows
not in the heavens, or in the earth?” He
is absolutely free from,
and exalted above the shirk that they commit.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 18 Surah Kahf verse 102: What? Do these people, who have disbelieved, presume that they would make My servants
their ‘auliyaas’ besides Me? We have prepared Hell for the hospitality of
such people.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 72: Whoever
commits ‘shirk’ (invoking anything with Allah), Allah shall forbid for him
Beloved
brother in Islam, the Glorious Quran is overflowing
with the warnings of Allah Subhanah regarding every
manifestation of the heinous sin of ‘shirk’.
Every nation which was destroyed before, be it the nation of Prophet Nooh (a.s.), the nation of Aad, the nation of Thamud, the
nation of Prophet Lut (a.s.),
the nation of Prophet Shoaib (a.s.),
etc. Every nation was destroyed by Allah
Subhanah because they did exactly what they were
warned against by the Prophets who came to them: they invariably invoked others
with Allah Subhanah and were guilty of the heinous
crime of ‘shirk’!
Some
invoked the sun, the moon, the stars; some invoked animals; some invented their
own gods; and some made images and graves of the deceased righteous pious
people (awliyaas) and invoked them with Allah Subhanah….and thus became guilty of the abomination and the
most hated crime in the sight of The All-Mighty Lord, ‘shirk’!!!
My
beloved brother in Islam, Allah has narrated the stories of the old nations in
the Glorious Quran in detail, and why they were
destroyed and annihilated by Him. We
humbly urge you to please read and study the warnings of wisdom by the Merciful
Lord before you propagate the invocation of the ‘awliyaas’
at their ‘dargahs’.
May Allah
have mercy on the Ummah of Mohamed (saws), and save
them from ever committing this abomination and heinous crime of ‘shirk’!
Whatever
written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance,
and whatever of error is of me. Allah
Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in Islam,