The Sin Of Grave Worshipping

“AND INDEED TO ASCRIBE PARTNERS UNTO ALLAH (Shirk) IS

A TREMENDOUS WRONG”

[Luqman: 13]

The sin of grave worshipping and its foundation:

In the light of Quran and Sunnah

Indeed after death and until the Day of Resurrection,

the comforts or afflictions of the grave are an

undisputed reality. Unfortunately, however, the

plaintiffs of Islam and religion have come to perceive

this mere ditch in which the body of the dead is

buried to be that grave in which every dead being goes

through his accountability session and remains within

until the Day when all will be risen back to life

before Allah. What about the plentiful of those

individuals whose dead bodies are burnt and turned

into ashes? Aren’t there millions of those whose

bodies are mutilated by the wild animals or are make a

botch of by the predatory underwater fish? The

question arises here. For all of those individuals who

do not undergo memorial services, where do they

receive the inescapable and the promised gratification

or torment of the grave?

This is yet another one of the misfortunes of this

Ummah that the fundamental issue of life and death is

being treated with such indifference and ignorance.

The belief in the fact that it is in this worldly

grave, visible to you and I, in which the person

undergoes his accountability session before Allah is

in fact a replica of the sinful doctrine of “Hayat fil

Qabr” which is the foundation for Shirk and

denunciation of the Holy Quran.

Based on this canon of ‘Hayat fil Qabr’, (i.e. being

alive in the grave), Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon

Him) was the first one to be perceived as being alive

in his burial place in Medina. The events that

followed afterward not only made people to consider

every dead being as alive within his sepulcher but

they also started to grant these dead people Islamic

titles such as ‘Gaus’, ‘Qatab’ or ‘Abdal’. What’s

worse is that these dead ‘Islamic saints’ were also

given the authority to participate actively in the

everyday affairs of people in the sense that they were

being called for incase of adversities as well as

prosperities. Some of these were responsible for

predicting the upcoming adversities while the others

were being called for to render the problems null and

void. Some became ‘Data Ganj Bakhsh’ while others

became ‘Dastgeer o Gaus ul Azam’; some were even

promoted to the status of being ‘Gareeb Nawaz’ (kind

of the poor). Thus in every other street, the burial

places of these ‘saints’ were given face lifts into

‘holy tombs’ that actually mimicked the Holy Kaba. The

yearly ‘Urs’ imitated the Hajj well enough and even

the geographically far- flung humans considered it

obligatory to participate in these falsified rituals.

Instead of paying heed to the teachings of the Quran

and the Message of Allah’s Messenger, people gave

precedence to the teachings of the Mashaikh and Ulema

who themselves have been in immense error by indulging

into Shirk.

Those possessing the slightest vision should not find

it hard to realize that it is through these ‘Mushaaikh

and Ulema’, that the Muslims today have been segmented

into sects, completely overlooking the Command of the

Lord:

‘ Watasimu bi hablillahi jamiaun wala tafarraqu’

Translation: “And hold fast to the Rope of Allah and

do not divide among yourselves”

At the end of the day, those of us who actually fear

the Day of Judgment and actually want to acquire

authentic knowledge of our religion will have to turn

to Quran and Sunnah for full acknowledgement of the

Deen.

Quran has clarified the notion of Prophet Muhammad’s

death in the following manner:

“Lo! Thou (Muhammad) will die and they will also die”

[Az-Zumr: 30]

In another ayah it has been stated that:

“We appointed immorality for no mortal before Thee

(Muhammad). What! If Thou diest, can they be

immortal?” [Al-Anbiya: 34]

“We gave them (The Messengers) not bodies that would

not eat food, nor were they immortals” [Al-Anbiya: 08]

Allah made the Holy Prophet claim this with His own

Holy tongue:

“Say: Lo! My worship, and my sacrifice and my living

and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the Worlds”

Moreover, in numerous authentic Ahadith, the

Companions of the Prophet have reaffirmed the fact

that “The Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) is Dead.”

In spite of all this evidence, there are still people

who believe that the Prophet is alive in His grave in

Medina or that His Soul remained within His Body (‘Aab

e Hiyat’: Qasim Nanotawi); while some even lead on to

believe that The Prophet remains in contact with His

Wives in the same way that He lived with them in this

world. (Ahmed Raza Khan: Mulfuzat)

Contrary to all this, we have the Word of Allah in the

Mother of all books, the Quran that reads out to us:

“Lo! Thou will die” [Az-Zumr: 30]

Quran has also explicitly put forward the doctrine of

death that:

“Every soul must taste of death” [Al Anbiya: 35]

“Everyone that is thereon will pass away; there

remains but the countenance of thy Lord of Might and

Glory” [Ar-Rehman: 26-27]

“Eveything will perish, save His countenance”

[Al-Qasas: 88]

Quite opposite to the spirit of these Ayat, people

have actually brought the Messenger of Allah to stand

against The Lord of the Worlds by declaring Him as

immortal. (Nauzubillah)

It’s only Allah’s countenance that is eternal and

therefore if one believes that someone else apart from

Him can be made immortal is indeed in immense error

and is actually indulging in the heinous sin of

“Shirk”: Association of Partners to Allah.

The credulity of the whole situation does not end with

this. People have considered the Prophet to be “Nafe o

Zaar”, “Aalim ul Ghaib”, “Hazir o Nazir” and “Awal o

Akhir”.

Whereas in the Book revealed to the same Prophet has

condemned this very notion of holding the Prophet

liable for any adversity of prosperity itself in the

following way:

“Say: Lo! I control not hurt nor benefit for you”

[Al-Jinn: 21]

“Say: for Myself, I have no power to benefit , nor

power to hurt, save that which Allah wills. Had I

knowledge of the Unseen, I should have abundance of

wealth, and adversity would not touch me. I am but a

Warner, and a bearer of good tidings unto folks who

believe” [Al-A’raf: 188]

In spite of all this, they call onto the Prophet with ridiculous assertions as in requesting Him to grant them a child; claiming that whatever you need to ask for, it should be directed toward the Prophet and also giving Him exceptional importance over other Prophets that consequently undermines the significance of all other Prophets apart from Him. The Book of Allah once again denounces such activity: “Muhammad is but a messenger, messengers(the like of

whom)have passed away before him” [Al-Imran: 144]

One of the most crucial tenets being pronounced by the

Prophet Himself:

“I am no new thing among the messengers of Allah”

[Al-Ahqaf: 09]

In spite of the so apparent evidence, it is a pity

that the majority of this Ummah indulges in the

despicable crime of Shirk, abandoning the message of

the Quran and showing absolute indifference to the

spirit of the Word of God. The Ayah below explains how

Momentous the sin of associating partners to Allah is:

“Lo! Allah pardons not that partners should be

ascribed unto Him. He pardons all save that to whom He

will. Whoso ascribes partners unto Allah has wandered

far astray”

[An-Nisa: 116]

This shows that whoever commits this sin, Allah will

be harsh in His dealings with him and all his deeds

will lose their weigh in the eyes of Allah. In Surah

Anam, Allah mentions the names of His 18 Messengers

and announces that even if they indulge in shirk,

their deeds will be wasted.

“But if they had set up for worship aught beside Him,

all that they did would have been in vain”

[Al-Anam: 88]

An even stringent Ayah had been revealed for the

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) that reads:

“And verily it has been revealed unto thee as unto

those before thee (saying): If thou ascribe partner to

Allah thy work will fail and thou indeed will be

amongst the losers” [Az-Zumr: 65]

It is not hard to comprehend that the Prophet Muhammad

and all the messengers of Allah were not sent down to

this world to commit shirk but were indeed sent down

as a mercy for us so that we may not indulge in such

hideous sin. Allah is trying to elucidate the severity

of this sin by portraying the situation with reference

to His Prophets who were indeed among the most pious

men on earth, that even they will not be forgiven for association of partners to Allah, forget about you and I. Allah has set out the Command for such undertakers of Shirk :

“Scorched by burning fire, Drinking from a boiling

spring,” [Al Ghashiya:3-4]

Same is the case with the torment of the grave. There

is absolutely no doubt in the fact that one will be

held accountable for his deeds and that he will be

rewarded or punished accordingly in his grave; the

question however is about our conception of this word

grave or simply a burial place. Does the person

receive his punishment within that ground where he is

buried or in “Alam-e-Barzakh”? Don’t count on anyone

to give you the right answer; why not turn to the Holy

Quran – The Ultimate Truth to seek the truth.

Allah says in Surah Nissa:

“O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the messenger

and those of you who are in authority; and if ye have

a dispute concerning any matter, refer it to Allah and

the messenger if ye are (in truth) believers in Allah

and the Last Day. That is better and more seemingly in

the end.” [An-Nissa:

59]

The very concept has been elaborated upon by the

Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) as well:

“I am leaving for you two things; as long as you hold

on firm to them, you will never go astray. The two

things are The Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His

Messenger.”

So let us first consider the Word of Allah for

guidance. In the Quran, Allah has out forward the

doctrine of two deaths and two lives very explicitly.

“How disbelieve ye in Allah when ye were dead and He

gave life to you! Then he will give you death, then

life again, and then unto Him ye will return.” [Al

Baqarah: 28]

And then Allah makes the disbelievers acknowledge this

themselves:

“They day: Our Lord! Twice thou hast made us die and

twice has thou made us live. Now we confess our sins.

Is there any way to go out?” [40:11]

In Surah Yassin, Allah states:

“Lo! We it is who bring the dead to life. We record

that which they send before (them) and their

footprints. And all things we have kept in a clear

register.” [12]

Note: What does “bring the dead to life” symbolize?

In Surah Maryum, in the praise of Yahya (May Allah be

pleases with him), it’s been said:

“Peace on him the day he was born and the day he dieth

and the say he shall be raised alive.” [19:15]

The same thing has been stated in Ayah 33 of the same

Surah.

Please also refer to Ayah 15 of Surah Qaaf.

“Were we then worn out by the first creation? Yet they

are in doubt about a new creation.” [50:15]

So now if we come to associate the ditch in the ground

with actual torment of the grave, then we are actually

defying the concept of two lives and two deaths as

ascribed in the Quran. Because if you expect the dead

to be facing the torment or the glad tidings of the

hereafter as promised by Allah, then you would also

expect him to be alive in order to feel the pain or

the bliss.

Allah tells us in the Quran that the dead being

remains dead until the Day of Resurrection. It is on

that Day that he will be raised up before his Lord.

This Allah tells us in the following Ayah:

“But those to whom knowledge and faith is given will

say: The truth is ye have tarried by Allah’s decree,

until the Day of Resurrection. This is the Day of

Resurrection but ye used not to know.” [30:56]

And once again in the same Surah, this concept is

emphasized:

“Allah is He who created you and sustained you, then

causeth you to die, then giveth life to you again. Is

there any of your (so called) partners (of Allah) that

does aught of that? Praise and Exalted be He above

that what they associate with Him.” [30:40]

This way the very notion of two lives and two deaths

has been reiterated unambiguously. You don’t find a

single Ayah that mentions anything about the third

life. In Surah Hajj (66), this topic has also been

addressed. But in Surah Zumr, the final statement has

been pronounced:

“Allah receives (men’s) soul at the time of their

death, and that (soul) which dieth not in its sleep.

He keeps that (soul) for which He has ordained death

and dismisseth the rest till an appointed term. Lo!

Herein verily are portents for people who take

thought.” [39:42]

The answer to the whole question lies herewith, you

just need to have the eye to observe. If we consider

all the Ayat mentioned above analytically, we can

easily conjecture that there is no reference to any ‘intermediate life’ after we die and before we wake up again. Its clearly stated that once dead, the person will only be reawakened at the Day of Judgment. The whole idea of returning life to the dead body before That Day is certainly blasphemy. We know through the ‘ultimate truth’ that the bodies will only we given souls on the Day of Judgment, then how can a dead person be awake in his ‘grave’? And if for a second we do believe that he does, then when does he ‘die’ again so that Allah will wake him up on the Day of Judgment as promised? And where do we find the evidence to support the concept of ‘three’ lives and three deaths?

Now let’s analyze the status of the dead person in the

light of the Quran.

“They are dead not living and they know not when they

will be raised.” [16:21]

Allah is telling us that the prophets or the wali’s

that we call upon are actually dead, not living! He

states again that:

“ And who is further astray than those who, instead of

Allah, pray onto such as hear not their prayer until

the Day of Resurrection, and are unconscious of their

prayer” [46:05]

In Surah Al A’raf, Allah proclaims the following about

the dead persons:

“Have they feet wherewith they walk or have they hands wherewith they hold, or have they eyes wherewith they see, or have they ears wherewith they hear? Say: Call upon you (so called) partners of Allah and then contrive against me and spare me not!” [007:195]

Refer to the following Ayah:

“Only those can accept who hear. As for the dead,

Allah will raise them up; then unto Him they will be

returned.” [06: 36]

In Surah Al-Fatir, He states that these dead people do

not even possess that equivalent to the peel of a

date’s seed! (Ayah 13). Then again Allah says…..Call

and they won’t listen. (Ayah 14) and then said that

the dead and the living are NOT equal. Therefore to

call upon the dead is absolute ignorance and

foolishness.

“Nor are the living equal with the dead. Lo! Allah

makes whom he wills to hear. Thou can not reach those

who are in the graves.” [35:22]

Allah Subhana wa Taala tells us that just the way the

blind and the seeing cannot be equal, nor can

lightness and darkness ever be the same, nor the cold

shadow and the scorching heat; the exact same way, the

dead and the living can NOT be equal. The dead person

is after all dead, how on earth can he have the

ability to listen, forget the responding part for the

time being. The final truth is that the dead persons

can NOT hear what ever is pronounced to him or

whosoever call on to him seeking help, paying

gratitude or anything else. Those who cannot accept

this truth are like the dead, because it is them who

cannot hear. Whoever Allah wills, he makes him listen

– i.e. He lets him figure out the truth and act

according to it.

This is the status of the dead beings. They are

LIFELESS till the Day of Resurrection when Allah

promises us that they will be reawakened. But before

that, no one has the right to bring about the whole

new concept of an ‘intermediate’ life, a third one for

that matter because it has no basis in the Quran and

Allah alone in enough of a witness.

The dead can not see, nor feel, nor hear. They are

‘Lifeless’ in every sense of the word. They don’t even

know when they will be reawakened. But some people

still insist that while in the grave, Allah refills

their bodies with their souls.

Now let’s analyze the story of the dead ‘within the

grave’ in the light of the Quran.

“We know that which the earth takes of them and with

US is a recording book” [40:04]

The answer lies within the question raised by the

disbelievers regarding whether they will be risen up

once they have dies and have become part of the soil.

“They say, when we are dead (and have become mere dust

and bones), shall we then, forsooth, be raised

again?”[23:82]

In Surah Waqiah, Allah reaffirms this point raised by

the disbelievers.

“And they used to say: when we are dead and have

become dust, shall we forsooth be raised again, and

also our fore fathers? Say unto them O Muhammad:

“those of old and those of later time will be brought

together to the tryst of an appointed day.” [56:

47-50]

Then Allah strictly and unambiguously puts forth the

final verdict in this regard.

“And they say, when we are bones and fragments, shall

we forsooth be raised up as a new creation? Say: be ye

stones or iron Or some created thing that is yet

greater in your thoughts! Then they will say: Who

shall bring us back to (life). Say He who created you

at first. Then will they shake their heads at thee and

will say: when will it be? Say: it will perhaps be

soon.” [17:49-51]

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