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Seeking Blessings (tabarruk)

with the Grave and Remains of the Pious

shaykh gibril fouad haddad

Dāwūd ibn Ṣāliḥ said: “[The governor of Madina] Marwān [ibn al-
Ḥakam] one day saw a man placing his face on top of the grave of the
Prophet s. He said: “Do you know what you are doing?” When he
came near him, he realized it was Abu Ayyūb al-Anṣārī. The latter said:
“Yes; I came to the Prophet s, not to a stone.”i

It is also narrated that Muʿādh ibn Jabal and Bilāl came to the grave of
the Prophet s and sat weeping, and the latter rubbed his face against it.ii

Imam Muslim relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ, in the first chapter of the book of
clothing, that Lady Asmā’ bint Abī Bakr said: “Here is the cloak (jubba)
of Allah’s Messenger s... [which] was with Lady ʿĀ’isha until she died,
then I got possession of it. The Apostle of Allah s used to wear it, and
we washed it for the sick so that they could seek cure thereby.” Al-
Nawawī comments in Sharḥ ṣaḥīḥ muslim, “In this ḥadīth is a proof that
it is recommended to seek blessings through the relics of the righteous
and their clothes (wa fī hadhā al-ḥadīth dalīl ʿalā istiḥbāb al-tabarruk bi
āthār al-ṣāliḥīn wa thiyābihim).”iii

i
Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ, Aḥmad (5:422), al-Ṭabarānī in his Muʿjam al-kabīr (4:189)
and his Awsaṭ according to Haythamī in al-Zawā’id (5:245 and 5:441 §5845 Book
of Hajj, “Section on the honouring of the dwellers of Madīna, “Chapter on plac-
ing one’s face against the grave of our Master the Prophet s” and §9252 Book of
Khilāfah, “Chapter on the leadership of those unworthy of it”), al-Ḥākim in his
Mustadrak (4:515); both the latter and al-Dhahabī said it was ṣaḥīḥ. It is also cited
by al-Subkī in Shifā’ al-siqām (p. 126) and Ibn Taymiyya in al-Muntaqā (2:261f.).
ii
Ibn Mājah 2:1320, Aḥmad, al-Ṭabarānī, al-Subkī, and Ibn ʿAsākir.
iii
Al-Nawawī in his Sharḥ ṣaḥīḥ muslim (Book 37 Chapter 2 §10).
The latter verdict puts to rest the possible claim that, on the basis of the
above reports, such veneration applies only to the Prophet Muhammad
s. This would be contrary to the rules of Islamic Principles (‘uṣūl) and
probably none claims it except the uneducated.

Imam al-Dhahabī said, “Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal was asked about touching
the Prophet’s s grave and kissing it and he saw nothing wrong with it.
His son ʿAbd Allah related this from him. If it is asked: “Why did the
Companions not do this?” We reply: “Because they saw him with their
very eyes when he was alive, enjoyed his presence directly, kissed his
very hand, nearly fought each other over the remnants of his ablution
water, shared his purified hair on the day of the greater Pilgrimage, and
even if he spat it would virtually not fall except in someone’s hand so
that he could pass it over his face. Since we have not had the tremen­dous
fortune of sharing in this, we throw ourselves on his grave as a mark of
commitment, reverence, and acceptance, even to kiss it. Do you not see
what Thābit al-Bunānī did when he kissed the hand of Anas ibn Mālik
and placed it on his face saying, “This is the hand that touched the hand
of the Messenger of Allah s?” Muslims are not moved to these matters
except by their excessive love for the Prophet s, as they are ordered to
love Allah and the Prophet s more than their own lives, their children,
all human beings, their property, and Paradise and its maidens. There
are even some believers that love Abu Bakr and ʿUmar more than
themselves.”i

Al-Dhahabī elsewhere relates that Imam Aḥmad himself used to seek

blessings from the relics of the Prophet s then he lambasts who­ever
would fault the practice of tabarruk or seeking blessings from blessed
objects,

ʿAbd Allah ibn Aḥmad said: “I saw my father take a hair that belonged
to the Prophet s, put it on his mouth, and kiss it. I believe I saw him
i
Al-Dhahabī, Muʿjam al-shuyūkh (1:73 §58).
 put it on his eyes. He also dipped it in water and drank the water to
obtain cure. I saw him take the Prophet’s s bowl (qas’a), wash it in
water, and drink from it. I saw him drink Zamzam water in order to
seek cure with it, and he wiped his hands and face with it.” I say:
Where is the quibbling critic of Imam Aḥmad now? It is also
authentically established that ʿAbd Allah asked is father about those
who touch the pommel of the Prophet’s s pulpit and touch the wall
of the Prophet’s s room, and he said: “I do not see any harm in it.”
May Allah protect us and you from the opinion of the Khawārij and
from innovations!”

As for the licitness or rather desirability of praying in a mosque that

contains or is located near the grave(s) of one or more righteous persons,
it is established from the hadith of the Prophet s,

“In the Mosque of al-Khayf there is the qabr of seventy Prophets.”i

i
Narrated from Ibn ʿUmar by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr and al-Bazzār with a chain
of trustworthy narrators according to al-Haythamī in Majmaʾ al-zawā’id (§5769,
§5965).