Asking the Prophet عليه السلام at His Grave for Intercession

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

وعلى آلك واصحابك يا سيدي يا نور الله

فداك ابي وامي يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

وَاعۡلَمُوۡۤا اَنَّ فِیۡکُمۡ رَسُوۡلَ اللّٰہِ

And know that among you is the Messenger of Allah

(Surah 49 Ayah 7)

By the grace of Allah and His mercy the most holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم is among his Ummah even today, though we do not perceive this, as he is mastur and mahjub (veiled or curtained from this world).

We Sunni Muslims believe that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم hears from his Rawdah (his grave that is a garden of Paradise) and that it is permissible for an Ummati to go to his grave and ask him to make du’a to Allah on behalf of him or others. This is called Tawassul, or intercession, meaning asking someone to pray to Allah on your behalf or the behalf of someone else. Hence, Malik al-Dar رضى الله عنه narrates:

أَصَابَ النَّاسَ قَحْطٌ فِي زَمَنِ عُمَرَ فَجَاءَ رَجُلٌ إِلَى قَبْرِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ اسْتَسْقِ لِأُمَّتِكَ فَإِنَّهُمْ قَدْ هَلَكُوا فَأَتَى الرَّجُلَ فِي الْمَنَامِ فَقِيلَ لَهُ ائْتِ عُمَرَ فَأَقْرِئْهُ السَّلَامَ، وَأَخْبِرْهُ أَنَّكُمْ مُسْتَقِيمُونَ وَقُلْ لَهُ: عَلَيْكَ الْكَيْسُ عَلَيْكَ الْكَيْسُ فَأَتَى عُمَرَ فَأَخْبَرَهُ فَبَكَى عُمَرُ ثُمَّ قَالَ يَا رَبِّ لَا آلُو إِلَّا مَا عَجَزْتُ عَنْهُ

A drought struck the people during the time of Umar, so a man came to the grave of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said: O Messenger of Allah, pray for rain for your nation, for they have perished. So he [the Prophet] came to the man in a dream and it was said to him: Go to Umar and convey my Salam to him, and tell him that you are righteous, and say to him: Be intelligent, be intelligent. So he came to Umar and told him, so Umar wept and then said: O My Lord, I spare no effort except in that which I am unable to do (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah, v.6, pp.356-357, #32002)

Notice that the man, who was either a Sahabi or a Tabi’, went to the Rawdah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم and asked him to make du’a to Allah for rain. This is the proof that in the time of the Sahabah and the Salaf, after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passed away from this world, the Believers would go to his grave and ask him to make intercessory prayers on their behalf. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would continue to guide Believers till today by appearing to us in our dreams. The misguided Wahhabis and Mamatis claim that it is Shirk or at the very least an evil Bid’ah for someone to go to the grave of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and ask him to make intercessory prayers on our behalf.

For the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is alive in his grave and therefore still among his Ummah, though we do not perceive this as he is concealed behind a curtain. His grave is a medium through which the Believers may communicate with him and he may answer them by appearing to them in a vision, by the authority and power of Allah سبحانه وتعالى

And this is similar to how in the addition to a living Prophet in their midst the Israelites sought divine guidance through the Tabut (Ark of the Covenant). Hence, the grave of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم serves a function similar to the Tabut for this Ummah.