by Hazrat Shaykh Wahid Bakhsh Rabbani r.a.
"Another charge levied by externalists against the Sufis is that they introduced such un-Islamic practices as visiting graves, Sama (music), Urs (celebration of death anniversaries) and ideas like Wahadatul Wajud into Islam. Let us take some of these issues one by one.
So far as visit of graves is concerned it is true the Prophet(s) forbade the early Muslims at Makka to visit the graves of their Kafir ancestors because the curse of God is always showered on the Kuffar (infidels). However, it is stated in no less an authentic book of Hadith than Bukhari that when the Muslim parents and relatives of the companions started dying at Madina, the Prophet allowed the Muslims to visit their graves upon which Divine Blessings and Anwar-o-Tajalliyat (lights) were showered. The Prophet himself visited the graveyards of Jannatul Baqey and Uhud frequently. I came across an argument against the visiting of the Prophet’s grave during Hajj in a pamphlet. It said that it is Sunnah to visit the graves at the Jannatul Baqey and Uhud because the Prophet visited them, but it is not Sunnah to visit the Prophet’s grave. It means it was lawful to visit the Prophet’s grave only if he himself had visited his own grave! This is the standard of reasoning behind all charges against Sufism.
So far as Urs or celebration of death anniversary of the Sufi Shaikhs is concerned, the answer is: when the birthday of all and sundry are being celebrated everywhere among the Muslims and non-Muslims; what is the harm if death anniversaries of the great spiritual teachers are celebrated. These are to commemorate their deeds of self-purification, self-negation, self-sacrifice, their teachings and preachings and converting millions into Islam. If, according to the exoterics, the celebration of death anniversaries amounts to grave worship, looking from their own externalistic point of view, going round Kaaba (Tawwaf), kissing the sacred stone and prostrating in the direction of Kaaba could be termed ‘Kaaba or stone worship’; i.e., much more direct form of worshipping ‘other than God’ than merely visiting the graves of the Friends of God (Auliya Allah) or even kissing them.
Another compulsory service during Hajj and Umra is walking between Mount Safa and Marwa to commemorate the practice of Bibi Hajra the wife of Prophet Ibrahim (AS). From the purely exoteric point of view this practice of the Hujaj (pilgrims) should amount to Shirk (polytheism). Yet it is not Shirk. It has been declared as virtuous in the Quran to walk over the sacred ground, which attained everlasting sanctity, by the mere touch of the feet of the wife of a Prophet. The woman was not a prophet and can at best be called a saint (Waliyah). It is for this reason that the ground of Safa Marwa has been declared as Sha’aerallah (sanctuaries) in the following Ayah of the Quran:
“Safa and Marwa are one of the Sha’aerallah.”
The words ‘one of the Sha’aerallah’ is significant. The implication is that similarly all the places where the Auliya Allah sat, lived, worshipped prayed and preached can gain that sacredness and have to be respected, honoured and visited. It is for this reason that the Prophet and his companions used to visit the graves of the martyrs of Uhud and Jannatul Baqey frequently. There are numerous Ahadith (traditions) of the Prophet in which the Muslims have been told to visit graves, say Salam to the inmates and pray for them. There is, however, one solitary Hadith according to which the exoterics think it is unlawful to visit the graves. It is:
“Do not saddle your camels except for visiting the three mosques.”
That is Kaaba, Masjid Nabwi and Baitul Maqdis. If the exoteric interpretation was correct, then all travels in the world including travel for education, trade and commerce would become unlawful. Not only that, but all the other authentic Ahadith according to which the Prophet visited the graves of Uhud etc., and urged the Muslims to visit graves would become nullified. Obviously what the above Hadith means is that only the three mosques mentioned above should be visited because if you say one Salat in Kaaba the reward is one hundred thousand times, the reward in Masjid Nabwi is fifty thousand times and in Baitul Maqdis it is twenty five thousand times. No other mosque in the world has such blessings and need not be visited. Strangely enough, according to the exoteric’s interpretation there is no harm in visiting the Prophet’s grave if you travel on foot. It becomes unlawful only when you travel to it by camels. This reasoning is extremely amazing. It is also reported that when somebody asked Imam Ibn Tamiyyah, the head of the exoteric school, regarding Masjid Quba, to which the Prophet travelled on camel’s back, his reply was: “Can you call it a travel when no food and water is tied on the camel?” All this shows it is a fallacious interpretation of his Hadith that has caused so much confusion in the world of Islam.
The Dead Can Hear
Yet another example of the confusion caused by a wrong interpretation is that Allah Almighty has said in the Holy Quran:
“O Prophet you cannot make the dead hear, because when you do so they turn their back and go away.”
The exoterics claim on the authority of this ayah that the dead cannot hear. Yet we ask them: “Did the Prophet go to the graveyards to preach Islam and did the inmates of the graves turn their backs and go away? Isn’t this strange? What this Ayah actually means is this that because the hearts of the Kuffar (infidels) were dead they did not accept the Prophet’s preachings, turned their backs and went away. The Kuffar are called dead because their hearts were dead. Similarly, in another Ayah, Allah Taala has addressed the Kuffar as blind, deaf and dumb although their eyes, ears and tongues were intact. It is on the basis of wrong interpretation that the exoterics have the audacity to reject all the authentic Ahadith in which the Prophet has said that when you offer Salam (greetings) to the inmates of the graves they return the Salam, and that when you pray for them they pray for you. Strangely enough, these Ahadith have been quoted as authentic by the very Imam of the exoteric school, Hafiz Ibn Qayyum Jouzi in his famous book Kitab-ur-Ruh.
Actually, when the Prophet said that the inmates of graves return your Salam and pray for you, he meant that it is the souls (Ruh) not the bodies of the people in the graves that respond, because the bodies die at the time of death. The soul does not die but lives on in the soul world. The existence of the soul in man has been established even in atheist Russia by scientific means in government laboratories and by government scientists who have started making use of the vast psychic powers and potentials of the soul in man. This includes clairvoyance, telepathy, eyeless seeing, earless hearing, levitation and moving heavy things by sheer mental concentration like the supernatural deeds performed by the Sufis. The exoterics do not believe that the Sufis can perform supernatural deeds, but the Quran and Hadith are full of the accounts of miracles performed by the prophets and the Karamaat performed by the Auliya Allah. It is said in a Hadith-al-Qudsi narrated by Bukhari:
“Allah says, ’when a servant of mine tries to seek my nearness (Qurb), through supererogatory worship, I love him and come so close to him that I become his eyes and he sees by Me; I become his ears and he hears by Me; I become his hands and works by me; and I give him what he desires and protect him when he needs My protection’.”
In this Hadith two things stand proved. The first is that extra voluntary worship such as fast, prayers, Zikr, night vigils are necessary to gain that stage of Divine nearness. Secondly on reaching the stage of Divine nearness and union the seeker (Salik) gets imbibed with Divine Attributes of seeing by His sight, hearing by His hearing and doing everything by His power. This state of Divine nearness is called Fana-fi-Sifat Allah. Above this stage is the state of being merged in Divine Essence (Dhat) called Fana-fi-Allah in Sufi terminology. It is at this stage that the spiritual pilgrim is endowed with the power of performing supernatural deeds. It is also because of seeing by Divine Sight that the Prophet said:
“I can see what is behind my back as good as I see what is in front.”
In another Hadith the Noble Prophet has urged the Muslims to become endowed with divine qualities.
When the seeker is endowed with Allah’s attributes it becomes possible to communicate with the souls of the dead, and also communicate with the prophets and with God Himself. Shah Wali-ullah who is recognized as a great orthodox scholar and saint, both by the exoteric and esoteric schools of the sub-continent, has written a full-fledged book titled ‘Fayuzul Harmain’. In it he has recorded his visions of, and conversations with the Holy Prophet during his two years stay in Madina. In this book the author has also recorded his questions and the answers given by the Prophet.
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi who is regarded as one of the greatest Muslim scholars of the Indian sub-continent of this century wrote in his book ‘Shamaim-i-Imdadiya’ that when a relative of his Shaikh, Haji Imdadullah Mohajir Makki asked his permission to repair his shaikh’s grave, he replied:
“What is the harm in repairing the grave from which I received Faizan (spiritual help) for years.”
Shah Waliullah has quoted the following Hadith on page 228 of his book, Anfas-al-Arifeen:
“Seek help from the people of graves (Ashabi Qabur) when you are in distress.”
It may be noted that Shah Waliullah was a Mohaddith (specialist in Hadith) and cannot quote any Hadith, which is not authentic. In the same book Shah Waliullah had said that he saw the Prophet in person and requested him to explain the meaning of several Ah adith and was favoured with replies. He has also stated in this book that he received spiritual training directly from the Noble Prophet who appeared in his spiritual form to him. Shah Waliullah says in the same book:
“When I asked the Prophet which of the four schools of Fiqh is correct, he said all are correct.”
It must be remembered that in the Quran and Hadith we are told that there are two kinds of world, Alam-i-Zahir and Alam-i-Batin, the outer world and the inner-world. God, angels, paradise, hell and souls belong to the inner world (Alam-i-Batin); and this physical universe belongs to outer world (Alam-i-Zahir). It is also mentioned frequently in the Quran and Hadith that things of Alam-i-Batin are often revealed to the prophets and saints. The Quran has also been revealed to the Noble Prophet through Jibril by Batini means. All the Hadith-al-Qudsi are also the result of Batini talk or communication between Allah Almighty and the Noble Prophet.
The Quran and Hadith are also full of the accounts of miracles performed by the Prophet and karamaat performed by the Auliya Allah. It is a part of faith in Islam to believe in miracles and Karamaat. Then there is another kind of revelation called Ilham or Ilqa by which Allah s.w.t. reveals certain things to His chosen people personally through Batini (inner) relationship. The Prophet has said in a Hadith that:
“The Quran has an external (Zahiri) and internal meaning. That internal meaning has another internal meaning till seven internal meanings.”
The Prophets and Auliya Allah know these inner meanings of the Quran. Hazrat Ali has said:
“If I wrote the Batini (inner) meanings of Surah Fatiha (half a page) it would be the load of seventy camels.”
Once Abdullah bin Abbas went to Hazrat Ali and asked him to explain the inner meanings of Surah Fatiha. He went on explaining the whole night and when the Azan of the next morning prayer was recited, he was still explaining the meanings of the first letter “B” of Bismillah. This shows that the mysteries of creation (Haqqaiq and Maarif) are revealed by Allah s.w.t. to the prophets and saints (Auliya) and nobody can deny it. Revelation (Kashf) is of many degrees. Revelations to the prophets are known as Wahy, to the saints (Auliya) as Karamaat, and ordinary pious persons as Ilham and Ilqa. There are several examples of these revelations in the Quran and Hadith."
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