Seeking Prayer on Graves
Question:
According to a Hadith:
أخبرنا أبو نصر بن قتادة، وأبو بكر الفارسي قالا: حدثنا أبو عمر بن مطر، حدثنا إبراهيم بن علي الذهلي، حدثنا يحيى بن يحيى، حدثنا أبو معاوية، عن الأعمش، عن أبي صالح، عن مالك قال: أصاب الناس قحط في زمن عمر بن الخطاب، فجاء رجل إلى قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم. فقال: يا رسول الله استسق الله لأمتك فإنهم قد هلكوا. فأتاه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في المنام فقال: إيت عمر، فأقرئه مني السلام، وأخبرهم أنه مسقون، وقل له عليك بالكيس الكيس. فأتى الرجل فأخبر عمر، فقال: يا رب ما آلوا إلا ما عجزت عنه. وهذا إسناد صحيح۔
Malik ad-Dar i.e. treasurer of Umar (RA) relates: The people were gripped by famine during the tenure of Umar (Ibn-ul-Khattab). Then a man walked up to the grave of Prophet and said: O Messenger of Allah! ask for rain from Allah for your Ummah who is in dire straits. Then he saw the Prophet (SAW) in dream. The Prophet (SAW) said to him, Go over to Umar, give him my regards and tell him that the rain will come to you. And tell Umar that he should be on his toes, he should be on his toes (he should remain alert). He went over to see Umar and passed on to him the tidings. On hearing this, Umar broke into a spurt of crying. He said, O Allah, I exert myself to the full until I am completely exhausted.
References
►Al-Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah Volume 011, Page No. 118, Hadith Number 32538
This Hadith is authenticated as **Sahih** by
►Imam Ibn Kathir in Al Bidayah Wan Nihayah Volume No. 5, Page No. 167
►Imam Qastallani in al-Mawahib-ul-laduniyyah (4:276)
► Ibn-e-Taymiya in Fi-Iqtida-as-Sirat-il-Mustaqim (Vol.1, Page 373)
Please comment on this Hadith.
Wa-As-Salam
Al-Muslim
Answer:
Dear Brother
Assalam o aalikum
I’ve checked this narration in the references provided by you. It is not available in the book of Ibn Taimiyah. On the contrary, he has criticized the practice of visiting graves to pray. Although it is available in Al-Bidaya wan Nihaya. The narration has a few issues:
· Sulaiman Ibn Midran Al-Aa’mash is there in the chain of narrators. He is famous for Tadlees which means that he used to hide names of narrators in his chain. Therefore, authenticity cannot be established for such unknown narrators. It is an established principle of Mohadithin that they do not accept the narrations of such narrators reported by the word عن. Look the famous book Mizan ul I’tidaal of Dhahbi. He used to commit mistakes in Hadith. You can find details about him in No. 3520 of this book in Chapter of “Seen”.
· Malik Al-Daar, the main narrator of this report is unknown as mentioned by Nasir-ud-Din Albani.
· This narration tells an exception attitude of an unknown person. Who was that person? What was his name? To whom did he told his dream? Was that person reliable? We do not find it a common practice among the people of that time to go to the grave of the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم and ask him to pray. In the same famine, Caliph U’mar asked A’bbas رضي الله عنہما, the uncle of the Prophet to pray. He himself did not go to the grave of the Prophet. In such cases, it should have been a normal practice of the companions to visit the grave of the Prophet to pray but we find only 1-2 incidents reported in weak narrations like this. Ibn Taimiyah writes in the same book that such practice started in 2nd, 3rd century. During the Prophet’s time, people used to come to him and asked him to pray for them but no incidence other than this is reported after the demise of the Prophet صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم.
This answer is based on my personal research. I’ll advise you to study the writings of those scholars who have a different point of view. Compare the arguments of both and then select the point of view closest to the Quran and the Sunnah.
wassalaam
Mubashir
Don’t hesitate to share your questions and comments. They will be highly appreciated. I’ll reply as soon as possible if I know the answer. Send at mubashirnazir100@gmail.com.