Views of Sunni thinkers on visiting tombs to invoke blessing

One question that may arise during reading this article is that do Sunni clerics approve the tradition of invoking blessing that has so obviously been followed by the Prophet’s Companions? Have these clerics expressed views with regards to the limits of this theory or endorse the form and content of such conduct same as the Prophet’s Companions?

To answer these questions it must be said that except for Wahhabist thinkers who sought to prohibit invoking blessing in the Muslim societies, none of the Four Sunni Imams and thinkers have opposed such conduct, and have approved of it in their remarks and writings. Some of the examples are as follows:

1. Abdullah, son of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, says he asked his father about touching the pulpit of the Prophet and invoking blessing by touching, kissing or touching his holy grave or kissing it for blessing, my father said, “It is not wrong.”‌[1]

2. Ramli Shafi says, “Invoking blessing from the tomb of Prophet or cleric or authorities is permissible, and kissing or touching it is not objectionable.[2]

3. Mohiuddin Tabari says: kissing and touching the grave is permissible and conduct of clerics and pious people endorses it.[3]

4. It has been historically proved that people picked soil from the Prophet’s grave and Hamzeh and even Medina, and there are narrations that say the soil of Medina heals every sickness and prevents leprosy and epilepsy.

Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi

Footnotes:

[1] al-jami fi elal va marefat al-rijal, vol 2, p. 32

[2] Kanz ul-Matalib, p. 219 – Monaqeb Kharazmi, p. 252

[3] Wafa al-wafa, vol.1, p. 69

Other links:

Extremist Salafism

British Support for Extreme Salafism

Wahhabism