It is narrated from Maroor that:
“I performed the pilgrimage of the House of God in company of Umar. In
the Morning Prayer, he recited Surah Feel and Surah Quraish. When the prayer
ended, people looked at the Masjid and gathered there. Umar asked: What place
is this? They replied: It is the Masjid, in which the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.)
prayed. Umar said: Before you, the People of the Book did the same and they
were destroyed, because they build churches at the locations of the relics of
prophets. When it is time of prayer, you may pray there or just pass by [and this
Masjid has no specialty that you should seek benediction from it].”1
Allamah Amini says: I don’t know how according respect to relics of
prophets – and the foremost of them, Muhammad (s.a.w.a.) – is against
monotheism, like: prostrating to an idol or deeming it as the prayer direction
(Qibla) – what is the problem in that?
وَمَن يُعَظِّمْ شَعَـٰٓئِرَ ٱللَّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِن تَقْوَى ٱلْقُلُوبِ (٣٢)
“And whoever respects the signs of Allah, this surely is (the outcome) of the piety of hearts.”2
When were the nations destroyed as a result of constructing buildings over the relics of prophets?
Praying in which Masjid brings one closer to God than praying in the Masjid of Prophet?
Which place is more blessed than the place where Prophet entered and
where people paid allegiance to him and obtained nobility of divine pleasure?
Does it not bring auspiciousness to the place, so that praying there would make one proximate to God?
What was the sin of the tree that it was uprooted? Did that tree not have any
supporter and defender?
Is it not disrespect to the place where Prophet had been present?
Does religious etiquette allows the Caliph to say: I see that you have turned
back to the worship of Uzza? Because one, who frequented those places and considered it unlawful to destroy the relics, and accorded honor to them and
prayed over there, all were people of knowledge and just companions of Prophet
and responsibility of answering to the Caliph rested upon them.
When he was unable to reply to a question, he referred to them and
remarked: “O Umar, all people are more knowledgeable than you.” And among
companions, who sought benedictions from these places and who prayed over
there, was Abdullah bin Umar.3
One, who refers to the Sihah and Musnad books, would come across
numerous such reports and understand that it was only the viewpoint Caliph and
undeserving to be followed.
30. The Caliph beat up people without any reason
Ibne Asakir has narrated from Akrama bin Khalid that:
“A son of Umar bin Khattab dressed up in nice garments and went to see
Umar. When Umar noticed this, he suddenly began to lash him with whip or a
stick and he started weeping. Hafasa asked: Why are you beating him Father?
Umar replied: I saw that he had become conceited, so I wanted to degrade his
self.”4
Allamah Amini says: I don’t argue about how the Caliph was aware of the
inner thoughts of the boy and that he was conceited and proud; I also don’t argue
against his personal deduction about method of punishing his son. And whether
there was possibility of guidance in case of presence of conceit and there was no
need to warn and beat him. On the contrary, I ask those two great tradition
scholars how they regard this story to be among merits and positive traits of the
Caliph?