Supplication at the head of Prophet (s.a.w.a.)
10. One should stand at the holy head and recite:
“O God, indeed You said and your saying is truth:
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآءُوكَ فَٱسْتَغْفَرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا (٦٤)
“And had they, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Apostle had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Oftreturning (to mercy), Merciful.”1
We have come while we have heard Your statement and obeyed Your
command and deemed Your Prophet as our intercessor. O God, forgive us and
our brothers, who brought faith earlier and do not allow malice towards believers
to remain in our hearts. O God, You are kind and merciful. O God, grant us
rewards in the world and the hereafter and keep us secure from chastisement of
Fire. Almighty Allah is pure of what we attribute to Him. And peace be on the
prophets and praise is only for the Lord of the worlds.”
You should recite any supplication that comes to your mind. This point is
mentioned by Sharanbalali Hanafi in Miraqiul Falah,2 and others have written in
other books.
Invoking blessings (Salawat) on the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.)
11. Bukhari has narrated through chain of narrators directly from the Prophet
that whoever invoked blessings on me at my tomb, Almighty Allah appoints an
angel, who conveys his blessings (Durood) and suffices him in the matters of the
world and hereafter and I will be his intercessor or witness on Judgment Day.3
Seeking mediation through the holy tomb of His Eminence
12. Then the visitor returns to his first position near the face of Prophet and
seeks his mediation from Almighty Allah and seeks divine forgiveness in excess.
After that he says: O the best of prophets, indeed Allah has revealed a verse
regarding you:
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآءُوكَ فَٱسْتَغْفَرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ تَوَّابًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا (٦٤)
“And had they, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Apostle had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Oft-returning (to mercy), Merciful.”4
A large number of Ahle Sunnat tradition scholars have discussed in detail and written about seeking of mediation (Tawassul). Seeking mediation of Prophet
is lawful in all circumstances, before and after the creation of His Eminence,
during his lifetime as well as after his passing away, in Barzakh, Qiyamat and
Paradise. They have divided seeking of mediation (Tawassul) into three kinds:
1. Supplicating Almighty Allah in his name or his rank or through his
auspiciousness and they say that seeking of mediation (Tawassul) in all these
instances is lawful.
2. Seeking of mediation (Tawassul) in the meaning of supplicating. They
have said that this is also allowed in all cases.
3. I seek from the Prophet an issue, which I have intended. In the sense that
he can beseech Almighty Allah and intercede and become the cause of fulfillment
of that supplication; in fact this is the same second reason, which is explained in
other words.
Subki writes in Shifaus Siqam:5
“There are a numerous writings on this subject… and there is no doubt that
it can be called as seeking mediation or seeking intercession or seeking refuge or
seeking attention through rank of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) with Almighty Allah, as
the meaning of all these terms is same.”
Seeking blessings from the holy grave by touching and kissing it
13. No scholar from the four schools of jurisprudence has regarded this act
unlawful. Those who say it is prohibited, regard prohibition as detestability and
not forbidden. It does not befit the jurist (Faqih) to make such deductions on the
basis of such supposed matters, which has no base at all or to deliver a judgment
that contradicts verdicts of others.
Yes, some6 have deviated from the right path and issued verdicts of
unlawfulness without any proof. Therefore, no attention should be paid to those
famous for holding rare views. Also, we are not forerunners in making the facts
clear for the reader and showing the correct viewpoint:
1. Hafiz Ibne Asakir in Tohfa has narrated through the channels of Tahir bin
Yahya Husaini from his father from his grandfather from Ja’far bin Muhammad
from his father from Ali (a.s.) that he said:
“When the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) was buried, Fatima arrived and stood at
the side of the grave, placed a handful of dust on her eyes and remarked: One,
who has smelt the dust of the grave of Ahmad, he will not need to smell any other
fragrance. Such calamities has descended on me that if they had descended on
days, they would have turned into dark nights.”7
2. It is narrated from Dawood bin Abu Salih that one day Marwan saw that a man had placed his face and forehead on the grave of Prophet. Marwan caught
his neck and said: “Do you know what you are doing?”
That man, who was Ayyub Ansari, looked at him and said: “Yes, I have not
come visit stones, I have come for Ziyarat of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.). I
heard the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) say: Do not cry on religion when those,
who are deserving get its charge; but cry on it when those, who are undeserving
of it become its caretakers.”8
Allamah Amini says: This tradition nicely explains that to prohibit seeking
mediation from the holy grave is a heresy and deviation of Bani Umayyah since
the time of companions and the ears of the world have never heard any
companions denying seeking of mediation, except an issue from the house of
Umayyah, Marwan, the unjust and the usurper.
There is a proverb in Arabic that: The cow defends itself with its horns.
Another proverb says: The bird feeds on a particular kind of date.9
Yes, Bani Umayyah in general and Marwan in particular, bore great malice
to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) since the day His Eminence (s.a.w.a.) did not show
any respect to the Umayyad clan and did not leave any secret, but that he exposed
it, he did not leave any pillar, except that he demolished it, and this was through
the mention of their defects and he is one regarding whom Almighty Allah says: