The Albaani Site

The Beginning of his Work

“And the truth is that this affair [i.e., praying salaah at the graves of the righteous] was from the very first reasons that led me to part from the majority of Shaikhs, since in this matter they were on the way of my father.  Thus from the early things that I began which resembled knowledge-based research was that I followed up this topic in some fiqh and hadith reference books which could be found in my father’s library.  I wrote a few pages in which I took the opinion of such prayer being disliked to such an extent that it is prohibited in those areas.  Especially prayer in those mosques that were built on top of the graves of the Prophets and Friends of Allaah, using as proof the sayings of the scholars that I had come across in those references.

I then presented my research to my Shaikh al-Burhaani at the end of Ramadaan and he promised to answer it after Eed.  When I came to him [after Eed] he smiled and said, “You have not done anything.  Since the places that you take from do not exceed Haashiya Ibn Aabideen and Maraaqi al-Falaah, and these are not references of fiqh.”

I was shocked at this answer and knew that the Shaikh had not grasped all that I had written, since I had in fact quoted from Umdatul-Qaari, Mirqaah al-Mafaateeh, Mubaaraq al-Azhaar and Haashaiyah at-Tahtaawee, and they are references that are respected by the people of knowledge.

It was due to this that I saw fit to follow up the issue with wider research.  In this way I continued to scour and research until the point was completed with proofs from the Book, the Sunnah and the sayings of the Scholars.  And so the result of this research was my book known as, “Tahdheer as-Saajid minint-Tikhaadhil-Qubooril-Masaajid – [literally: A Warning to the One who Prostrates from taking the Graves as Places of Worship.”

Hayaatul-Allaamah al-Albaani, rahimahullaah, bi qalamihi, pp. 11-12.