Visiting of Shrines

                              

We have seen in article “Aulia Allah” that ‘Aulia Allah’ are those blessed people who succeed in attaining a certain levels of spiritual elevations. Some of them are given responsibility to manage world affairs; it is just like recruiting/selecting civil officers to manage government’s affairs. Like civil officers function within the limits of laws/rules, ‘Aulia’ function within limits as contained in Quran and elaborated in sunnah. The minimum qualification for ‘Aulia’ is to be ‘saleh’/pious. 

We have also seen in article “Patterns of Spiritual Elevations”, that various virtues have been mentioned in Quran and sunnah; some virtues are  apparent e.g. virtues pertaining to Aabid, Zahid, Aalim, Zakir, munfiq, muttaqi, khasheh; some virtues are hidden e.g. virtues pertaining to mumin, sabir, mutahhir, muhsin, mutawakkil. 

The first level of spiritual elevation is pertaining to ‘saleheen’. When a person has attained a certain degree of apparent and hidden virtues, as contained in Quran and sunnah, he is graced with first level of spiritual elevation i.e. level of saleheen. Saleheen are those people who do their deeds for Allah’s sake (following Nabi (saw).  

The second level of spiritual elevation is relating to ‘shaheed’. A shaheed is always a ‘saleh’ as well, and has attained apparent and hidden virtues which are qualification for a saleh. But a shaheed is different from saleh in the sense that a shaheed always does the job of ‘ amr bilmaroof wa nahi anel munkar’- he always commands for good things and forbids from bad things. When a ‘saleh’ attains a certain degree in the job of commanding for the good and forbidding from the bad, he is graced with the level of ‘shahadat’.

The third level of spiritual elevation is associated with ‘siddique’. A ‘siddique’ is always a saleh and shaheed as well and has attained apparent and hidden virtues which are qualifications for a saleh or shaheed. A siddique is different from ‘saleh’ and ‘shaheed’ in the sense that a ‘siddique’ testifies intellectually what is mentioned in the revealed knowledge (Quran and Sunnah). When a shaheed obtains a certain degree in the job of testifying the revealed knowledge intellectually, he is bestowed with level of ‘siddiqiat’.

We have also seen in article “ Concept of Life and Death in Quran” that when a Muslim acts upon directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), he shows his capability to obey Allah and His Messenger (saw); and such capability is called ‘life’. The more a person acts upon the directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), the greater ‘life’ he owns. Similarly more a person violates directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), the lesser ‘life’ he owns. If a person continues violating directions of Allah and His Messenger (saw), ultimately he becomes totally devoid of capability of obeying Allah and His Messenger (saw) and ultimately he becomes ‘dead’ (not physically dead).

 

Some People remain alive even after physical death. Quran says: “And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah , "They are dead." Rather, they are alive, but you perceive [it] not (al-baqra-154).  It does not mean physical death does not occur to ‘shuhuda’; it does occur to them, but despite physical death they are blessed with capability of obeying Allah and His Messenger (saw); that is why they are called ‘alive’. In the ranking of blessed people ‘shuhuda’ come after ‘siddiqueen’ (al-nisa-69); it means all of them are alive even after passing through this apparent earthly life.   Quran says about such people: " It is Allah that takes the souls  at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep. Those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (forward for second life) for a term appointed verily in this are Signs for those who reflect (al-zumar-42).

  This verse describes that Allah takes souls of all persons who die. He also takes souls of those who do not die during their sleep. He withholds (from second life) souls of those who have been decreed as dead; and those who have not been decreed as dead are sent (forward for second life).   It may be noted that after earthly life, human soul is moved into 'uqba' (for details plz see my article ' Journey of Human Soul'); all souls in 'uqba'  live according to natural laws existing in the world of 'uqba'. Some souls in 'uqba' are declared alive and others are declared as dead. Out of such souls which are declared alive, some souls are allowed to interact with this earthly world. But all alive souls in 'uqba' are not allowed to interact with this earthly life/world.  Such alive souls out of 'uqba world' which are allowed to interact with this apparent earthly life/world are called 'Aulia Allah'; these are souls of 'saleheen', 'shuhuda', 'siddiqueen'.  (for details plz see my article ' Aulia Allah').

In short, ‘saleheen’, ‘shuhuda’ and ‘siddiqueen’ (which all are Aulia) are alive. Some of these 'aulia' are entrusted with/managing world’s affairs. The  fact that ‘Aulia’ are entrusted with world’s affairs is testified by sufi scholars of the status no lesser than hazrat Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) and hazrat Data sahib (ra).

Hazrat Data sahib (ra) has described the ‘Aulia’ entrusted with/managing world’s affairs as “workers imposing Allah’s Will/ “karqunan-e-qaza-o-qadr”. In other words, the ‘Aulia’ which are charged with managing world’s affairs act like angels; like angels play role of implementing Allah’s Will, ‘Aulia’ charged with managing world’s affairs also play the role of implementing Allah’s Will. It does not mean that every act done by a ‘Wali’ is done after receiving Allah’s Will; 'aulia' also do many acts without receiving Allah's Will. The more actions by a ‘wali’ to implement Allah’s Will, the greater ‘wali’ he is. An angel implements Allah’s Will because he is by design created for that purpose; but ‘wali’ implements Allah’s Will by choice. After passing through physical death,   'aulia' implement only Allah's Will; after physical death, they cannot do any act without receiving Allah's Will while interacting with people.

The question arises if ‘Aulia’ are charged with managing world’s affairs, can we pray to them or not? The reply is negative. As we cannot pray to angels, we cannot pray to ‘Aulia’. In fact 'dua'/ praying is only made to an entity who is considered as Deity; an entity who is not considered as deity cannot be prayed to. There are so many  Quranic verses which forbid from praying to any entity other than Allah. Praying/'dua' to an entity other than Allah is not allowed; it is ‘shirk’.

  As ‘aulia’ are the people implementing Allah’s Will, and Muslims do not take them as deities, there is no point of praying to ‘aulia’; aulia’s role is just to receive Allah’s Will and implement it. But as ‘aulia’ are alive, we can request them at their shrines to pray to Allah for our needs; because aulia are alive, they can listen to our request and pray to Allah accordingly.  In other words, in no case we are allowed to pray to ‘aulia’, but we can request them to pray to Allah for us.