Ziyara(h) (Arabic:زِيَارَةziyārah, "visit") orziyarat (Persian:زیارت,ziyārat, "pilgrimage";Turkish:ziyaret, "visit") is a form of pilgrimage tosites associated with theIslamic prophet Muhammad, his family members and descendants (including theShī'ī Imāms),his companions and other venerated figures inIslam such as theprophets,Sufiauliya, andIslamic scholars.[1][2] Sites of pilgrimage include mosques,maqams, battlefields, mountains, and caves.
Ziyārat can also refer to a form of supplication made by theShia, in which they send salutations and greetings toMuhammad and hisfamily.[3][4]
Ziyarat comes fromArabic:زَار,romanized: zār "to visit". In Islam it refers to pious visitation, pilgrimage to a holy place, tomb or shrine.[5] Iranian and South Asian Muslims use the wordziyarat for both theHajj pilgrimage toMecca as well as for pilgrimages to other sites such as visiting a holy place.[5] InIndonesia the term isziarah for visiting holy places or graves.
DifferentMuslim-majority countries, speaking many different languages, use different words for these sites whereziyarat is performed:[5]
More than any other tomb in the Islamic world, the shrine of Muhammad is considered a source of blessings for the visitor.[6] Ahadith of Muhammad states that, "He who visits my grave will be entitled to my intercession" and in a different version "I will intercede for those who have visited me or my tomb."[6][7][8] Visiting Muhammad's tomb after the pilgrimage is recommended according to the majority ofSunni legal scholars.[6]
The early scholars of thesalaf,Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH),Ishaq ibn Rahwayh (d. 238 SH),Abdullah ibn Mubarak (d. 189 AH) andImam Shafi'i (d. 204 AH) all permitted the practice ofZiyarah to Muhammad's tomb.[6]
According to theHanbali scholarAl-Hasan ibn 'Ali al-Barbahari (d. 275 AH), it is also obligatory to send salutations (salam) uponAbu Bakr al-Siddiq and‘Umar ibn al-Khattab after having sent salutations upon Muhammad.[9][10]
Thehadith scholarQadi Ayyad (d. 544 AH) stated that visiting Muhammad was "a sunna of the Muslims on which there was consensus, and a good and desirable deed."[11]
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH) explicitly stated that travelling to visit the tomb of Muhammad was "one of the best of actions and the noblest of pious deeds with which one draws near to God, and its legitimacy is a matter of consensus."[11]
Similarly,Ibn Qudamah (d. 620 AH) consideredZiyarat of Muhammad to be recommended and also seeking intercession directly from Muhammad at his grave.[12][13] Other historic scholars who recommendedZiyarah includeImam al-Ghazali (d. 505 AH),Imam Nawawi (d. 676 AH) andMuhammad al-Munawi (d. 1031 AH).[11] The tombs of other Muslim religious figures are also respected. The son ofAhmad ibn Hanbal named Abdullah, one of the primary jurists of Sunnism, reportedly stated that he would prefer to be buried near the shrine of a saintly person than his own father.[6]
Ibn Taymiyyah condemned all forms of seeking intercession from the dead,[14] and said that allhadith encouraging visitation to Muhammad's tomb are fabricated (mawdu‘).[15]
This view of Ibn Taymiyyah was rejected by manySunni scholars, both during his life and after his death. TheShafi'i hadith masterIbn Hajar al-Asqalani stated that "This is one of the ugliest positions that has been reported of Ibn Taymiyya".[11] TheHanafi hadith scholarAli al-Qari stated that, "Amongst the Hanbalis, Ibn Taymiyya has gone to an extreme by prohibiting travelling to visit the Prophet"[11]Qastallani stated that "The Shaykh Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyya has abominable and odd statements on this issue to the effect that travelling to visit the Prophet is prohibited and is not a pious deed."[11]
There are reasons why Shī‘ah partake inZiyarah which do not involve the worship of the people buried within the tombs.Ayatollah Borujerdi andAyatollah Khomeini have both said:
It isharam (forbidden) to prostrate to anyone except God. If the act of prostration in front of the shrines of the Infallible Imams ('a.s.) is a form of thanksgiving to God, there is no objection, otherwise, it is haram.
— Ayatollah Borujerdi.[16]
The Shī‘ah do however perform Ziyarah, believing that the entombed figures bear great status in the eyes of God, and seek to have their prayers answered through these people (a form ofTawassul) – Sayyid Muhammad Hasan Musawi writes:
They (the holy figures) are being requested to supplicate to God, to deliver the person in need from his affliction, since the supplication of these saintly figures is accepted by Allah.
— Sayyid Muhammad Hasan Musawi.[17]
In this regard, Ibn Shu’ba al-Harrani also narrates a hadīth from thetenth Imām of theTwelver Shī‘as:
God has some areas in which he likes to be supplicated, and the prayer of the supplicator is accepted (in those areas); thesanctuary of Husayn (a.s.) is one of these.
— Ibn Shu’ba al-Harrani.[18]
The Ziyarah of theImāms is also done by the Shī‘ah, not only as a means of greeting and saluting their masters who lived long before they were born, but also as a means of seeking nearness to God and more of His blessings (barakah). The Shī‘ah do not consider thehadith collected byal-Bukhari to be authentic,[19] and argue that if things such asZiyarah andTawassul were innovations andshirk,Muhammad himself would have prohibited people as a precaution, from visiting graves, or seeking blessings through kissing the sacredblack stone at theKa‘bah.[20][better source needed] It is a popular Shi'i belief that to beburied near the burial place of the Imams is beneficial. In Shi'i sacred texts it is stated that the time between death andresurrection (barzakh) should be spent near the Imams.[21]
Ibn Taymiyya strongly rejects all kinds of mediation, intercession, and seeking help through the dead. He says that in the visitation of the dead ismemento mori (i'tibar,ibra).
Ibn Taymiyya criticizes hadiths encouraging visitation of the Prophet's grave, pronouncing them all forgeries (mawdu) and lies (kidhb). According to him, most famous are "He who performs the pilgrimage and does not visit me, has shunned me" and "Who visited my grave must ask me for intercession." Ibn Taymiyya notes that although some of these hadiths are part of Daraqutni's collection, they are not included in the main hadith collections of Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Nasa'i, nor are they part of the Musnad of Ibn Hanbal. He observes that with regard to visiting the Prophet's grave, ulama rely only upon hadiths according to which the Prophet must be greeted (al-salam wa al-salat alayhi). 56 As for the contents of hadiths encouraging visitation, they contradict the principle of tawhid al-uluhiya.
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