Muhammad is reported to have cursed the Jews and Christians for turning the graves of the prophets and righteous persons as places of worship, and warned his followers from doing the same with his grave:
Narrated ‘Aisha and ‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas: When the last moment of the life of Allah’s Apostle came he started putting his ‘Khamisa’ on his face and when he felt hot and short of breath he took it off his face and said, “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets.” The Prophet was warning (Muslims) of what those had done. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 8, Number 427 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=8&translator=1&start=0&number=426)
‘A’isha reported: The Messenger of Allah said during his illness from which he never recovered: Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians that they took the graves of their prophets as mosques. She (‘A’isha) reported: Had it not been so, his (Prophet’s) grave would have been in an open place, but it could not be due to the fear that it may not be taken as a mosque. (Sahih Muslim, Book 004, Number 1079 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=004&translator=2&start=0&number=1038)
21 The Book of Funerals
(106) Chapter: Taking Graves as Masjids
It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah said: “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians who took the graves of their prophets as Masjids.” (Sahih)
Chapter 107. It Is Disliked to Walk Between Grave Wearing Sibtiyah Sandals
Reference: Sunan an-Nasa’i 2047
In-book reference: Book 21, Hadith 231
English translation: Vol. 3, Book 21, Hadith 2049 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/nasai:2047)
4 Prayer
(8a) Chapter: Mosques and places of Prayer – Section 1
A’isha told of God’s Messenger as saying in his illness from which he did not recover, “God curse the Jews and Christians! They have taken the graves of their prophets as mosques.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)
Reference: Mishkat al-Masabih 712
In-book reference: Book 4, Hadith 142 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/mishkat:712)
4 Prayer
(8c) Chapter: Mosques and places of Prayer – Section 3
‘Ata’ b. Yasar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “O God, do not let my grave become an idol which is worshipped. God’s anger is severe against people who take the graves of their prophets as mosques.”
Malik transmitted it in mursal form.
Reference: Mishkat al-Masabih 750
In-book reference: Book 4, Hadith 178 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/mishkat:750)
4 Prayer
(17b) Chapter: Blessing on the Prophet, and its Excellence – Section 2
He reported that he had heard God’s Messenger say, “Do not turn your houses into graves,* and do not make my grave a place to gather as for visitation, but invoke blessings on me, for your blessing will reach me wherever you are.”
*This is most probably a figurative expressive indicating that a house in which prayer is not offered is like a grave, as God is not worshipped there.
Nasa’i transmitted it.
Reference: Mishkat al-Masabih 926
In-book reference: Book 4, Hadith 349 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/mishkat:926)
Herein lies Muhammad’s duplicity and hypocrisy.
According to the Quran, the supposed resting place of the fictional sleepers of the cave was allegedly turned into a masjid or a place of worship, seemingly with Allah’s express approval:
Or, do you think that the Fellows of the Cave and the Inscription were of Our wonderful signs? When the youths sought refuge in the cave, they said: Our Lord! grant us mercy from Thee, and provide for us a right course in our affair. So We prevented them from hearing in the cave for a number of years. Then We raised them up that We might know which of the two parties was best able to compute the time for which they remained. We relate to you their story with the truth; surely they were youths who believed in their Lord and We increased them in guidance. And We strengthened their hearts with patience, when they stood up and said: Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth; we will by no means call upon any god besides Him, for then indeed we should have said an extravagant thing. These our people have taken gods besides Him; why do they not produce any clear authority in their support? Who is then more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah? And when you forsake them and what they worship save Allah, betake yourselves for refuge to the cave; your Lord will extend to you largely of His mercy and provide for you a profitable course in your affair. And you might see the sun when it rose, decline from their cave towards the right hand, and when it set, leave them behind on the left while they were in a wide space thereof. This is of the signs of Allah; whomsoever Allah guides, he is the rightly guided one, and whomsoever He causes to err, you shall not find for him any friend to lead (him) aright. And you might think them awake while they were asleep and We turned them about to the right and to the left, while their dog (lay) outstretching its paws at the entrance; if you looked at them you would certainly turn back from them in flight, and you would certainly be filled with awe because of them. And thus did We rouse them that they might question each other. A speaker among them said: How long have you tarried? They said: We have tarried for a day or a part of a day. (Others) said: Your Lord knows best how long you have tarried. Now send one of you with this silver (coin) of yours to the city, then let him see which of them has purest food, so let him bring you provision from it, and let him behave with gentleness, and by no means make your case known to any one: For surely if they prevail against you they would stone you to death or force you back to their religion, and then you will never succeed. And thus did We make (men) to get knowledge of them that they might know that Allah’s promise is true and that as for the hour there is no doubt about it. When they disputed among themselves about their affair and said: Erect an edifice over them — their Lord best knows them. Those who prevailed in their affair said: We will certainly raise a masjid over them. (Some) say: (They are) three, the fourth of them being their dog; and (others) say: Five, the sixth of them being their dog, making conjectures at what is unknown; and (others yet) say: Seven, and the eighth of them is their dog. Say: My Lord best knows their number, none knows them but a few; therefore contend not in the matter of them but with an outward contention, and do not question concerning them any of them. S. 18:9-22 Shakir
Note how the following version translates the relevant part:
Thus did We make their case known to the people, that they might know that the promise of God is true, and that there can be no doubt about the Hour of Judgment. Behold, they dispute among themselves as to their affair. (Some) said, “Construct a building over them”: Their Lord knows best about them: those who prevailed over their affair said, “Let us surely build a place of worship over them (alayhim masjidan).” S. 18:21 Y. Ali
And here’s the explanation given by some of Islam’s greatest expositors:
And so just as We aroused them it was that We disclosed them to their people and the believers that they that is their people might know that God’s promise of resurrection is true by virtue of the fact that One Who has the power to make them sleep for such a long period of time or sustain them in that state without nourishment also has the power to resurrect the dead; and that as for the Hour there is no doubt no uncertainty concerning it. Behold idh adverbially qualifies a‘tharnā ‘We disclosed’ they were disputing that is the believers and the disbelievers among themselves their affair the affair of the youths with regard to building something around them as a monument; so they the disbelievers said ‘Build over them that is around them a building to cover them up; their Lord knows them best.’ Those who prevailed regarding their affair the affair of the youths namely the believers ‘We will verily set up over them around them a place of worship’ for prayers to be performed therein. And this indeed took place at the entrance of the cave. (Tafsir al-Jalalayn https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=18&tAyahNo=21&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis mine)
(those who won their point said: “We verily, shall build a place of worship over them.”) Those who said this were the people of power and influence, but were they good people or not there is some debate on this point, because the Prophet said…
(Allah has cursed the Jews and the Christians who took the graves of their Prophets and righteous people as places of worship) Warning against what they did. We have reported about the Commander of the faithful `Umar bin Al-Khattab that when he found the grave of Danyal (Daniel) in Iraq during his period of rule, he gave orders that news of this grave should be withheld from the people, and that the inscription containing mention of battles etc., that they found there should be buried. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir https://www.alim.org/quran/tafsir/ibn-kathir/surah/18/21; bold emphasis mine)
Ibn Kathir’s admission that there was some debate in respect to whether the people in this Islamic Rip Van Winkle story did something good by turning the resting place of these so-called sleepers into a masjid since this contradicts Muhammad’s condemnation of such a practice illustrates the Muhammadan conundrum. It perfectly demonstrates Muhammad’s blatant inconsistency by providing further substantiation of how he would often do or say things in direct conflict with the Quran. After all, there is nothing in this fable suggesting that the Muslim deity disapproved of what the people did. It is merely the scholars’ realizing how their prophet’s sunna directly conflicts with the statements of his own book that led them to assume such in order to harmonize this blatant contradiction.
It gets much worse.
Muhammad made it obligatory for his followers to pray for him and even greet him in their prayers after his death:
Abu Hurayra said that the Messenger of Allah said, “Whenever anyone greets me with peace, Allah will return my soul to me so that I can return the greeting.”
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba mentions that Abu Hurayra said that the Messenger of Allah said, “I WILL HEAR whoever blesses me at my grave. If someone is far away and blesses me, that is also conveyed to me.”…
Ibn ‘Umar said, “Do a lot of prayer on your Prophet every Jumu’a. It is brought to him from you every Jumu’a.” One version has, “None of you blesses me but THAT HIS PRAYER IS SHOWN TO ME when he finishes it.”
Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali said that the Prophet said, “Bless me wherever you are. YOUR PRAYER will reach me.”
One of them mentioned that the name of someone who blesses the Prophet IS SHOWN to the Prophet when he does it.
Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali said, “When you enter the mosque, greet the Prophet. The Messenger of Allah said, ‘Do not make my house a place of ‘Id and do not make your houses graves. Bless me wherever you are. YOUR PRAYER will reach me wherever you are.’”…
Sulayman ibn Suhyam said that he saw the Prophet in a dream and asked him, “Messenger of
Allah, do you recognise the greeting of those who come to you?” He replied, “YES, AND I ANSWER THEM.” (Qadi ‘Iyad Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi, Kitab Ash-shifa bi ta’rif huquq al-Mustafa (Healing by the recognition of the Rights of the Chosen One), translated by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley English [Madinah Press, Inverness, Scotland, U.K., third reprint 1991, paperback], pp. 262-263; capital and underline emphasis mine)
Notice how Muhammad himself classified the invocations and greetings that his followers were to offer to him as supplications and prayers. Muhammad is, therefore, personally responsible for the blatant idolatry that Muslims commit all over the world due to their invoking and speaking to a dead false prophet.
And this notion of Muhammad being able to see the prayers of his followers even after his death is substantiated within the Quran itself:
They will excuse themselves to you when you go back to them. Say: Urge no excuse, by no means will we believe you; indeed Allah has informed us of matters relating to you; and now Allah and His Apostle WILL SEE your doings (wa’sayara Allahu amalakum wa’rasooluhu), then you shall be brought back to the Knower of the unseen and the seen, then He will inform you of what you did. S. 9:94 Shakir
The word for “will see” (sayara) is a 3rd person masculine singular imperfect verb, and is in the subjunctive mood. The verse literally reads, “” Allah and his apostle, HE will see.”
Muhammad, therefore, made Allah’s seeing identical with his own sight, which in turn makes him omniscient and omnipresent like his god!
To make matters much worse and more blasphemous than they already are, the Quran depicts Muhammad as being able to cleanse and purify his followers from their sins!
Take alms out of their property, you would cleanse them and purify them thereby, and pray for them; surely your prayer is a relief to them; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing. S. 9:103 Shakir
That’s not all.
Some of Islam’s most notable scholars have used Q. 4:64 to argue that Muslims can actually visit their dead prophet’s grave in order to personally ask him for his intercession. And this is exactly what Muhammadans have been doing since the demise of Muhammad:
Although, this verse (64) was revealed in the background of a particular incident relating to hypocrites, yet its words yield a general ruling which stipulates that anyone who presents himself before the Holy Prophet and he prays for his forgiveness, he will be definitely forgiven. And ‘the presence before the Prophet,’ as it would have been during his blessed life in this mortal world, HOLDS THE SAME EFFECT EVEN TODAY as the visit to the sacred precincts of the Mosque of the Prophet and the act of ‘presenting’ oneself BEFORE THE BLESSED RESIDENT OF THE SANCTIFIED MAUSOLEUM FALLS WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THIS RULE.
Sayyidna ‘Ali has said: “Three days after we all had finished with the burial of the Messenger of Allah a villager came and fell down close to the blessed grave. Weeping bitterly, he referred to this particular verse of the Qur’an AND ADDRESSING HIMSELF TO THE BLESSED GRAVE, he said: ‘Allah Almighty has promised in this verse that a sinner, if he presented himself before the Rasul of Allah, and the Rasul elects to pray for his forgiveness, then he will forgive him. Therefore, here I am, presenting myself BEFORE YOU so that I may be blessed with YOUR prayer for my forgiveness.’ People personally present there at that time say that, in response to the pleading of the villager, a voice coming out from the sanctified mausoleum rang around with the words… You have been forgiven.” (al-Bahr al-Muhit) (Mufti Shafi Usmani, Maariful Quran, Volume 2, p. 486 https://www.kalamullah.com/Books/Maariful%20Quran/English-MaarifulQuran-MuftiShafiUsmaniRA-Vol-2-Page-451-505.pdf; capital emphasis mine)
And:
“Allah is instructing the sinners when they commit a sin to come to the messenger of Allah and ask forgiveness in his presence and then they ask him to request forgiveness. And certainly if they did that, Allah would relent towards them and have mercy on them, and for that reason He said “they would have found Allah Oft-Returning, Merciful.”
And Shaykh Mansur as-Sabbagh recollected in his book “The Perfections” (ash-Shama’il) the well-known (famous) transmission from ‘Utbi:
“I was sitting by the grave of the Prophet and a Bedouin came and said: ‘Peace be upon you O Prophet of Allah. I heard Allah say: “And if they had come to thee when they had wronged their souls, and asked forgiveness of Allah, and if the Messenger had also asked forgiveness for them, they would have surely found Allah Oft-Returning with compassion and Merciful.” And I came to you asking forgiveness for my sin, taking you as intercessor to my Lord.’
“Then he started reciting verses: ‘O You best of those whose bones are buried in al-Qa’a from the sweet scents of those bones the whole area of al-Qa’a and Akamu became perfumed. My self I sacrifice to the grave that you live in it is purity and in it is incredible generosity.’
“Then the Bedouin departed and sleep overcame me. And I saw the Prophet in my sleep and he said: ‘Ya ‘Utbi, follow the Bedouin and give him the glad tidings that Allah has forgiven him.’” (Ibn Kathir, Tafsir of Qur’an al-Adheem [Dar al-Fikr, Beirut, 1992/1412], Volume 1, p. 643)
It is apparent why Muslim scholars permitted such an idolatrous and blasphemous practice,
According to the verse in question, Muhammad’s intercession is essential and necessary to obtain forgiveness:
And We did not send any apostle but that he should be obeyed by Allah’s permission; 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. S. 4:64 Shakir
Since the Quran is supposed to be a source of guidance for all peoples at all times, not just at the time of Muhammad, this mean that passages such as the foregoing must still be applicable for all generations of Muslims. However, Muhammad is dead and the applicability of these injunctions are dependent on his followers being able to access his presence in order to benefit from his intercession.
This leaves Muslims with one of two choices.
Either these texts which require making contact with Muhammad are obsolete now that he is dead, which in turn makes the Quran an incoherent and impractical “revelation” seeing that much of its contents have become useless and unnecessary after Muhammad’s death. Or Muslims are still required to act upon these verses by going to the grave of Muhammad in order to contact a dead man whom they think is somehow still alive in his tomb.
As the readers can see, some Islamic scholars chose the second view, which resulted in their doing the very thing that Muhammad cursed the Jews and Christians for doing. I.e., as a direct result of the teachings of the Quran and sunnah, Muslims have turned their prophet’s grave into a place of worship where they come and pray to a dead man to help save them from their sins!
As if this weren’t shocking enough, certain Muslims would even face Muhammad’s grave rather than the Kabah whenever they would supplicate!
It is just as necessary to have esteem and respect for the Prophet AFTER HIS DEATH AS IT WERE WHEN HE WAS ALIVE. This means to show it whenever the Prophet, his hadith or sunna are mentioned, when anyone hears his name or anything about his life or how his family and relatives behaved. It includes respect for the People of his House (ah al-bayt) and his Companions…
Abu Humayd said, “Abu Ja’far, the Amir al-Mu’minin, had a dispute with Malik in the Prophet’s mosque. Malik said to him, ‘Amir al-Mu’minin, do not raise your voice in this mosque. Allah taught the people how to behave by saying, ‘Do not raise your voices above the Prophet’ (49:2) He praises people with the words, “Those who lower their voices in the presence of the Messenger of Allah.” (49:3) He censures people, saying, “Those who call you…” Respect for him WHEN HE IS DEAD is the same as respect for him when he was alive.”
“Abu Ja’far was humbled by this. He asked Malik, ‘Abu Abdullah, do you face qibla when you supplicate or do you face the Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘Why would you turn your face from him when he is YOUR MEANS and the means of your father, Adam, to Allah on the Day of Rising? I face him and ASK HIM to intercede and Allah will grant his intercession. Allah says, “If, when you wronged yourselves, they had come to you.”’” (4:64) (Qadi ‘Iyad, pp. 237-238; capital and underline emphasis mine)
With the foregoing in view, could it be any more obvious that Muhammad was an inconsistent hypocrite and idol-maker that did the very thing he condemned others for doing, and who turned himself into a god by causing his followers to look to him as an object of their worship?
FURTHER READING
INVOCATION AND WORSHIP: THE ISLAMIC DILEMMA PT. 1
INVOCATION AND WORSHIP: THE ISLAMIC DILEMMA PT. 2
Answering Islam Blog 
6 thoughts on “Grave Worship: More of Muhammad’s Duplicity Exposed”