Three Acts to Consider

This issue is concerning Tabarruk or seeking blessings from the creation.

1. Kissing the Yamani Corner or touching the wall or kiswah (black cloth that covers the ka’bah) for cure.

It is established in the Sunnah that the Messenger of Allah used to touch the Yamani corner.

· Abdullah ibn Umar (reported) that he had not seen Allaah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) touching anything in the House, except the two Yamani corners. (Muslim)
· Nafi’ reported on the authority of ‘Abdullah (Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) did not touch but the stone and the Yamani corner. (Muslim)

The ruling concerning touching the Yamani corner is based on the intention behind touching it.
· If the intention is following the Messenger of Allah in his way of performing hajj then this is recommended as he told us to take from him the rituals of hajj.
· Touching it for any other purpose without basis from the text of the Shari’ah is similar to the Hadeeth of Umar:
o Narrated By Zaid bin Aslam: From his father who said: "Umar bin Al-Khattab addressed the corner (Black Stone) saying, 'By Allah! I know that you are a stone and can neither benefit nor harm. Had I not seen the Prophet touching (and kissing) you, I would never have touched (and kissed) you.' Then he kissed it and said, 'There is no reason for us to do Ramal (in Tawaf) except that we wanted to show off before the pagans, and now Allah has destroyed them.' 'Umar added, '(Nevertheless), the Prophet did that and we do not want to leave it (i.e. Ramal).' [1]

· If the intention of touching the Yamani corner is to get blessings from it or to get healing from it then the issue can be divided into two:

If one believes that Yamani corner has independent power on its own to give blessings or grant healing to whomever touches it and one act upon this belief, then this is Major Shirk.
If one believes that the Yamani corner doesn’t have power on its own but by doing it one can be healed then this is bid’ah that doesn’t have any basis in the Shari’ah. This is also minor shirk as it leads to major shirk.

The ruling concerning touching the wall or the Kiswah is bid’ah as the hadeeth above clearly states that the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam did not touch anything from the ka’bah except the Yamani corner. Whether this is bid’ah with major shirk or not depends the intention of touching it similar to what was said above.

2. Kissing and wiping the Qur’an (Mushaf) for barakah or kiss it if one drops it; wearing hijaab if one reads it.

· First of all the Qur’an revealed to Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam is the speech of Allah. Since speech is one of Allah’s attributes, and His attributes are not created, therefore, the Qur’an is not created. What is written between the pages is referred to in Arabic as Mushaf and not the Qur’an as defined above. Due to our respect to the words of Allah, we are not supposed to recite the Qur’an in the toilet and we should not bring written verses of Qur’an into the toilet as well. A woman in menses should not touch the Mushaf although she can recite it.
· Scholars said that they don’t know any hadeeth of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam kissing the Qur’an or kissing the materials in his time where verses of the Qur’an is written. Therefore kissing it, if one intends it as an act of Ibaadah, is bid’ah.

Kissing the Mushaf with the hope of getting blessings from it has two issues:

o If one does it with the belief that it in of itself can grant blessings or benefit is an act of major shirk.
o If one does it believing that it is Allah who grants barakah then this is an act of Bid’ah since there is no basis in it in the Shari’ah.

3. Drinking the blood of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam and setting a pilgrimage to a Masjid in Kashmir where his hair is kept in a box.

The Physical body of the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam does contain blessings and as long as there is Isnaad to establish that such and such is indeed from him then it is a source of blessings.

Making pilgrimage to his hair is not sanction in the Shari’ah because we are only allowed to travel for to only three masjids, Masjidil Haram, Masjid an Nabawi and Masjid al Aqsa.

One must believe that the source of such blessings is only Allah.

If one believes that such part of the Prophet’s body contains blessings independent of Allah, then such belief is major shirk.

[1] Vol. 2, Book 26. Pilgrimage (Hajj). Hadith 675. Islamsoft Hadeeth software version 1.0