7G J. 0’Kinea.ly —History ami Doctrines of the Wahhabis. [No. 1, 
a life quicker than that declared by revelation unto martyrs, and that he 
can hear the salutations of those who salute him. We consider pilgrimage is 
supported by legal custom, but it should not be undertaken except to a 
mosque, and for the purpose of praying in it. Therefore, whoever performs 
pilgrimage for this purpose, is not wrong, and doubtless those who spend the 
precious moments of their existence in invoking the Prophet, shall, according 
to the Hadis, obtain happiness in this world and the next, and he will dispel 
their sorrows. We do not deny miraculous powers to the saints, but on the 
contrary allow them. They are under the guidance of the Lord, so long 
as they continue to follow the way pointed out in the laws and obey the 
prescribed rules. But whether alive or dead, they must not be made the object 
of any form of worship. This does not prevent us from asking them or any 
other Muslim if living to supplicate on our behalf. Thus it is related in 
the Hadis that Al-mar-ul-Muslim asked that his brother might be accepted by 
God, and ’Omar directed ’All to ask Uwais to supplicate that he might be par- • 
doned, and he did so. According to what has descended to us, our prophet 
Muhammad (may he, &c.) is empowered to intercede for us on the day 
of judgment, and so also are all prophets, angels, saints, and children. And 
we shall ask it of the Lord God, the Buler over it, the Granter of it to 
whomsoever He pleases to those who are amongst the best of men, the 
believers in the Unity of God. Thus one of us entreating the Lord God 
Almighty shall say, O Lord, you have empowered our prophet Muhammad 
(may he, &c.) to intercede for us, &c. (in the form handed down by 
tradition), or we shall ask it of the Lord God, the Granter of it to us on 
the day of judgment. “ 0 God, you have appointed your pure slave (mortal 
or angel, as may be) to intercede.” Thus we shall ask God for those things 
which must be demanded from Him and not from them. And as regards 
the things over which God alone has power, no one will cry out “ O prophet 
of God”, or “ 0 Saint of God, I ask your intercession,” nor will any one say 
to this “ help me”, or “ intercede for me”, or “ assist me.” Since calling in 
this manner on those who are dead, but as yet not risen to judgment, is a 
form of shirk. There is nothing in its favour, either in the Qoran or the 
Sunnat. The pious departed have not urged it. On the contrary, they have 
decided that it is shirk of the most aggravated form, on account of which 
the prophet warred with the world. 
To determine the effect of taking an oath in the name of other than 
God, it is necessary to look to the intention of the swearer. If he intends 
by the oath to give that respect which is due to God, or more, as happens 
among certain violent Mushriks of our time, who swear by their Shaikhs_ 
their gods on whom they rely, such false oaths will not -be accepted like those 
sworn in His name, and the swearers are, according to the general opinion 
of Muslims, Kafirs, guilty of the most heinous form of shirk, ignorant of 
