The Foundations of Salafi Narrative Jurisprudence (Fiqh al-Ḥadīth) on the Reverence of Constructing Shrines for the Divine Saints’ Graves Based on Abi Al-Hiyaj -Asadī’s Narration

Human nature is founded on honoring the grandees’ graves, and several Qur’anic and narrative sources support this subject. But Salafis label the practice as heresy; due to a lack of a thorough accurate understanding of the foundations of fiqh al-ḥadīth, they call some narrations, including Abi al-Hiyaj Asadī’s, the most frequently cited ones, as the evidence for the reverence of constructing shrines on the divine saints’ graves. Given that many Takfiri groups’ destructive activities and ideologies have roots in Salafism and Wahhabism, and based on the findings of this descriptive-analytical research, it is concluded that the authenticity of this declaration is not reliable because of its references to narrators like Abū Muḥammad al-Hazālī, and Abū Wāʾil Shaqīq among others, and the impossibility of quoting Khālid’s narration by Hessan due to his death before Khālid’s birth. This weakness of evidence is exacerbated by the fact that neither al-Bukhārī nor Ibn Mājah validated the narration (given their special credibility among Salafis, the uniqueness of the narrations quoted from Abi al-Hiyaj in this narration, and regarding the invalidity of narration due to Bukhārī’s view). This is in opposition to the evidence that encourages the development and renovation of the divine saints’ graves.