Neither are different telephone brands the cause of degeneration and corruption...

Neither are different telephone brands the cause of degeneration and corruption, nor the celebration ceremonies held for the birth of great ones in religion considered as sin. The birthday party for each and every member of a family, a great religious scholar, or palatial ceremonials for the Holy Prophet (S) and the great personalities of religion are not sinful.

We have no reason to prohibit[^7] performing the above except misunderstanding the denotation of heresy and lack of knowledge of the jurisprudential meaning of this term and misapprehending conventional affairs as religious rulings. We are not only concerned with the shrine and the tomb of religious pioneers, which is a subject for another discussion, but with the ordinary graveyards.

In Saudi Arabia graveyards are the most hideous and repulsive areas resembling a barren desert, rock-ribbed, rugged and disorganized, with not one straight stone on any one grave!

The ordinary building of graves is a conventional act amongst all nations and rational-beings in the world who try to construct the graves in a manner that retains their respect, and prevents them from being belittled and affronted, placing plants and trees in their surroundings to bring calm and tranquility to their remains. For the poets and the pioneers in knowledge and literacy, appropriate burial chambers are built with respect to their status, and for every person according to his position.

This is a humanistic and conventional act, it is neither heresy nor polytheism nor idol-worship but a respectful humane ritual, whereas, prohibited heresy[^8] means adding something to religious rulings. Nowadays everywhere in the world centennial ceremonies are held for leaders, poets, inventors, and outstanding human beings to motivate the youth towards knowledge and science and its developoment.

Can any rational person call this heresy or polytheism, or that something is being added to religion?! Yet, if it is done for religious personalities to attract the public towards their notions, teachings and agendas, and create a solid bond between them, how can this act be called heresy or polytheism? Conventional innovations are sometimes aligned with religious matters and without being merged with them gain the title of heresy.

For instance, today we see many minarets in Masjid-ul-Harām and Masjid-un-Nabi that had certainly not existed at the time of the Prophet (S).