His Knowledge and Ability are unparalleled and He has no...

His Knowledge and Ability are unparalleled and He has no partner in Creation nor in Providing for His creatures; therefore none is like Him in any of His Perfections. Thirdly, His Unity must exist in the worship of Him, and worship of any other than Him is not permitted. Nothing must be made a partner to Him in worship, whether the worship be obligatory (e.g. salat) or not (e.g. du'a').

One who ascribes a partner to Him in worship is a polytheist, like one who pretends to be worshipping for the sake of Allah but is in fact worshipping for the sake of some other being. In the eyes of Islam he is akin to an idolator, and both of them are polytheists. However, pilgrimages to sacred place, such as the graves of the Holy Prophet (S.A.) or the Imams (A.S.), and mourning are not kinds of polytheism, as some people who have attacked the Shi'a have alleged.

These people have not looked to the reason behind the pilgrimages, for they are a way of approaching near to Allah through good deeds, in the same way as we can approach near to Allah by the performance of such good acts as visiting the sick, escorting a funeral, visiting our brothers in Islam and helping poor Muslims. For example, visiting a sick person is a good act through which a believer obtains nearness to Allah.

It is not for the glorification of the sick person himself; therefore it is not an act of polytheism. In the same way, other good acts, such as pilgrimage, mourning, attending a funeral and meeting with our brothers are not kinds of polytheism. Moreover, it is known from religious jurisprudence ('ilm al-fiqh) that pilgrimage and mourning are among the good deeds of the religion, but this is not a place to go into an exposition of this.

In brief, these actions are not a kind of polytheism as some people suppose, neither is the intention behind them that of worshipping the Imams (A.S.). Rather, their meaning is to bring the deeds of the Imams (A.S.) to life again, to renew their memory in the minds of the people and to glorify the rites of the religion. And whosoever venerates the rites of the religion, that is of the godliness of their hearts. (22;32) It has been shown in the law (shar') that these acts are mustahabb.

If a man performs these actions with the intention of pleasing Allah, he deserves to be rewarded for them. **7.