[4] Coming back to our topic...

[4] Coming back to our topic, the roofs were there or built over the Holy Graves during the life times of Masomeen -asws , i.e., the roof over the grave of Rasool-Allah -saww and the dome which was built upon the public discovery of the grave of Amir ul Momineen -asws , but none of the Imams -asws issued any statements against those constructions or have said that later when our -asws government comes (the rising of the 12 th Imam -ajfj ) these domes will be removed.

In addition, The mausoleum of Prophet Zakariya -as , father of Prophet Yahya -as within the ‘ Jamiʿ Halab al-Kabir ’ ( Great Mosque of Aleppo ) in Syria was built within a worshiping place (called cathedral at that time) which had a roof/dome. Similarly, Prophet Yahya -as ’s Shrine inside the prayer hall of the Umayyad Mosque also has a small dome. In general, believers, however, are encouraged to visit the holy shrines of Masomeen -asws , see for examples the rewards of visiting holy shrines.

[5] The holy shrines, as we find today, are built above the holy graves, not only to secure these from being worn away (by excessive touching and walking around) and fear of stamped due to overcrowding of the visitors but also to facilitate the orderly visitation of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.

Therefore, either we go there to pay our respect, as per Ahadith encouraging us, and try to reach as close as we can and is permitted by the management of the holy shrines or else…we don’t have any other choice. But, under no circumstances, we will like these holy domes to be demolished as is the case of Janat ul-Baqi (Medina) or when ISIS detonated the Holy Mausoleum of 10 th and 11 th Imams -asws .

It is strange to question this, ‘Are domes over the holy grave and the Zari above liked by the Ahl Al-Bayt -asws ? Its like asking if Muslims or Shias are liked by Ahl Al-Bayt -asws ? We have deviated so much from the true teachings of Ahl Al-Bayt -asws and our deeds are full of flaws but our Imam-ajfj still loves us and will, Insha Allah -azwj , not only accept us but also correct our affairs upon reappearance.

May Allah -azwj Hasten his -ajfj return and enable us to be among his- -ajfj companions, Ameen Suma Ameen! Introduction: The issue of demolishing graves and domes over graves stem from a misinterpreted Hadith, quoted in both Shia and non-Shia Ahadith books.