Ziyarat

In Islam, Ziyārah or Ziyarat (Arabic: زيارة‎‎ "visit") is a form of pilgrimage to sites associated with Muhammad, his family members and descendants (including the Shī‘ī Imāms), his companions and other venerated figures in Islam such as the prophets, Sufi Saints and Islamic scholars. Sites of pilgrimage include mosques, graves, battlefields, mountains, and caves.

Ziyārat can also refer to a form of supplication made by the Shia, in which they send salutations and greetings to Muhammad and his family.

Different Muslim-majority countries, speaking many different languages, use different words for these sites where ziyarat is performed.

Sufi places of worship and retreat may be built near the graves of famous Sufi Saints; they are often called khanqahs or tekkes. Ziyarat" comes from Arabic: زور‎‎ "to visit". Iranian and south-Asian Muslims use the word ziyarat for both the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca as well as for pilgrimages to other sites such as visiting a holy place. In Indonesia the term is ziarah for visiting holy places or graves.

Majority of Sunni scholars declare that the purpose of visiting the graves, cemeteries and tombs is only to remind people of death, and the dead that are buried there while supplications are made only to Allah. They point out to the Sunni historical sources proving that ziyarat is allowed and was always practiced:

It was narrated from Katheer ibn Zayd al-Madani that al-Muttalib said:

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