Golden Domes, Empty Prayers, and the Quran’s Answer
Imagine a young girl growing up in Belgium, in a Shia family. Each year when the month Muharram arrives, her world changes. School is followed not by the usual routine of homework and dinner, but by almost nightly trips to the mosque. From the moment she enters, everything is draped in black. The banners, the curtains, the very clothes people wear all signal grief. Women hand out bowls of food, sweet drinks, and dates as charity for the dead. The hall smells of perfume and the heavy aroma of rice cooked in bulk.
A reciter begins. His voice trembles as he retells the tragedy of Karbala - Hussain on the battlefield, his thirst, his children crying, his final stand. The story builds until the entire hall erupts.
Men beat their chests in rhythm; some strike their heads with open palms until their skin reddens. The sound grows like a wave: thump after thump after thump, a storm of grief crashing in unison.
Women cry out, some wailing so loudly it drowns the reciter’s voice. Children watch, confused, until they too are carried by the emotion of the room. For this young girl, it is overwhelming. She sits stiffly, her little hands clenched, trying to make sense of the chaos around her.
By the time the gathering ends, she is drained - physically and emotionally. In the car ride home through Belgium’s quiet, cold streets, her eyes sting from smoke and tears she does not understand. Exhausted, she leans against the window, watching the blur of streetlights until sleep claims her. Muharram, for her, is not faith. It is a cycle of sorrow she cannot yet comprehend.
Years later, her family moves to Iraq. The rituals she once saw in small community halls now rise before her on an epic scale. She walks the courtyards of Najaf and Karbala where golden domes pierce the sky, glittering in the desert sun. Crowds surge through the courtyards, their chants shaking the air:
“Labbayk ya Hussain! Labbayk ya Ali!”
“Here I am, O Hussain / O Ali.
“At your service, O Hussain / O Ali.”
The slogans roll like thunder. People kiss the massive doors of the shrines, cling desperately to the iron grilles, and tie green cloths for blessings. She hears whispered vows and prayers spoken directly to the dead - requests for children, for health, for relief from burdens. Tears stream down countless faces. The devotion is overwhelming, even intoxicating. But in the middle of it, one question pierces her like a blade: Where is Allah in all of this? Why is His name barely spoken, while the dead are called upon with such passion?
It is not only a night or two. In Iraq, shrine rituals consume entire weeks. Millions join pilgrimages called ziyārah masses walking for days to reach Karbala, chanting, mourning, striking themselves as they march. Streets fill with processions, flags, and makeshift kitchens feeding the travelers. In some places it becomes almost carnival-like: actors dressed as soldiers on horseback reenact the battle of Karbala; groups stage dramatic scenes of the martyrdom; men carry symbolic cradles and loud, ritualized displays move through the streets. Lives are organized around these visits. Months, money, and time are spent; entire communities breathe in the rhythm of these events.
The girl watches, unsettled. The rituals consume lives and attention. Religion begins to look like theater - like play.
Suddenly, the spectacle of endless mourning, the dramatic processions, the staged performances all feel hollow. A faith that should lift hearts to Allah has become a spectacle where His name is not even central.
These images capture shrines, processions, ziyarah, and mourning rituals observed by millions over generations. Pilgrims fill streets and halls for days, chanting, weeping, and reenacting Karbala. Each act is meant as devotion, yet these practices show how faith can become focused on tradition and ceremony, overshadowing the direct connection to Allah.
Why these practices exist
Before turning to the Quran, it is important to understand why millions of Muslims dedicate themselves to these rituals and beliefs. They are rooted in narrations and doctrines preserved for centuries in their own collections.
1. Tawassul and Calling on the Imams
In Shia doctrine, the Imams are not only guides but intercessors whose help can be sought. Supplications such as “Ya Ali madad” (O Ali, help me) or “Labbayk ya Hussain” (Here I am, O Hussain) are viewed as legitimate.
Mu‘alla has narrated from Muhammad ibn Jumhur from Sulayman ibn Suma‘a from ‘Abdallah ibn al-Qasim from abu Basir who has said that Imam abu ‘Abdallah said the following.
“The successors (of the holy Prophet (s.a.) are the gates to Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, through which people go to Him. Had they not existed, Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, would not have been recognized. Allah, the Most Holy, the Most High, will present these successors as evidence against His creatures.”
Al-Kafi Book 4 Chapter 12
2. Shrines and Ziyārah
Every year millions travel to Karbala, Najaf, Mashhad, and other shrines. Pilgrims kiss doors, cling to grilles, and whisper prayers into the tombs, believing the Imams hear and respond.
Abū ‘Ali Muḥammad ibn Hammām narrated to me from Ja’far ibn Muḥammad ibn Mālik Al-Fazāri, from Aḥmad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Ubayd Al-Ju’fi, from Ḥusain ibn Sulaymān, from Ḥusain ibn Asad, from Ḥammād ibn ‘Isā, from Ḥarīz, who said: Abū ‘Abdillāh (Imam Sādiq ) said:
(Entering) Paradise is made mandatory for those who go to the Ziyārah of Ḥusain on the Day of ‘Āshūrā.
Ja’far ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Al-Mūsawi narrated to me from ‘Ubaydillāh ibn Nahīk, from Ibn Abī ‘Umayr, from Zayd Al-Shaḥḥām, who said: Ja’far ibn Muḥammad Al-Sādiq said:
Allāh will forgive the past and future sins of those who go to the Ziyārah of Ḥusain on the night of the fifteenth of Sha’bān. Allāh will register the reward of one thousand accepted Hajj and one thousand purified ‘Umrah for those who go to the Ziyārah of Ḥusain on the Day of ‘Arafah. Those who go to the Ziyārah of Ḥusain on the Day of ‘Āshūrā, it is as if they have gone to the Ziyārah of Allāh on top of His Throne. The above Ḥadīth has also been narrated to me through the following chain: Muḥammad ibn ‘Abdillāh ibn Ja’far, from his father ‘Abdillāh ibn Ja’far Al-Ḥimyari, from Muḥammad ibn Ḥusain, from Ḥamdān ibn Mu’āfā, from Ibn Abī ‘Umayr, from Zayd Al-Shaḥḥām, from Abī ‘Abdillāh (Imam Sādiq ).
Kamil al ziyarat Book 2 Chapter 71
3. Imams = superior beings?
Shia theology teaches that the twelve Imams are sinless, divinely protected from error, and superior guides after the Prophet ﷺ. Their words are treated as absolute.
An eye is watching over us.” We then looked right and left and did not see anyone. We said, “No eye is watching over us.” The Imam said, “I swear by the Lord of the Ka‘ba. I swear by the Lord of the House.” He said so three times. “Had I been with Moses and al-Khidr I would have told them that I had more than they did and would have informed them of what they had no knowledge. This is because Moses and al-Khidr were given the knowledge of what was in the past and they were given the knowledge what will be in future or what will exist up to the Day of Judgment while we have inherited all of them from the Messenger of Allah as heirs.”
Al-Kafi Book 4, Chapter 47
Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Salamah ibn-al-Khattab from ) Sulayman ibn Sama‘a an ‘Abdallah ibn Muhammad from ‘Abdallah ibn al-Qasim al-Batal from abu Basir from abu ‘Abdallah who has said the following.
“Whoever of the Imams that would not know what would happen to him and to what events he would proceed such a person is not a possessor of Divine authority over His creature.”
Al-Kafi Book 4, Chapter 47
Narrated to us my father; and Muhammad bin Hasan - may Allah be pleased with them - they said: Narrated to us Saad bin Abdullah that: Narrated to us Muhammad bin Isa bin Ubaid from Abi Abdullah Zakariya bin Muhammad Momin from Abi Harasa from Abi Ja’far (a.s.) that he said:
“If the Imam is lifted from the earth for a moment, it (the earth) will sink along with its inhabitants like the sea sinks along with those in it.”
Bihār al-Anwār
4. Mourning Rituals and Passion Plays
During Muharram and Ashura, grief becomes the main expression of devotion. Communities gather to weep, beat their chests, and sometimes strike their heads. Passion plays (taʿziya) reenact the battle of Karbala.
There is none who recites poetry about Husayn (A.S.) and weeps and makes others weep by means of it, except that Allah makes Paradise incumbent upon him and forgives his sins.
Rijal al‑Shaikh al‑ Tusi pg. 189.
For those unable to go for the ziarat of Imam Husayn (A.S.) on the day of A'ashura, Imam Baqir (A.S.) mentions the manner of performing A'zadari as follows:
He should mourn over Husayn (A.S.), weep for him and instruct the members of the house to weep for him. He should establish the mourning ceremony in the house by exhibiting lamentations and grief over him; the people should meet one another in their homes and offer condolences and consolation to each other over the calamities which befell him.
Kaamil al‑Ziyaraat pg. 17
Years later, as a young woman, she finally opened the Quran with sincerity. Not as a book to be recited for blessings, not as words to be repeated without thought, but as guidance....desperate guidance.
What she found astonished her. Each verse struck her heart like lightning. Every page she turned peeled away the layers of her upbringing. It was as if the Quran itself was speaking to her, dismantling the world she had always known.
The long nights of Muharram filled with mourning, the cries of “Labbayk ya Hussain!” that echoed louder than Allah’s name, the golden shrines crowded with weeping visitors, all of it stood before her mind’s eye as she read. And yet, in the Qur’an, none of it was there.
No command to seek the dead. No teaching of sinless leaders. No rituals of chest-beating, no sacred plays, no pilgrimage to graves.
Instead, she realized something far heavier: Generations of muslims had added layers of belief and ritual that the Book itself never taught. A religion of grief, intercession, and intermediaries had been built over the pure foundation of tawḥīd, until Allah was hidden behind saints, shrines, and ceremonies.
The Quran in her hands was not confirming her childhood Islam. It was confronting it.
The Quran’s clear response
The Quran addresses these practices directly:
1. Calling on the dead
The Quran repeatedly makes clear that the dead cannot hear, respond, or grant requests:
You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs and flee.
Quran 27:80
And who is more astray than he who calls on others besides God that do not respond to him even until the Day of Resurrection? And they are totally unaware of the calls to them!
Quran 46:5
And they have taken gods besides God to be for them their glory. On the contrary, they will reject their service of them and they will be standing against them.
Quran 19:81-82
And on the Day We gather them all, then We will say to those who were polytheists: “Stop where you are, you and your partners,” then We will separate between them, and their partners will say: “It was not us that you served!” God is enough as a witness between us and you, that we were unaware of you serving us.”
Quran 10:28-29
No matter how righteous they were, the deceased cannot answer prayers. Worship belongs to Allah alone.
2. Intercession belongs to Allah alone
The practice of turning to Imams or saints as intercessors collapses under the Quran’s testimony. Intercession is not in human hands - it belongs solely to Allah:
Say: “To God belongs all intercession.” To Him belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, then to Him you will be returned.
Quran 39:44
And they serve besides God what does not harm them or benefit them, and they say: “These are our intercessors with God.” Say: “Are you informing God of what He does not know in the heavens or the earth?” Be He glorified and exalted above what they set up.
Quran 10:18
“Shall I take gods besides Him? If the Almighty intends any harm for me, their intercession cannot help me in the least, nor can they save me.”
Quran 36:23
If Allah is the Most Just and the Most Merciful, why would He require a middleman? Why would the Lord who says “Call upon Me; I will respond to you” (40:60) ask His servants to plead through another?
3. Nobody is sinless
The doctrine of sinless leaders is directly challenged by the Quran:
And if God were to call the people to account for their transgression, He would not have left on it a single creature. But He delays them to a determined time; so when their time comes, they do not delay by one hour and they do not advance.
Quran 16:61
Even the Prophet was commanded to seek forgiveness. All humans, including prophets, make mistakes and repent. Examples from the Quran:
Muhammad:
That God may forgive your present sins, and those past, and so that He may complete His blessings upon you, and guide you on a straight path.
Quran 48:2
So know that there is no god besides God, and ask forgiveness of your sins and also for the believing males and the believing females. And God knows your movements and your place of rest.
Quran 47:19
O prophet, why do you make forbidden what God has made permissible for you, seeking to please your wives? God is Forgiver, Merciful.
Quran 66:1
Adam:
They said: “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves and if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, then we will be of the losers!
Quran 7:23
Ibrahim:
Our Lord, forgive me and my parents, and the believers on the Day the reckoning is called.
Quran 14:41
“And the One whom I hope will forgive my mistakes on the Day of Judgment.”
Quran 26:82
Musa:
He said: “My Lord, I have wronged my soul, so forgive me.” He then forgave him, for He is the Forgiver, the Merciful.
Quran 28:16
Nuh:
“My Lord, forgive me, and my parents, and whoever enters my home as a believer, and the believing males, and the believing females; and do not increase the wicked except in destruction.”
Quran 71:28
4. Religion is not meant for spectacle or play
Turning devotion into a performance, ritual display, or festival is warned against:
Leave those who take their religion as amusement and play, and whom the worldly life has deluded.
Quran 6:70
The ones who took their religion for distraction and play, and were preoccupied with this worldly life. Today We forget them as they forgot their meeting on this Day, and they did not heed Our revelations
Quran 7:51
Say: “Shall we inform you of the greatest losers?”
“Those whose efforts in the worldly life were wasted while they thought they were doing good.
Quran 18:103-104
The Quran emphasizes sincerity and focus, not endless mourning rituals or theatrical reenactments.
5. All Messengers are equal
No messenger or leader should be placed above another in the eyes of God:
We make no distinction between any of His messengers. And they say: ‘We hear and we obey.
Quran 2:285
Say: “We believe in God and what was sent down to us and what was sent down to Ibrahim and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacub and the Tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and the prophets from their Lord. We do not make a distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit.
Quran 3:84
Say: “We believe in God and in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to Ibrahim, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacub, and the Tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa, and what was given to the prophets from their Lord; we do not make a distinction between any of them and to Him we submit.”
Quran 2:136
Exalting one leader above others goes against the Quranic principle of equality among the prophets and messengers.
6. Allah is near and accessible
Contrary to seeking distant intermediaries, Allah promises His closeness:
And We have created the human being and We know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than his jugular vein.
Quran 50:16
And He is with you wherever you may be. God is Seer of what you do.
Quran 57:4
You do not need to travel to a shrine or call upon the dead to be heard; Allah is near to every sincere heart.
7. True devotion is direct
The Qur’an consistently calls believers to direct worship and prayer:
And your Lord said: “Call on Me and I will respond to you.
Quran 40:60
And if My servants ask you about Me, I am near answering the calls of those who call to Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me that they may be guided.
Quran 2:186
My Lord is Near, Responsive.
Quran 11:61
Faith is not in intermediaries, rituals, or mourning spectacles - it is in sincerity toward Allah alone.
Living Traditions
The videos show crowds flowing through shrines, processions filling streets for days, women mourning with tears and chest-beating, and actors reenacting Karbala. Every movement, every chant, every cry is steeped in centuries of devotion. Yet watching it, one cannot help but wonder: in all this grief, spectacle, and veneration of the dead, where is the direct remembrance of Allah? How much of this devotion reflects faith in Him, and how much has become faith in ritual itself?
The Cycle Ends
Years later, she returns to Iraq with her own children. The golden domes still gleam. The crowds still surge. The chants of “Labbayk ya Hussain!” still echo.
But this time, she does not enter. She pauses at the gates of the shrine and turns to her children:
“We respect all those people, men and women, who dedicated their lives for God, but we do not pray to them. We do not favor or raise one above the others. We make du‘a only to Allah - for He is near, and He hears us wherever we are.”
And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. Quran 2:186
Her children listen, unburdened by rituals she once endured. The chain of confusion ends with her. As she walks away, her heart wells with gratitude. Her tears are not for a tomb, but for Allah alone. Her path is clear, her worship is pure.