In the name of the Truthful.
Salaamun 'aleykum akhi.
Many of us belief and surely agree that TAWASSUL, WASILAH is allowed and accepted, so crying on the alam and the fake zarihs which are the replica is a way of using the wasila for people isnt it?
From where do we learn wasilah from? If we learn wasilah from our Prophets and Imams and the pure ladies ['a.s.w.s] then this wasilah that our community is practicing is completely strange and alien to me if not us.
A small example which can give a big picture: Prophet Adam when punished for eating from the forbidden tree, was very upset and kept weeping for several hundred years until Jibra'eel came to him and said: "Why don't you ask 'Allah by the wasilah of five pure souls?" He asked: "Who are they?" Jibra'eel replied: "They are Muhammad, Faatimah, 'Ali, Hassan and Hussein ['a.s.w.s]." Prophet Adam asked 'Allah for forgiveness by taking them as wasilahs and 'Allah then forgave him and lady Hawa...
I don't know the exact hadith but I remember reading it once in Qom from an authentic source. Insha'Allah, if 'Allah wishes then I will find it soon for the brothers and sisters to benefit from.
Also, if one really wants to know what a true wasilah is then read du'a at-Twassul and al-Kumayl and see how the infallibles ['a.s] approach their Lord and how we should do it the same. We don't need things that were not there before and now because it's there we find it extremely important to ask for our hajaat. If I may ask, won't your du'aas get accepted if you do wasilah in your heart just like the way one would do on the plane or ship or bus... if something went wrong? Would one look for a thing to hold at that time and then ask? If this is the mentality of some people then they would even hold the person sitting next to them and ask 'Allah because it creates a habit of holding things or having things tied around them to get connected to 'Allah. Whereas we never find such behaviour with our pure teachers ['a.s.w.s].
Prophet Muhammad [s.'a.w.w] had another lady feeding him milk [can't recall her name, perhaps Halima. Correct me if I'm wrong] she also had 2 sons who would go out for work. The young prophet once asked his mother as to where they go and she told him, so he also insisted for it and she agreed. But before letting him go, she tied a taweez for him and said "this will protect you". The young prophet, even though too young to argue back, asked his mother: "This will protect me?" He took it out and returned it to her and said, "I already have someone to protect me, I don't need this."
Secondly having them there give us the view of their greatness and then results in cries and having those sad emotions, what are your views?
Does it mean that without them show us nothing of their greatness? Do we need such things to make us cry or feel sad for what befell on them? This surely means our faith is weak. Think about it! Also try to compare such thoughts with the hindu belief and you would not see any difference. But before you do think, try to find out from them why they keep those idols to get a better picture.
If someone can remember this incident when a person had gone to a Sayyid and asked him regarding shedding tears of blood and had doubts about it. What did the Sayyid do? He took out his handkerchief and literally shed tears of blood. If I may ask, did he hold something to do that or was it his imaan and faith? Why can't we struggle for it rather than crying on material things and then committing sins outside? It's a fact! Because this reduces our imaan and whoever has less imaan in them are bound to commit sins and nobody disagrees to this fact.
Insha'Allah, there's alot to be discussed but in their own place and time.
Hope this discussion is making some sense.
However, kindly note that I'm not against the zareehs nor any of those replicas in the masaajids and mahaafils. I see it as a symbol not a wasilah for becoming closer to 'Allah. 'Allah tells us to keep away from the worldly things but we keep holding on to them... 'Ud'ooni fastajiblakum! Those of you who know the 'Arabic grammar know that this is not khabari but rather it's an order. It's basically like this: "[You Must] Call [Only] upon Me and [Immediately] I WILL Reply back to you!" One may ask, but we do! There is a good book written by Musavi Lari and discusses this issue and why our du'as don't get accepted. Please search for it on the net. I've forgotten the name and my books are delayed to arrive from Qom, but insha'Allah, I'll update you guys once it's here.
Once again, I apologize if I said something wrong and hurt anyone by discussing on this issue. If the brothers and sisters would like to discuss on this topic then we can follow Br. Hasin's advise.
Jazakallah.