Decorating the holy shrines of Imams

Bagher asked '' what do you think of decorating Kabe and gold and silver hung from it?''
Saber said '' I have nothing to say. I do not know''.
Bagher said '' jewelry and a lot of gold have been granted to Kabe by people all over the world from darkness time until the present time. Ibn Khaldun has said in the introduction of his book
'' Nations respect Kabe and kings send the half of their properties to Kabe. Swords and two diamonds of gold that Abd Al-Motaleb had found in time of digging Zamzam Well is a well-known story. When the messenger of God conquered Mecca, he found gold in the well of the holy shrine that there was two million Dinar gold that had been granted to Kabe by the kings and their weights reached two hundred Ghantar( each Ghantar equals hundred Retel). Ali Bin Abi Taleb (peace be upon him) said to the prophet (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) '' O' the messenger of God! You had better use this wealth in order to fight with polytheists'', but the prophet did not do it.
Abubakr also did not object to it.
Ibn Khaldun also added '' Abu Vael has narrated that Shoeibe Bin Uthman said '' when I was with Umar, he said '' I want to distribute gold and silver in Kabe among the Muslims''.
I said '' what do you want to do?''(You have no right to do such an action).
He said '' why do you want to do such an action?''
I said '' the prophet and Abubakr (they were the ruler of the Muslims before you) did not do such an action''.
Umar said '' hence, we should obey them''.
O' Saber! I want to ask you whether Kabe used all of silver and gold. Does God that does not need these jewelry benefits from them?''
Saber answered '' he never benefits from them?''
Bagher said '' although the Islam needed such wealth in order to expand its influence all over the world, the prophet (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) did not use such wealth''.
It may be asked why the prophet (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) did not use little of such wealth although he needed them in order to implement the purposes of God.
The answer is completely clear; such wealth increased the greatness of Kabe in the view of people. Of course, it should be mentioned that the house of Kabe has more greatness beyond our imagination in God and this wealth does not increase the magnificence of Kabe and lack of this wealth does not decease its greatness. The tombs made of gold, doors made of silver and gold and decorations on the graves of the Imams of God such as the holy shrine of Amir Al-Momenin (peace be upon him), Imam Hasan (peace be upon him), Imam Hussein (peace be upon him), and Imam Reza (peace be upon him) are such cases. Of course, their rank does not increase in spite of their decorations and their rank does not increase if their graves are not decorated. Although the grave of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) is against sunshine and is lack of tomb and shrine, it is better than the grave of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) that has magnificent tomb and is made of gold.
Above of all, granting precious stones to the tombs of these dignitaries and decorating tomb with gold, we glorify them and increase their greatness''.

Saber asked '' do these increase the greatness of the Imams of God in the view of people?''
Bagher answered '' whatever I say clarifies this matter. If you go to the cemetery of Jewish Cemetery, you will see that the graves of scientists are destroyed and it does not have roof that pilgrims resort there. But if you go to the cemetery of Christianity persons, it will be different. The graves of their scientists have tomb and are decorated with gold, silver and other jewelry. Although you are a Muslim and reject both of religions, comparing these two cemeteries, which one do you admire more?''
Saber said '' it is natural that seeing such scenes, the magnificent pictures of Christianity and common pictures of Jewish scientists can be imagined''.
Bagher said '' Hence, shrines and tombs that Sunnis and Shias make above the graves of the Imams and the prophets and decorating them are done to glorify them''.
Saber said '' whatever you say is not right. But can this idea prove that these actions are not extravagant?''
Bagher answered'' yes, these actions are not only extravagant, but they can also glorify the Imams of God. There is no question that they can increase the greatness of the Islam because whatever increases the greatness of the Islam is considered as the orders of God. God has described this glory in this way
Whoever glorifies the orders of God has good nature''.
Therefore, decorating the graves of the Imams are the orders of God and whoever does it will benefit from the reward of God.
Saber said '' I am sorry if I have taken your time. You have guided me with your good intention. I paid attention to the decorations of holy shrines before, but I could not accept that these actions were acceptable. But you have helped me to get enough information about these actions and know whatever I did not know before''.

Bagher asked '' have made sure of decorating these holy places?''
Saber said '' I have no doubt that these actions are mostahab and Quran has invited us to do them''.
Bagher said '' any way, I am ready to talk to you in this matter and help you to understand it better so that both of us can find out the reality of affairs''.
Saber said '' I thank you and want God your success''.

Kissing the Shrine
Malek asked ''Sadeq! Why are you insisting on kissing the shrine of the Imams and the prophet?''
Sadeq said '' what's problem with such a thing?''
Malek said '' this is considered as polytheistic actions''.
Sadeq asked'' who expresses such a matter?''
Malek said '' this is what the Muslims express''.
Sadeq said '' look who kisses the shrine?''
Malek said '' they say the Shias kiss the shrine''.
Sadeq asked '' have you gone to Mecca in order to fulfill the rituals of Hajj?''
Malek said '' yes, thank God''.
Sadeq asked '' have you visited the grave of the messenger of God in Medina?''
Malek said '' yes, I thank God for such a pleasure''.
Sadeq said '' did you definitely see that thousands Muslims were trying to kiss the shrine of the messenger of God, but persons in the group'' admonishing others to do right'' hit them and prevented them from doing it?''
Malek said '' yes, that's right''.
Sadeq said '' hence, the Shias are not only persons that kiss the shrine of the prophets of God, but all of the Muslims also do it''.
Sadeq said '' some of the Muslims consider kissing the shrine polytheism and a haram action and they consider themselves as real Muslims and believe in their thoughts. On the other hand, they consider other Muslims unbeliever and polytheist; hence, they call all of the Islamic Tribes unbeliever. You have definitely seen that the persons of the group '' admonishing others to do right'' hit the Muslims that kiss the shrine of the prophet (peace be upon him and his descendants). They address them with insulting words such as '' O' unbeliever!'', ''O' polytheist!'', '' O' pagan'', '' O' pig!'' and other abuses and insults. It does not matter whether they are Shiite, Hanafi, Shafei, Hanbali, the Shiite of Zeidi and other Islamic Tribes''.
Malek said '' Yes, I have seen whatever you are saying. What is worse is that I myself witnessed that if someone insisted on kissing the shrine of the prophet, the guardians '' admonishing others to do right'' hit his or her head with their sticks in their hand as severely as their heads broke and started bleeding. Sometimes, they hit the chests of the pilgrims with their fists and this made them feel a lot of pain. Seeing such scenes, I really became sad. It is really surprising! Exalted God has determined such an assembly for the Muslims in order to have human debate about different matters of the material and religious life. However, some persons that call themselves '' the group that admonish others to do right and prevent others from doing wrong'' made the Muslims disperse''.
Sadeq said '' Let's continue our discussion''. Do you kiss your child?''
Malek said '' yes''.
Sadeq asked '' doing such a thing, will you be a polytheist?''
Malek said '' no, no, it is not such a thing''.
Sadeq asked '' doing such a thing, why aren't you a polytheist?''
Malek said '' I kiss my child because I love him and this cannot be polytheism''.
Sadeq asked '' do you kiss the Quran?''
Malek answered '' yes''.
Sadeq asked '' kissing the Quran, aren't you considered as a polytheist?''
Malek answered '' no''.
Sadeq asked '' don't you kiss the cover of the Quran that is made of leather?''
Malek answered '' that's true''.
Sadeq said '' hence, you have considered a partner for God and this partner is the leather that is made of the fur of animal. But God is better than such a thing''.
Malek said '' it is not right. I kiss the cover of the Quran because it contains the remarks of God and this is due to love and enthusiasm toward the Quran. Now tell me whether it is polytheism or not. I benefit the reward of the Quran kissing the Quran. When we kiss the Quran, we cherish it. Hence, it can have the reward of God''.
Sadeq said '' if so, why don't you accept the matter related to kissing the shrine of the prophet (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) and the Imams (peace be upon them)?
You may say that the persons that kiss the shrine consider iron the partner of God. If such a claim is right, why don't they kiss the irons that are seen any where? They kiss the shrine, because it has the holy dirt of the prophet (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) and one of the Imams. Since they cannot see these dignitaries, kissing their shrine, they express their interest and enthusiasm toward them. Of course, this has reward in exalted God. Kissing the Shrine is to glorify great persons and in fact, it is respecting the prophet (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants), Imam (peace be upon him) and the Islam that these dignitaries have invited to. Hence, whatever glorifies the Islam is the orders of God and God has stated about this '' whoever glorifies the orders of God has good nature''.
Malek asked '' however, why do some persons address you polytheists?''
Sadeq said '' it has been said in the Hadith
'' Actions depend on intentions (and on this basis, they are punished or rewarded)''.

Hence, if someone kisses the shrine in order to express polytheism, she or he is a polytheist and if someone kisses the shrine from his enthusiasm and love toward the prophet and the Imams in order obey the orders of God and to achieve to reward, she or he will be qualified to be rewarded by God. You can ask the Shias and the Sunnis about kissing the shrine and their intention in relation to kissing it; you will definitely hear that they kiss the shrine from their interest and enthusiasm toward the Imams and the prophet in order to achieve the reward of God. You will not hear an answer other than it''.
Malek said '' yes, it is right''.
Sadeq said '' if kissing the shrine without expressing polytheism makes a person polytheist, definitely, you will never find a person that is not polytheistic. Therefore, Whether the Muslims kiss the Quran or the shrine are polytheists. I would like to ask you whether any one will be a Muslim or not in such a situation''.
Malek said ''thank you very much. I will debate this matter with my father that taught such meaningless biases. Now I can understand the Shias are right; therefore, I will always owe you for such intellectual remarks and realities. Since then I will accept no remarks without searching about the reality of matter''.