Are there saints in Islam?

One of the specificities of Islam compared to other monotheistic religions is the absence of clergy and intermediary between the believer and his creator. There can therefore be no official intercessors with God other than the Prophet Muhammad himself. For this reason, it is inconceivable to have saints in Islam.

In practice, it is different. Like the principle of non-representation, the non-worship of saints does not come from a Koranic prohibition. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why this cult spread very early in Islam.

Each village or neighborhood cleric, whatever the title given to him – sheikh, which literally means in Arabic “man of a certain age”, mullah, among the Shiites, marabout in Africa – exercises an influence and moral authority in popular circles. Their Islam stands out from that of scholars and doctors of the law; he makes popular superstitions his own. When they die, the “community” sometimes erects a tomb for them, a mausoleum, which becomes a place of pilgrimage. People come there to obtain the baraka, the blessing, from this pious man who was a good Muslim throughout his life. But we also come there to make a wish come true.