ARE SHIAS GRAVE-WORSHIPPERS?

One of the commonly levelled charges against Shias is that they "worship graves" of their Imams. This is one of the many serious charges levelled against shias by their opponents. These charges broadly fall into three categories:-
1) Those charges which are outright outageous and have no basis like the one that Shias believe that prophethood was meant for Imam Ali (nouzbillah) and was given to Holy Prophet as aresult of mistaken identity on part of Gibrael.
2) There are other charges which don't have any basis but represent a distortion of a belief or practice to twist it to your own understanding.
3) There are some charges which do actually have some basis based on practices carried out by some people who are ignorant about the etequettes of these practices.
Regarding the allegation under discussion the first thing we have to ascertain is what is the factual position? It is a fact that in Shia Islam visiting the grave of the Holy Prophet (SAWW) and Imams is highly recommended with great emphasis being placed on such visit. There is no denial of this fact and this is the basic premise on which our discussion rests.
This action of Shia muslims has been objected to at various levels and these need to be discussed one by one.
1) First is it allowed to construct graves or more importantly raise tombs over them in the first place?
2) Is visitation to graves allowed and/or recommended?
3) If it is allowed and/or recommended what is the purpose of this visitation?
4) What are the etiquettes to be maintained during these visitations?
5) Finally does this visitation amount to worshipping?

IS IT PERMISSIBLE?

We have to first make clear the basic definitions. In Islamic terminology acts can be wajib i.e, those which are to be performed necessarily and their non-performance tantamounts to disobeying Allah and hence is sinful the example is performance of Salat; mustahib i.e, acts which are highly recommended over and above the wajib acts performing which bring great sawab but whose non-performance is not considered an act of dis-obedience and is not sinful example is like performance of nawafil or say salat-ul-lail; haram i.e, acts which are to be avoided as their performance means disobeying Allah and is sinful like gibah, adultery etc; makrooh i.e, acts which are not encouraged but if one performs them it is not sinful e,g urinating in standing position etc; mabah acts are neutral acts like sleeping, eating. So what is the status of visiting the graves of the Holy Prophet (SAWW), Imams of The Holy Household, or Auliya. Is it wajib? No it is not. Ziyara is not like Haj. If you become mukalif for Haj you have to necessarily perform it ,if you don't you have commited a sin for which you will be held accountable. This is not so in case of ziyara. Even if you have the resources and the ability to perform a ziyara and you don't make it you will not be held accountable for this. You may have lost a great opportunity but you have not committed a sin. Thus ziyara is highly recommended but it is not wajib. The problem arises because of the fact that some Muslims consider it forbidden or Haram. This debate has intensified in recent years because of the ascendency gained by Wahabi/Salafi ideology in the Sunni waorld. Wahabis who derive their name from Mohd Ibn Wahab but have Ibn Tamiya as their intellectual guide are the ones who are bitterly against this act of ziyara and consider it to be a form of Polytheism (Shirk). Ibn-Taimiya's famous student Ibn-Qayim writes in his book Zad al Ma'ad fi Huda Khayr al-Ibad:
               "It is obligatory to destroy the structure constructed over the grave and after gaining power for their destruction it is not permissible to reinstate them even for one day"
                                                                        Zad al Ma'ad fi Huda Khayr al-Ibad Page 661