Visiting the Grave of the Holy Prophet (sa)

When Marwan was serving as the governor of Medina, he once saw that someone had placed his face on the grave of the Holy Prophet (sa). Upon this, Marwan observed, “Do you know what you are doing? This is shirk for you are prostrating before it.” When Marwan came a little closer, he saw that it was Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari (ra) and he replied, “I have to come to visit the Holy Prophet (sa) and not these stones.”

(Ahmad bin Hanbal, Musnad Ahmad bin Hanbal, Vol. 7, Musnad Abu Ayub Ansari, Hadith 23983 [Beirut, Lebanon: Alam al-Kutub, 1998], 785) (Sheikh Shah Muinuddin Ahmad Nadvi, Siyar al-Sahabah, Vol. 3 [Karachi, Pakistan: Dar al-Isha‘ah, 2004], 116)

To clarify the aforementioned incident, what he meant by this was that he had lowered himself out of his deep love for the Holy Prophet (sa) and he was not prostrating to the stones. He was not committing any shirk, rather it was an expression of his love and even whilst doing this he had the belief in the oneness of God and there was no aspect of shirk.