After their death, these saints only grew in power and station. The same Hadiths that established the Punishment of the Grave established that the souls of the dead are still conscious and active, and in other Hadiths the Prophet tells how: ‘The prophets are alive, praying in their graves.’80 Saints were thought to be no different, as able in death to answer invocations for assistance as they had been in this earthly life. Especially after the 1100s, their graves became centers of pilgrimage for the masses of Muslims seeking their Baraka, or blessing.
