The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was very concerned about warning his ummah against falling into shirk, as happened to the nations who came before us, who took the graves of their prophets as places of worship. In this hadith, Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “May Allah destroy the Jews!” This is a supplication against them, praying that Allah kill them and oppose them. It was said that it is an expression that refers to their being cast far away from mercy, because they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship. They did that either by way of prostrating to them and venerating them; or by taking them as a direction towards which they faced when praying, and turning to it in worship; or because they built places of worship over the graves. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) only singled out the Jews for mention here because they were the first people to establish this idea and were the first to take the graves of their prophets as places of worship, so their wrongdoing is worse than that of others, and thus they are more extreme in that regard. This is a stern warning and prohibition, and teaches the ummah to avoid taking graves as places of worship, because that is a means that may lead to believing in them and worshipping them..