The Ruling on Building over Graves
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah bless you. This is Abu Ahmad from Yemen asking: What is the ruling on building over graves?
Answer:
Building over graves is forbidden because it is one of the means of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Building shrines over graves and mausoleums is for people to visit them in a manner that is not in accordance with the Shari'ah, visiting them for tabarruk (seeking blessing from a thing or person) and istighathah (calling for aid) from the dead, and supplicating to the dead.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the Jews and the Christians because they took the graves of their prophets and righteous people as mosques. He said:Sahih Muslim 532 As-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Nasa'i 65:145, so building over them and making them into mosques is not permissible. These are not truly mosques; rather, they are shrines of shirk. It is also not permissible to build mausoleums over graves so that they are revered, or so that people hold beliefs about them. Rather, graves are neither to be humiliated nor revered, nor is extravagance to be practiced with them. Rather, the middle path is to be followed regarding the graves of Muslims. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Indeed, Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 2:461, and those who build mosques over graves—we ask Allah for safety. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah bless you. This is Abu Ahmad from Yemen asking: What is the ruling on building over graves?
Answer:
Building over graves is forbidden because it is one of the means of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Building shrines over graves and mausoleums is for people to visit them in a manner that is not in accordance with the Shari'ah, visiting them for tabarruk (seeking blessing from a thing or person) and istighathah (calling for aid) from the dead, and supplicating to the dead.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the Jews and the Christians because they took the graves of their prophets and righteous people as mosques. He said:
but you must not take graves
ألا فلا تتخذوا القبورas mosques, for I forbid you from doing so
مساجد فإني أنهاكم عن ذلكthe worst of people are those whom the Hour overtakes while they are still alive
من شرار الناس من تدركهم الساعة وهم أحياءThe presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
قناة «مؤسسة الدعوة الخيرية»، فتاوى على الهواء 28-10-1434هـ - الفوزان — youtube.com (5:30)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.