Light on the Path-097a
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Their first question states: We work in the field of architectural contracting. When we began our work digging the foundation for one of the buildings, and when we dug, we found the remains of very old graves. When we informed the owner of the building about this, he said, "Dig and throw the bones you found into the wadi." We carried out what we were ordered to do. Is there sin upon us or upon him for that, and what is obligatory for us and for him to do now?
The Shaykh : If these are the graves of Muslims, then your work is forbidden and it is not permissible for you to do that. In such a case, the obligatory thing is to refer to the authorities. That is, if someone digs in a place where he wants to build a house or the like and finds the remains of graves, he must stop the work and refer to the authorities in order to verify these graves and protect the people buried in them.
The Shaykh : If these are the graves of Muslims, then your work is forbidden and it is not permissible for you to do that. In such a case, the obligatory thing is to refer to the authorities. That is, if someone digs in a place where he wants to build a house or the like and finds the remains of graves, he must stop the work and refer to the authorities in order to verify these graves and protect the people buried in them.