Leveling the grave if it is in the mosque and praying in it
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, you were asked two days ago about leveling the grave if it is in the mosque and then praying in it, and you answered that this is not valid, and that the scholars have distinguished between the case where the grave came first or the mosque came first, in which case the later one is removed. The question, Honorable Shaykh, is that what was mentioned in the Concise Fiqh has confused me, where you quoted from the first part, in the Book of Prayer, in the chapter on the conditions of prayer, in the condition of removing impurity. You quoted a statement from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), which is his saying: “The Imams agreed that a mosque is not to be built over a grave, and that it is not permissible to bury a dead person in a mosque. If the mosque existed before the grave, then either the grave is leveled or it is dug up if it is new. And if the mosque was built after the grave, then either the mosque is removed, or the appearance of the grave is removed.”
The Shaykh:
Yes. Leveling the grave means digging it up and removing it. Or it means that it remains and is paved over so that it is leveled. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he wanted to build his noble mosque and there were graves of polytheists in it, ordered them to be dug up. He ordered them to be dug up and moved. So they were moved, and then he built his mosque (peace and blessings be upon him) in the place where his camel knelt (peace and blessings be upon him). So a grave is never leveled, and it is not paved over; this is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is there…
The Shaykh:
Shaykh al-Islam means by leveling the moving of the grave, so that the place returns to being empty of the elevation of the dead person.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, you were asked two days ago about leveling the grave if it is in the mosque and then praying in it, and you answered that this is not valid, and that the scholars have distinguished between the case where the grave came first or the mosque came first, in which case the later one is removed. The question, Honorable Shaykh, is that what was mentioned in the Concise Fiqh has confused me, where you quoted from the first part, in the Book of Prayer, in the chapter on the conditions of prayer, in the condition of removing impurity. You quoted a statement from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), which is his saying: “The Imams agreed that a mosque is not to be built over a grave, and that it is not permissible to bury a dead person in a mosque. If the mosque existed before the grave, then either the grave is leveled or it is dug up if it is new. And if the mosque was built after the grave, then either the mosque is removed, or the appearance of the grave is removed.”
The Shaykh:
Yes. Leveling the grave means digging it up and removing it. Or it means that it remains and is paved over so that it is leveled. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he wanted to build his noble mosque and there were graves of polytheists in it, ordered them to be dug up. He ordered them to be dug up and moved. So they were moved, and then he built his mosque (peace and blessings be upon him) in the place where his camel knelt (peace and blessings be upon him). So a grave is never leveled, and it is not paved over; this is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is there…
The Shaykh:
Shaykh al-Islam means by leveling the moving of the grave, so that the place returns to being empty of the elevation of the dead person.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 075 من 123 / شرح كتاب زاد المستقنع / الفرائض / ميراث المفقود / صالح الفوزان / الفقه / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:06:47)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.