The Ruling on Praying in a Cemetery and the Fitnah (Trial) in Awakening It

Question:
A questioner says: We have a mosque built in a cemetery, and those in charge of it issued a fatwa permitting prayer in it. This fatwa includes the permissibility of praying in a cemetery out of dire necessity. Also, when we inquire about this mosque, the imam tells us, "The fitnah is sleeping; may Allah curse the one who awakens it." The question is: Is there any scholar who has issued a fatwa permitting prayer in a cemetery? And can we pray in it, with the sin falling on the one who issued the fatwa? And are we required to remain silent about such a matter, as the imam says? Please inform us, may Allah preserve you.

Answer:
The fitnah is praying at graves. So whoever calls for praying at graves has awakened the fitnah. The fitnah is not the prohibition of praying at graves; that is the Sunnah. The Sunnah is the prohibition of praying at graves, and commanding prayer at graves is the fitnah. So the one who commands prayer at graves is the one who awakened the sleeping fitnah, may Allah protect us from that. But these people distort the words from their proper places. It is not permissible to pray at graves, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited praying at graves and said, "Do not take the graves as mosques," meaning places of prayer, "for I forbid you from that." This is in the hadith Where is this ignorant, heedless person who is unaware of these hadiths? By Allah, the earth is spacious. We pray on the spacious earth. The earth of Allah is vast; it was not narrowed except in the cemetery. We pray in other mosques that do not have graves. And if none is found, we pray in the house, in one of the houses, designating it for prayer, making it a mosque in which we pray, until Allah makes a mosque available for the Muslims. Praying at graves is not permissible, and it is not a dire necessity as this ignorant person says. Allah has made the earth spacious. We are not restricted to praying at graves. The earth is spacious. The earth of Allah is vast. We pray in houses, we pray in the open land, we pray in mosques free of graves, and there are many of them, praise be to Allah.