Designating a place in the cemetery for prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa number ( 21419 )
Q: I submit this letter to your Eminence, stating that I repeatedly
and frequently see a group of people who are overtaken by the obligatory prayer while they are accompanying funeral processions, so they pray it in a place designated for condolences, a platform in the middle of the cemetery, which is called the Umm Azrinij Cemetery in al-Hufuf . On Wednesday, corresponding to 13/2/1412 AH, I went to this cemetery and entered the aforementioned place, where I saw that a carpet had been laid in the front, followed by rows of endowment carpets, so the place had been prepared and arranged for congregational prayer, and indeed there are graves at the qiblah of the place. I hope your Eminence will graciously issue a fatwa prohibiting the establishment and preparation of places in cemeteries for performing prayer, and inform me whether one who prays in the cemetery must repeat it. May Allah preserve you and guide your steps, and may He grant you success in this world and the hereafter.
A : It is not permissible to designate a place in the cemetery and distinguish it with a mihrab, carpets, or otherwise for praying over the dead in it; because that has not been reported in the Sunnah. It is feared that people will seek it out to perform the obligatory and voluntary prayers in it, and that is certainly forbidden due to what came in many mass-transmitted hadiths prohibiting prayer in the cemetery, out of fear of fitnah, to protect tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and to block the means to shirk (associating partners with Allah). Based on this, it is obligatory to prohibit the establishment of such places in cemeteries and to remove what exists of them. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: I submit this letter to your Eminence, stating that I repeatedly
and frequently see a group of people who are overtaken by the obligatory prayer while they are accompanying funeral processions, so they pray it in a place designated for condolences, a platform in the middle of the cemetery, which is called the Umm Azrinij Cemetery in al-Hufuf . On Wednesday, corresponding to 13/2/1412 AH, I went to this cemetery and entered the aforementioned place, where I saw that a carpet had been laid in the front, followed by rows of endowment carpets, so the place had been prepared and arranged for congregational prayer, and indeed there are graves at the qiblah of the place. I hope your Eminence will graciously issue a fatwa prohibiting the establishment and preparation of places in cemeteries for performing prayer, and inform me whether one who prays in the cemetery must repeat it. May Allah preserve you and guide your steps, and may He grant you success in this world and the hereafter.
A : It is not permissible to designate a place in the cemetery and distinguish it with a mihrab, carpets, or otherwise for praying over the dead in it; because that has not been reported in the Sunnah. It is feared that people will seek it out to perform the obligatory and voluntary prayers in it, and that is certainly forbidden due to what came in many mass-transmitted hadiths prohibiting prayer in the cemetery, out of fear of fitnah, to protect tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and to block the means to shirk (associating partners with Allah). Based on this, it is obligatory to prohibit the establishment of such places in cemeteries and to remove what exists of them. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.