Refuting the doubt regarding the presence of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) grave in the mosque

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. A questioner says: What is the answer to the argument that cites the presence of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) grave inside his mosque as proof for the permissibility of praying in mosques built over graves?

Answer:
The argument that makes this claim is either from one who is ignorant or one who is causing confusion. My brother, the Messenger’s mosque was not built over a grave. The Messenger’s mosque was built as you have heard, and the graves that were in it were dug up. It was purified of the graves. And his mosque (peace and blessings be upon him) was built. And he was buried in Aisha’s room, outside the mosque.
And Aisha clarified the reason for this. She said: When the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade taking graves as mosques, she said, “If it were not for that, his grave would have been made prominent, but he feared that it would be taken as a mosque.” How can he forbid building over graves and build his mosque, or have his mosque built, over a grave?
May Allah curse the one who says that. What is this? It is not a statement. And the room was outside the mosque during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. It was outside the mosque during the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. And during the caliphate of Mu'awiyyah, it was outside the mosque. And during the caliphate of Yazid, it was outside the mosque. And the mosque was expanded from the western side and not from the eastern side. It was expanded from the western and northern sides, and not from the eastern side, until al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik (may Allah forgive him) came and saw that the room should be included in the mosque. And this was not by the consultation of the scholars nor by the consent of the scholars; rather, this was a sovereign order. So there is no proof in this for building mosques over graves.