A Response to Those Who Claim That the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) Mosque Was Built on His Grave

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, how do we respond to those who feel that the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is in the window of the mosque, and who say that just as prayer was established there, it was established elsewhere?

Answer:
The grave of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was not in his mosque; rather, it was in his house. He (peace and blessings be upon him) was buried in his house. The wisdom behind this is that if he had been buried in al-Baqi’ or elsewhere, there might have been fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) among the people regarding it. So he was buried in his house to protect him from being a source of fitnah. His house was outside the mosque until the mosque was expanded in the era of al-Walid ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, when the house of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was incorporated into the mosque. The Messenger’s mosque was built long before his death (peace and blessings be upon him); when he first arrived in Madinah, he began by building the mosque, and there was no grave in it. It was not founded on a grave, nor built on a grave, and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was not buried in it; rather, he was buried in his house to protect him. The fact that some of the caliphs acted and incorporated the chamber into the mosque is undoubtedly a mistake, but it cannot be said that the Messenger’s mosque was built on a grave, or that prayer in it is invalid, or anything of the sort. This is the speech of an ignorant person or a person who is misleading. Yes.