The Ruling on Women Visiting Graves
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
What is the authenticity of the hadith, “May Allah curse the women who visit graves,” and what is the ruling on women visiting graves?
Answer:
The hadith is good; its chain of narration is good, and it is in Sunan Abu Dawud with a good chain. It indicates that women are prohibited from visiting graves, and that a woman’s visit to graves is a major sin among the major sins. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed, and a curse is not issued except for a major sin. The wisdom behind this is that a woman’s visit to graves involves harms, among which is that she becomes distressed and complains when she sees the grave of a relative, such as her son, brother, or husband. She may engage in wailing, or she may do what is not permissible, because a woman is weak. Also, there may be moral harms, such as free mixing in the graveyards, or seclusion between her and a non-mahram man. How much we hear now of the harms in visiting graves in other countries, such as the violation of honor and the many evils resulting from their failure to adhere to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Just as a woman does not follow the funeral procession, she does not visit graves. Even if her intention is to make supplication for the deceased, she can make supplication anywhere, and she is in her home. If Allah accepts her supplication, it will reach the deceased even if she did not go to the graves. Yes. This applies to all graves, including the grave of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the graves of his two companions, because they are graves that fall under the general ruling.
What is the authenticity of the hadith, “May Allah curse the women who visit graves,” and what is the ruling on women visiting graves?
Answer:
The hadith is good; its chain of narration is good, and it is in Sunan Abu Dawud with a good chain. It indicates that women are prohibited from visiting graves, and that a woman’s visit to graves is a major sin among the major sins. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed, and a curse is not issued except for a major sin. The wisdom behind this is that a woman’s visit to graves involves harms, among which is that she becomes distressed and complains when she sees the grave of a relative, such as her son, brother, or husband. She may engage in wailing, or she may do what is not permissible, because a woman is weak. Also, there may be moral harms, such as free mixing in the graveyards, or seclusion between her and a non-mahram man. How much we hear now of the harms in visiting graves in other countries, such as the violation of honor and the many evils resulting from their failure to adhere to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Just as a woman does not follow the funeral procession, she does not visit graves. Even if her intention is to make supplication for the deceased, she can make supplication anywhere, and she is in her home. If Allah accepts her supplication, it will reach the deceased even if she did not go to the graves. Yes. This applies to all graves, including the grave of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the graves of his two companions, because they are graves that fall under the general ruling.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- أسئلة وأجوبة من دروس التوحيد - الفوزان - أسئلة التوحيد - ٣ — archive.org (51:45)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.