Etiquettes of Visiting Graves and Supplicating for the Deceased

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, this person asks and says: What are the etiquettes of entering graveyards, what do we do upon entering, and how do we stand before the deceased?

Answer:
Yes, the etiquettes of visiting graves are that you visit them for the sake of greeting the dead, and you visit them for the sake of taking a lesson and being admonished by the state of the dead. When you arrive, you enter and say, "Peace be upon you, O people of the graves. May Allah forgive us and you. We ask Allah that you are our predecessors and we are following in your footsteps. O Allah, do not deprive us of their reward, and do not test us after them. And forgive us and them. We ask Allah for you, for you, well-being." Then you go to the grave you wish to visit and stand before it, facing the qiblah, standing opposite the face of the deceased, facing the qiblah. You greet him first, opposite his face, like greeting a living person. Then, if you wish to supplicate for him, you face the qiblah, placing the grave between you and the qiblah, and you supplicate to Allah for the deceased. Then you leave. Yes.