The Ruling on Writing on Graves and Marking Them
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Question:
The Shaykh: I do not accept writing on the ground that mentions the name of the deceased, or that indicates that the deceased is so-and-so.
Answer:
And did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibit writing on graves? It is not permissible to write on a grave at all, not a single letter, name, number, or any readable writing. Readable writing is forbidden and not permissible because it is one of the means of shirk (associating partners with Allah). When people see writing on a grave, they come to believe in their hearts that the person has a special status and is an important figure, and they become attached to him. Nowadays, due to ignorance and the prevalence of corrupt ideas, people have become close to deviation. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) blocked the means of shirk and prohibited writing on graves because it leads to glorifying the dead and calling upon them for aid. Therefore, writing on a grave is absolutely impermissible, whether it is one letter, several letters, symbols of a name, or numerical dates of death or the like. All of this is not permissible, or placing a number so that the deceased is known or his location is identified, such as number ten or number one hundred. All of this is not permissible because it falls under writing. However, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted marking a grave with a stone placed on it, or drawing a line on it that is not writing, just an ordinary line, which is permissible. Or placing a stone, a small piece of wood, or a stick driven into the ground is not prohibited, because people do not know what this thing is; if they see a stick stuck in the ground, they do not know what is intended, or if they see a stone placed there, they do not know what is intended. All graves have stones on them, but when they see writing, they stop and look at it. Yes.
The Shaykh: I do not accept writing on the ground that mentions the name of the deceased, or that indicates that the deceased is so-and-so.
Answer:
And did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibit writing on graves? It is not permissible to write on a grave at all, not a single letter, name, number, or any readable writing. Readable writing is forbidden and not permissible because it is one of the means of shirk (associating partners with Allah). When people see writing on a grave, they come to believe in their hearts that the person has a special status and is an important figure, and they become attached to him. Nowadays, due to ignorance and the prevalence of corrupt ideas, people have become close to deviation. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) blocked the means of shirk and prohibited writing on graves because it leads to glorifying the dead and calling upon them for aid. Therefore, writing on a grave is absolutely impermissible, whether it is one letter, several letters, symbols of a name, or numerical dates of death or the like. All of this is not permissible, or placing a number so that the deceased is known or his location is identified, such as number ten or number one hundred. All of this is not permissible because it falls under writing. However, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted marking a grave with a stone placed on it, or drawing a line on it that is not writing, just an ordinary line, which is permissible. Or placing a stone, a small piece of wood, or a stick driven into the ground is not prohibited, because people do not know what this thing is; if they see a stick stuck in the ground, they do not know what is intended, or if they see a stone placed there, they do not know what is intended. All graves have stones on them, but when they see writing, they stop and look at it. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تتمة باب شروط الصلاة — islamhouse.com (1:10:13)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.