The ruling on visiting churches and venerated grave sites for the purpose of observation
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, is it permissible to visit a church and a place where there are graves that are venerated, for the sake of knowledge and observation?
Answer:
If it is merely for sightseeing, this is not permissible. However, if it is to know what the people of falsehood are upon, in order to refute them and respond to them, this is a valid purpose. But if he goes with the intention of merely sightseeing, and there is wrong there, then it is not permissible for him, lest he be affected by their sin and the anger descend upon him along with them. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, is it permissible to visit a church and a place where there are graves that are venerated, for the sake of knowledge and observation?
Answer:
If it is merely for sightseeing, this is not permissible. However, if it is to know what the people of falsehood are upon, in order to refute them and respond to them, this is a valid purpose. But if he goes with the intention of merely sightseeing, and there is wrong there, then it is not permissible for him, lest he be affected by their sin and the anger descend upon him along with them. Yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع كتاب الجنايات - 2 — islamhouse.com (1:04:44)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.