The Wisdom Behind Visiting Graves in Islam and What Is Prohibited Regarding Them

The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. Shaykh Salih, some people are very lax in this matter until it has become a customary practice for them on every occasion. Do you have a word to say? May Allah preserve you.

The Shaykh:
I mean visiting graves.

The questioner:
The trade of graves, vows, and weeping and wailing at them.

The Shaykh:
This is among the manifestations of shirk (associating partners with Allah), among the manifestations of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, and I seek refuge in Allah. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited this type of visitation, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was severe in this regard. He legislated the visiting of graves for the sake of taking a lesson and being admonished by the state of the dead, and for the sake of making du'a' (supplication) for them and seeking forgiveness for them if they were Muslims. As for visiting them for the sake of calling for aid from their occupants or seeking help from the dead, that is major shirk.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited raising graves, meaning raising them higher than what is needed for their burial and marking them, so that they are not trampled. Raising them is a means to shirk, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited that and ordered the leveling of raised graves. He said (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib: and no image except that I will erase it. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited building over graves because this causes shirk with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If the common people build over them, it is because they believe that the people of the graves have secrets and that they benefit and harm and fulfill needs. So, is building over graves? This is among the means to shirk, and it is among the exaltation that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited and ordered to be leveled. Also, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited writing on graves, and prohibited plastering them and decorating them, and prohibited lighting them and illuminating the cemetery with lights, because all these matters are means to shirk. And he prohibited (peace and blessings be upon him) praying at graves and making them into mosques, because this is a means to shirk. And if one calls upon them and seeks their help, that is shirk itself. Yes.