What is the ruling on circumambulating graves, with details?
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The questioner : We are the ones who called you yesterday from Jeddah, and we repeated the call many times. The question is: What is the ruling on circumambulating graves, with details?
The Shaykh : Circumambulating graves is shirk (associating partners with Allah), there is no doubt in that, nor any ambiguity. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as in *Sahih Muslim*:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1050Sahih (Darussalam) This is an explicit text that it is not permissible to take a grave as a qiblah (direction of prayer), for the qiblah of the Muslim is only the House of Allah, the Sacred, the Noble Ka'bah.
So if the one who circumambulates goes around the grave, that means he has transferred a form of worship that belongs to Allah alone, to whom there is no partner, to that buried person who is believed to be one of the prophets, or the awliya (close friends of Allah), or the righteous.
And there is no doubt that such a belief is a violation of the right of "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no deity but Allah), because the meaning of this beautiful phrase is: There is no worshipped entity with truth in existence except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) says:[Al-Bayyinah 98:5], so any worship directed to other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is shirk (associating partners with Allah) in the oneness of worship.
The Shaykh : Circumambulating graves is shirk (associating partners with Allah), there is no doubt in that, nor any ambiguity. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as in *Sahih Muslim*:
Do not sit on the graves nor perform Salat towards them.
لا تجلسوا على القبور ولا تصلوا إليهاSo if the one who circumambulates goes around the grave, that means he has transferred a form of worship that belongs to Allah alone, to whom there is no partner, to that buried person who is believed to be one of the prophets, or the awliya (close friends of Allah), or the righteous.
And there is no doubt that such a belief is a violation of the right of "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no deity but Allah), because the meaning of this beautiful phrase is: There is no worshipped entity with truth in existence except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) says: