What is the virtue of being buried in al-Baqi' or in Makkah?
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The questioner : What is the virtue of being buried in al-Baqi' or in Makkah, when a person, upon death, has nothing but his deeds?
The Shaykh : I do not believe that there is any special virtue for being buried in Makkah or al-Madinah merely for the sake of the burial. I am pleased, on this occasion, with what Imam Malik narrated in *al-Muwatta'* that Salman al-Farisi was in Iraq and Abu al-Darda' was in al-Madinah, so he wrote to Salman urging him to come to al-Madinah. Salman replied to him by saying: "The sacred land does not sanctify anyone; rather, it is a person's deed that sanctifies him". Therefore, what some people do by leaving a will to be buried in Makkah or al-Madinah, and especially the Shi'ah, who leave wills to be buried in Najaf because it is a sacred land for them, this and that is not prescribed at all. There is no doubt that preferring burial in Makkah or al-Madinah is one thing, and settling in these two lands is another thing, so the matter should not be confused, one with the other.
The Shaykh : I do not believe that there is any special virtue for being buried in Makkah or al-Madinah merely for the sake of the burial. I am pleased, on this occasion, with what Imam Malik narrated in *al-Muwatta'* that Salman al-Farisi was in Iraq and Abu al-Darda' was in al-Madinah, so he wrote to Salman urging him to come to al-Madinah. Salman replied to him by saying: "The sacred land does not sanctify anyone; rather, it is a person's deed that sanctifies him". Therefore, what some people do by leaving a will to be buried in Makkah or al-Madinah, and especially the Shi'ah, who leave wills to be buried in Najaf because it is a sacred land for them, this and that is not prescribed at all. There is no doubt that preferring burial in Makkah or al-Madinah is one thing, and settling in these two lands is another thing, so the matter should not be confused, one with the other.