The Prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) over the Black Woman Who Used to Clean the Mosque, While She Was in Her Grave

The questioner : The questioner : He says: Is the prayer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) over the Black woman who used to clean the mosque, while she was in her grave, one of his specific privileges?

The Shaykh : No, nothing indicates that the Messenger (peace be upon him) made this prayer specific to himself. Some may think that this prayer contradicts the prohibition of praying in graves or in cemeteries; however, that is not a contradiction, because what is prohibited is different from what the Messenger (peace be upon him) himself did. What he prohibited was for you to pray your obligatory prayer, or to pray over your funeral, between the graves, so that you follow it by standing and praying, or by praying the obligatory prayer while facing a grave or between graves. This is not permissible in Islam. However, if a man or a person is buried after some of them have prayed over him, or if no one has prayed over him at all, then some Muslims may come to perform the duty of the funeral prayer for that Muslim, so they pray over him while he is in his grave. This is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did. It is regrettable that this Sunnah is not known in Islamic countries today for two reasons: first, the neglect of most scholars in studying the Sunnah, and second, it is rare for a Muslim to be buried in his grave without anyone having prayed over him. However, I personally, may Allah write for me, revived this Sunnah when the French bombed the city of Damascus and burned a wide area called "Al-Hariqah," which is still known by this name today. Many casualties occurred in a large square there known as "Sahat al-Murja" when they were suddenly hit by bullets raining down from all sides. We later learned that among the casualties was one of our Salafi brothers there named "Abdul Aziz Mals." We found his grave and stood to pray over him while he was in his grave, to revive this established Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
In short: praying over a dead person in his grave is different from praying over a dead person on his bier, and different from praying toward a grave. You pray to Allah an obligatory or voluntary prayer; these forms—if the expression is correct—are the exceptional or excluded ones. These are the ones covered by his (peace be upon him) saying: , and the hadith prohibiting prayer over a grave or toward a grave. These types are what is intended by these prohibitions. As for a man who is buried and is prayed over while he is in his grave; this is a Sunnah that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) performed, and his Companions prayed it with him. That was clear evidence that it was not one of his specific privileges. If he had prayed alone, there would have been room to say that this was a specific privilege; how so, when some of the Companions prayed it with him, and some of them had even prayed over her before she was buried in her grave.