Is the prohibition of praying in mosques built over graves specific to the graves of the prophets?

The questioner : This is a matter that requires detail. It may occur to some people that the prohibition applies only to the mosque containing the grave of the Prophet, meaning the questioner is asking whether, if there is a grave of someone other than a prophet, such as the grave of the righteous, it is permissible to pray there, in the sense of the hadith...

The Shaykh : What is it that occurs to the mind?

The questioner : Some people think it is only the grave in the mosque that contains the grave of a prophet that is not...

The Shaykh : Meaning, is the ruling regarding the prohibition of prayer specific to the graves of the prophets?

The questioner : ...clarification...

The Shaykh : All right, there is no harm if some people... in any case.
Yes?

Another questioner : Come forward, my brothers.

The Shaykh : Please proceed, my brothers.
The aforementioned ruling regarding the prohibition of praying in mosques built over graves is, of course, not specific to the graves of the prophets; rather, it is a general ruling that includes any grave, whether it is the grave of a prophet or a close friend of Allah. And in those hadiths we referred to, there is one whose wording is from the hadith of the Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). She said: When Umm Salama and Umm Habiba came from Abyssinia, they were among the female emigrants, and they mentioned a church they had seen in Abyssinia, and they mentioned its beauty and the images in it. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; this is broader than it being a prophet, , and I do not want to lengthen this either. This is explicit that the ruling includes the grave of any person, whether he is a prophet or a close friend of Allah. And I insist on our brothers who have not studied my book "Warning the Worshipper from Taking Graves as Mosques" to study this book for two reasons:
The first reason—and it is the most important—is that they should know the ruling of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in this serious matter.
And the second reason is that they may say, either in their speech or in their state: We have not heard of this from our forefathers. We have never heard that praying in a mosque that contains a grave is forbidden!!
So let him read this book and find the texts of the four schools of jurisprudence regarding the prohibition of building a mosque over a grave, and regarding praying in this mosque. Among them is Imam al-Shafi'i in his book "Al-Umm," and others from whom we quoted their texts in that book. After that, a Muslim should advise his Muslim brothers, advising them to pray and to specifically seek to pray in mosques that are free from this sin. And with time, correct awareness will spread among the Muslims, and we will not find—Allah willing—anyone who builds a mosque and builds his grave in it in advance, and wills that when he dies he be buried in it. This has happened; "Masjid Ba'irah," you all know it, and the mosque that was destroyed in the fire that was here before the parliament, what was its name?

The questioner : "Dak al-Bab."

The Shaykh : "Dak al-Bab." This was where its builder, its owner, was buried. Do you think that if this awareness had been widespread among those people who donate vast sums of money to build a mosque in which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is worshipped; do you think they know that by this action they deserve the curse of Allah, that they are digging their graves with their own hands in their mosques?! I do not imagine this at all, unless he is a taghut among the taghuts, and his appearance is that he is a Muslim, and that he built a mosque in which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is worshipped alone, but his inner reality may be contrary to his appearance. And we do not judge inner realities; we only judge by the appearance. So we assume good for those who built these mosques, and we assume righteousness for them, but we firmly believe that they are among the ignorant. Otherwise, how would one of them will to be buried in the mosque if he had heard some of these hadiths that we mentioned to you?! And here, on this occasion, the evil of concealing knowledge and the evil of following the people become clear to us. These scholars exist in abundance, and even if among them are those who are called, in the expression of some contemporaries, from those who are called scholars figuratively, not in reality, why do these people not clarify to the people the ruling of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and that it is not permissible to build a mosque over a grave, so that there is no "Ba'irah" and its like?! So they concealed the knowledge from the people, if they knew it. Otherwise, their rigidity in reciting other than the words of the Infallible and their immersion in it with all their being diverted them from studying the Book of Allah and from getting to know the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).