Some mosques contain a grave; what is obligatory to do to separate the grave from the mosque?

The questioner : Because we were in Jordan here, in some of the mosques, we found a very strange phenomenon that I did not expect, which is that we found graves in mosques, in more than two mosques. The problem is that the graves are close to the mosque, on the right side of the mosque.

The Shaykh : Outside or inside?

The questioner : Outside the mosque. So we said to them, and they said, the owner of the mosque made a will.
The student : Inside the wall.

The questioner : Inside the wall of the mosque. As for outside the mosque, the building of the mosque, what they call it, meaning the land of the mosque, the building is after that.

The Shaykh : The courtyard of the mosque.

The questioner : The courtyard of the mosque. May Allah reward you with good. So we said to them, and they said: This is the first thing outside the mosque. The owner donated the land, and he donated the building, the one who died.

The Shaykh : Is he, if Allah wills, not yet dead?

The questioner : No, he is dead, he is buried in it.

The Shaykh : Buried in it?

The questioner : Yes. The matter now: Is it permissible to pray in this mosque, the one outside? Second thing: Is it permissible to move...

The Shaykh : The one outside.

The questioner : The one buried outside the courtyard of the mosque, as I understood. May Allah reward you with good. In the courtyard of the mosque. Second thing: If we build a high wall and separate it from the courtyard of the mosque, is that sufficient? And a third question: If there is a possibility of moving it, and the family of the deceased are convinced, because we have a third need and consultations with them, and we convince them, do we pray over him? Meaning, to satisfy their hearts, after we carry him, we put him down and pray over him? Please, may Allah reward you with good and may Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : Is the news of the death recent or old?

The questioner : Old.

The Shaykh : Old.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Meaning, is it permissible that it has now become bones and has become a skeleton?

The questioner: Yes.
The student : ... .

The Shaykh : What appears is that removing it from the courtyard of the mosque by building that wall you mentioned is obligatory. But if it remains like this, there is no difference between praying in what is called the sacred precinct of the mosque, meaning inside the roofed area.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Or outside the roofed area, which we called the courtyard of the mosque. There is no difference, because everything that is the sacred precinct of the mosque and the courtyard of the mosque is called a mosque. Does it not have a door with the wall you mentioned?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Okay, so the radical solution, the radical solution is building a wall that separates, distances, or removes the grave from the courtyard of the mosque. This is the cure. As for digging up the grave and burying it in another place, and it may have become bones or a skeleton, this is not good.

The questioner : ... Oh Shaykh, because they are inviting [us]. Yesterday we spoke to one person and he mentioned four or five mosques to me. He said so-and-so did this, and so-and-so did that. I say, if we can manage to remove this deceased person, so that it becomes an example and is heard about and known. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : You say what you want.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : You say what you want.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : But I do not see digging up the grave as long as there is a way to escape the problem of praying in a mosque with a grave in it, in the way you asked about and I answered, which is building the wall that separates between the mosque and the grave. But here is one note only: this is if the grave is not in the qiblah direction of the mosque, meaning it is on the side of the mosque, its right or its left.

The questioner : On the side, its right.

The Shaykh : So the matter is easy, if Allah wills, in this way we remove the problem.
The student : It is difficult, oh our Shaykh, it is difficult, because the mosques, as you know, may Allah bless you, their area is the area of the sacred precinct is small. And if the mosque is isolated by the wall, the mosque becomes narrow, because it is inside the sacred precinct of the mosque.

The Shaykh : And if it becomes narrow, what is the solution?
The student : The solution is we say to him, goodbye, hehehe.

The Shaykh : Please, tell him, say to him, goodbye...

The questioner : I will arrange my own affairs, oh Shaykh.
The student : ... .
Another student: What...

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : The family of the deceased do not accept.
Another student: You have a previous fatwa on the subject that the encroacher is the one that is removed. So if the mosque was built on the grave, the mosque is removed. And if the grave was placed in the mosque, the grave is removed. And now this contradicts that.
Another student: This is a fatwa of the Shaykh al-Islam...

The Shaykh : Be patient. We are still saying this, but this is an alternative exit that does not contradict what we said earlier. Because we are not going to say, leave it. We are not saying leave the grave in the mosque, but we remove it from the mosque. But the removal has two ways: either by building the wall, or by moving the deceased if it is bones or if the body is as it is. This does not contradict that. We are still with what you know completely. But here your brother says that they are not satisfied. With what are they not satisfied?

The questioner : With the moving itself.

The Shaykh : They are satisfied with building the wall.

The questioner : They are satisfied.

The Shaykh : Okay, so this is the solution. On the condition that I want to remind the son not to follow his father in trying to please people, but rather...
The student : I didn't understand, 'Azmi, this.

The Shaykh : Hehe, no, he understood it, if Allah wills.
The student: No.

The Shaykh : Did you understand, 'Azmi?
The student : I understood generally, but if...
The student : Look, again, I told you he didn't understand it.

The Shaykh : This is your brother, ask your brother, hehe.
The student: Hehehe.