I pray in a mosque, and this mosque is close to the wall of a grave, meaning outside the mosque, and I have also heard from them that they say that praying in that place is disliked, considering that it is a mosque in a market. Please inform me about this.

The questioner : I pray in a mosque, and this mosque is close to the wall of a grave, meaning outside the mosque, and I have also heard from them that they say: that praying in that place is disliked, considering that it is a mosque in a market. Please inform me about this?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Imam of the righteous and the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. If the matter is as the questioner described, that the grave is outside the wall of the mosque, then there is no harm if it is to the right of the one praying, or to his left, or behind his back. However, if it is in front of his qiblah, then one must look: if the wall is a high wall such that the one praying does not see this grave, then there is no harm with that, especially if the grave is a grave in the prescribed manner, not elevated with a building on it or the like. And on this basis, there is no harm in praying in this mosque. But the problem is that some mosques have graves inside the mosque itself. We say: if the mosque was built on the grave, then the mosque is not lawful and it is not permissible to pray in it, and it must be demolished. And if the mosque preceded the grave, and the dead person was buried in it after that, meaning after it was built, then it is obligatory to dig up the grave and take out the bones of the dead person and the remains of the dead person and bury them in the public cemeteries, and level the grave with the mosque. If this is not possible, meaning it is not possible to dig up the grave of the person who was buried after the mosque was built, we look: if the grave is in the qiblah of the mosque, then the prayer toward it is not valid, because it is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from the hadith of Abu Mirdad al-Ghunawi, which Muslim narrated, that he (peace and blessings be upon him) And if the grave is behind the people praying, or to their rights, or to their lefts, then there is no harm in praying in this mosque. I hope the answer is clear, which is that there should be a difference between a mosque built on a grave and a dead person buried in the mosque. The first, meaning the first mosque, the prayer in it is not valid, and the second, the prayer in it is valid if the dead person is behind the people praying, or to their rights, or to their lefts. And if he is in their qiblah, then the prayer toward him is not permissible. And on this basis, people can pray in another direction of the mosque where the grave is not in front of them. It is obligatory for the people of the dead person to take him out of the mosque and bury him with the people, even if only bones or remains are left from him, even if this dead person bequeathed to be buried in the mosque, because some people, due to their ignorance, bequeath to be buried in the mosques they built. And this bequest is not permissible to execute because it is a bequest for something forbidden. If a man builds a mosque, the mosque is not his house, but it is the house of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and he is in it like the other Muslims.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.