It is known that it is not permissible to pray in a mosque that contains a grave; so what is the evidence for that?

The questioner : ... A hadith states that it is not permissible to pray in a mosque that contains one grave or more.

The Shaykh : Not permissible to do what?

The questioner : It is not permissible to pray in a mosque that contains a grave.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : So is this hadith authentic or not?

The Shaykh: These are hadiths.

The questioner : Knowing that the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is inside the Noble Sanctuary?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And Umayyad is in a grave too.

The Shaykh : How? How?

The questioner : And the Umayyad Mosque is in a grave.

The Shaykh : The Umayyad Mosque, yes.

Another questioner : And Shu'ayb and Abu 'Ubaydah.

The questioner : I mean, there are many places where there are graves and prayer and the iqamah are performed?

The Shaykh : The answer: Your question has branches; meaning, it can be divided into questions. So the answer to the first question is: The hadith regarding the prohibition of praying in mosques built over graves is not only authentic, but it is an authentic, mass-transmitted (mutawatir) hadith. Perhaps you know what is meant by the term "mass-transmitted"? An authentic hadith comes through a single authentic chain according to the scholars of hadith; this is an authentic hadith. But if a hadith comes through multiple chains and from a large group of Companions, it is said of this hadith: it is an authentic, mass-transmitted hadith. And an authentic, mass-transmitted hadith means that in terms of its establishment, it is on the level of the Noble Qur'an. So the hadith that prohibits praying in mosques built over graves is not a single authentic hadith, but a collection of more than ten hadiths. I used to trace these hadiths in my time, and they exceeded ten hadiths from more than ten Companions. All these hadiths revolve around the prohibition of praying in a mosque or mosques built over graves.
There is no harm in mentioning some of these hadiths that come to mind. For example, what al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their "Sahihayn" from the hadith of 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her). She said: "When Umm Salama and Umm Habibah returned from Abyssinia"—they were among the female emigrants to Abyssinia and they returned to Madinah—"they mentioned to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) a church they had seen in Abyssinia, and they described its beauty and the images in it." He said (peace and blessings be upon him): .
= -- Welcome, O Shaykh ... the hadith -- =
The Messenger said at the end of the hadith: meaning the Christians. meaning they carved those carvings in it, meaning the decorations. This is a hadith.
The second hadith: Also in the "Sahihayn" from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). He said: . 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "If it were not for that, his grave (peace and blessings be upon him) would have been exposed, but it was feared that it would be taken as a mosque." I hope this sentence remains in your memory; because it has a strong connection to the answer to the second part of the question; where you said: Hey, the grave of the Messenger is in the Messenger's Mosque! This is the second hadith.
The third hadith: It is in "Sahih Muslim" from the hadith of Samurah ibn Jundub - or Jundab - that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said before he died (peace be upon him) by five nights or three nights - the doubt is from me -: , what does "not" mean? Listen, O listeners, .
This third hadith confirms the first two hadiths, and adds to them clarification; because some people who are accustomed to living contrary to the correct Sunnah will say to you: My brother, what do we have to do with the Christians? These are the Christians, and the Messenger is talking about them and saying: , and cursing them: , what do we have to do with the matter? This hadith comes to confirm a known meaning among the scholars that our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he narrates to us matters that occurred before the Messenger (peace be upon him), and warns against these matters; he does not narrate them to us for entertainment, but so that we take a lesson and a warning from them. And so the first hadith came and the second hadith came, but the one who negates the issue might say - as we said earlier - that the first and second hadiths have no relation to the Muhammadan Ummah. So the third hadith comes - and as it is said today - to put the dots on the letters. It says after narrating about those before us: meaning the Jews and Christians mentioned in the two hadiths, you, O people of the Islamic Ummah. . This is a third hadith.
And hadiths and many hadiths, among them his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So this also includes those other than the Jews and Christians; because the Messenger (peace be upon him) says in some authentic hadiths.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
. The meaning of the hadith: The Hour will not stand and there will be on the face of the earth those who are monotheistic towards Allah, not associating anything with Him; therefore it came in another hadith his saying (peace be upon him): . So the worst of creation are those who take the graves of their prophets as mosques; these will be after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
In light of these hadiths and others, it is forbidden to build a mosque over a grave, and consequently it is forbidden to take that mosque as a place of prayer. Why? The answer, unfortunately, is known practically; because this grave will be called upon besides Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), and the meaning of being called upon besides Allah is that it is worshipped besides Allah. This is a long discussion that we postpone for another occasion, if Allah wills, to enter into the answer to the second question or the second part of the single question. So we say: It is true that the grave of the Messenger is today in the Messenger's Mosque, but when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) died, was he buried in his mosque?
The answer: No, and the hadith of 'A'ishah to which I drew your attention is clear evidence for that; where it said: "If it were not for that, his grave would have been exposed, but it was feared that it would be taken as a mosque." Meaning: If it were not for the Messenger's (peace and blessings be upon him) mention of the Jews and Christians and that they were cursed for taking the graves of their prophets as mosques; if it were not for this, the grave of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would have been buried in open ground, ground like the ground in front of you here. But that was not done with his grave (peace and blessings be upon him); why? Out of fear that it would be taken as a mosque. So where was the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) buried?
Here is a story; when he died (peace and blessings be upon him): his Companions differed regarding the place of his burial. Most of them had no knowledge of where to bury the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And while they were consulting about where to bury him (peace be upon him), Abu Bakr al-Siddiq entered upon them. He said to them: I have the answer. I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: . Where did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) die? In his house, in the house of Lady 'A'ishah. And so the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were the most eager people to obey Allah and obey His Messenger. They were not like us; we hear the hadith, we hear the Sunnah, and most of us do not care about it. As soon as they heard this hadith, they pulled out the bed on which the Messenger died and dug under it. And that was in 'A'ishah's house, and 'A'ishah's house was next to the Messenger's Mosque (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, the hadiths were mass-transmitted that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to go out from his house to the mosque, even on Friday, when Bilal would call the adhan on Friday or before Bilal would call the adhan on Friday, the Messenger would go out from the house to the pulpit immediately, and Bilal...
... something regrettable happened. In the time of one of the kings or caliphs of the Umayyads, they saw a dire necessity to expand the Prophet's Mosque. It is known that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab had previously made an expansion to the Prophet's Mosque, and likewise 'Uthman ibn 'Affan after him. Look at the difference now between the Companions and their actions, and those who came after them. The expansion by 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and the expansion by 'Uthman were not at the expense of the chambers of the Mothers of the Believers, which included the chamber of the Lady 'A'ishah. Rather, they were on the southern side, where they still call it today "the addition of 'Umar" there, and the addition of 'Uthman was on another side that does not come to my mind now. But in the time of the Umayyads, they found a need to expand the mosque, so they expanded it from the direction of the grave of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). They raised the partition wall between the house of 'A'ishah and the houses of the other Mothers of the Believers, and the grave—excuse me—and the mosque. So the grave became inside the mosque, where you see it today. You think that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was buried in his mosque, so the matter becomes difficult for you when you hear these hadiths and what indicates them regarding the prohibition of praying in mosques built over graves.
There remains a third and final answer: Is the ruling on praying in the Prophet's Mosque the same as the ruling on praying in all mosques, including the one you mentioned or someone else mentioned, the Umayyad Mosque in our land of Sham?
We say: The Mosque of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is not like that. Why? Because the Mosque of the Messenger has a special virtue, as he said: . This virtue will continue until the Day of Resurrection. But those who brought the grave into the mosque erred against the Sunnah. The obligatory thing at that time was that the Muslim should not intend to pray facing the grave, but rather pray in the Raudah and the other areas.
This is sufficient.