The ruling on building over a grave.

Al-Halabi : Shaykh, in the context of discussing burial and the deceased and similar matters, a questioner asked me today about burial with what is called "fastiqiyat." It would be desirable if you could give a general indication regarding this topic?

The Shaykh : Naturally, first of all, this contradicts the Sunnah; indeed, it contradicts the Prophetic commands. The Sunnah is to bury the deceased in the ground, not to bury him on the surface of the ground and then build over his grave. Even if we assume that a deceased person was buried in a piece of land and a very small structure was built over it, this would still contradict the Sunnah in the sense that a grave was not dug for him and he was not buried in the earth. However, with the "fastiqiyat," as you all know, may Allah will it, it requires building something like a room. It is authentically reported from the hadith of Jabir in the Sunan of al-Nasa'i and elsewhere that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade building over a grave. This is called building over a grave. It does not concern us to be precise about the manner of the building: whether it is a square house, whether it is a dome, or whatever it is—anything called a building is not permissible to build over the grave. Do you mean the cave? What?