What is the ruling on praying in a mosque that has a grave in its outer courtyard, which is surrounded by the mosque's outer wall? And is it permissible to build a wall to separate the grave from the mosque?

The questioner : Now, we saw in Jordan some mosques and we found a very strange phenomenon that we did not expect. We found graves in the mosques, more than two mosques, and 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. We told them, and they said the owner of the mosque willed that it be inside the mosque's wall, but outside the mosque...

The Shaykh : The mosque's courtyard.

The questioner : The mosque's courtyard. May Allah reward you with good. So we told them, and they said, first, it is outside the mosque. Second, the one who donated the land willed it, and he donated the building...

The Shaykh : ...Has he not died yet?

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

The Shaykh : Buried in it?

The questioner : Yes. The matter now: is it permissible to pray in this mosque? Second, is it permissible to move the buried person outside the mosque's courtyard? Third, if we build a high wall to separate it from the mosque's courtyard, is this permissible? And a third question: if there is a possibility of moving it, do they pray over it? That is, to comfort their hearts after we carry it out. May Allah reward you with good. May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : Is it a recent death or an old one?

The questioner : A hadith.

The Shaykh : That is, is it permissible that now it has become dust or rubble? Removing it from the mosque's courtyard 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 mosque's sanctuary, meaning inside the roofed area, or what we called the mosque's courtyard. There is no difference, because everything within the mosque's sanctuary and the mosque's courtyard is called a mosque. Does it not have a door with the wall you mentioned? So the radical solution, the radical solution, is to build a wall that separates, distances, or removes the grave from the mosque's courtyard. This is the cure. As for exhuming the grave and moving it to another place, it may have become bones or dust, and this is not good.

The questioner : We spoke to one person and he mentioned to me four or five mosques. So-and-so did it, and so-and-so did it, and so-and-so did it. I say that if we are able to remove this dead person, so that it becomes an example and they hear about it and know about it. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : You say what you want, but I do not see exhuming the grave as long as there is a way to get out of the problem of praying in a mosque with a grave in it. This is the method you asked about and I answered, which is building the wall that separates the mosque from the grave. But here is one note only: this is if the grave is not in front of the mosque. Is it on the side of the mosque, right or left?

The questioner : On the right.

The Shaykh : So the matter is easy, if Allah wills, by this method.
Abu Malik: ...If the mosque is surrounded by a wall, the mosque becomes narrow.

The Shaykh : If it becomes narrow, what is the solution?
Abu Malik: The solution is we tell him, goodbye!

The Shaykh : Please, he says to you, tell him goodbye.

The questioner : You have a previous fatwa on the subject that the encroacher is the one who is removed. So if the mosque was built on the grave, the mosque is removed...