What is the ruling on burial in a cave? (With an explanation of some of the innovations in graves)

The questioner : ... it was dug underground and it has a grave.

The Shaykh : In short, underground, this is a natural ceiling, and the ground is also a ceiling. The important thing is that it is dug in the ground and the deceased is buried there. If there is a natural pit, lower the body into it and then cover it with earth. But on the surface of the ground, it is not permissible.The questioner : The problem is that the same cave has a door, and people are buried in it by the dozens.

The Shaykh : This is not permissible. This is not permissible. We say it must be in the bowels of the earth.

The questioner : It is in the bowels of the earth.

The Shaykh : How do you mean?

The questioner : I mean a cave ... .

The Shaykh : In the bowels of the earth, and earth is heaped over it. No, so do not take only half of the statement. Do not take only half of the statement. If we assume there is a pit in a mountain and the deceased is buried there, and then earth is heaped over him, the matter is finished. But the first thing that comes to mind regarding the structure is the structure intended by the builder. Therefore, no type is permissible except that the grave is raised by a shibr or two shibr at most. So the method that the Egyptians innovated, imitating the Pharaohs by building structures over the graves of the dead, this undoubtedly contradicts the Sunnah and contradicts the noble Prophetic commands. Then this matter spread to some other countries, and perhaps it has seeped into here.
Abu Malik: There is something worse than this now. If you go to the Umm al-Hayran cemetery, we see that the graves are in layers.

The Shaykh : Allah is the Greatest. This is also a very old method.
Abu Malik: It exists, but our Shaykh, the graves now are raised and visible, meaning they are in the form of built rooms. One layer comes under the earth and two layers above the earth, meaning three layers. The first layer comes, and then the door is made. A deep rectangular pit is dug, then the earth is raised. After the deceased is brought in, the earth is heaped. But in the second and third floors, there is a door that opens.

The Shaykh : Glory be to Allah.
Abu Malik: Yes, an iron door that opens. Then it is plastered over after the deceased is brought in. It is plastered over and closed, and that is all.

The Shaykh : In this same room, this process?
Abu Malik: Yes, as you say, three layers, our Shaykh. It is a cement structure. This is to save on the piece of land, meaning to save land.

The Shaykh : Okay, after the iron door is closed and plastered, is it opened?
Abu Malik: It is opened.

The Shaykh : To bury.
Abu Malik: These are the worst graves I have seen. I have not seen in the people of shirk or in the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance anything worse than these graves. We have a cemetery for our family here in Umm al-Hayran. When I saw it, I did not know about it before, actually. When I found it in this state, I fled from it. When my father passed away, may Allah have mercy on him, we buried him in Ar-Rusayfah.

Another questioner : I witnessed in the city of Hebron. I saw the graves as caves. They bring the deceased, of course, the cave door is narrow and blocked with a slab. They remove the slab and bury the deceased.
Abu Malik: This is not the cave, this is the structure (fustaqiyyah). But I did not clarify to him, O Shaykh, the image of the structure. The structure, O Shaykh, is built, then roofed with stone, then earth is heaped on the back, meaning the back of the structure. The earth reaches it about half a meter or more.

The Shaykh : Then?
Abu Malik: Inside, in the depth of the earth, meaning at a depth of two meters, there is earth, or a meter and a half, there is earth. And there is a door. This door is where the earth is raised when the deceased is buried. Then afterwards, it is leveled. The earth is heaped so that it is leveled with the roof of the buried grave. So it is not actually a cave.

Another questioner : There is a cave now, yes, the one I saw. Its door is narrow and a slab is placed on it. Then earth is placed on the slab. When the deceased comes, I saw, for example, ten dead people in it. If there is no space, they move all the bones.

The Shaykh : I mean, this cave is spacious, right?

Another questioner : It is spacious, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Spacious.

The questioner : Very spacious. Our gathering here, all of it is like this.

The Shaykh : I mean like the structure we are talking about, but ... No, Abu Samir, it is a structure, not a cave. It is a concrete structure, it is known, but it is in the ground, not raised.

The questioner : And there are people sleeping in it.

The Shaykh : I know, I know, but Abu Malik is telling me there are layers there. This is the problem.