What is the ruling on digging up graves for any purpose, such as building on them?

The questioner : Does this imply that it is permissible to dig up graves for any purpose?

The Shaykh : No, it is not permissible. However, one might think that the owner of this grave has turned to dust, so he opens it not with the intention of digging up the grave, and then he finds the corpse, as if it were alive today, as sometimes happens, or it is still there. In that case, burial is not permissible.

The questioner : I mean, there are some old cemeteries that have been closed and no one has been buried in them for, say, ten or fifteen years, so some people remove these cemeteries and build on them.

The Shaykh : No, this is not permissible. I mean, if the state does this, and this often happens in many countries, unfortunately. They decide to plan the streets at the expense of the dead and at the expense of the cemeteries. It is not permissible to eliminate the cemetery unless it is confirmed that the bodies in it have decayed and turned to dust. As for what we saw there in Syria, where they were removing the bones with bulldozers, this is forbidden and not permissible. And you have just heard his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) . Undoubtedly, this regulation is resorted to either out of their ignorance of the rulings of the Shari'ah, or out of their disregard for these rulings, because they care more about their worldly life than they do about their Hereafter.