What is the ruling on praying in a mosque that is adjacent to a cemetery and a shaykh's shrine, when the Sufi people of the mosque claim that the grave is far away?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Your Eminence, we find in some Arab countries, or rather in the Sufi groups or orders, that they perform prayer in the mosque while there is a cemetery nearby, or what they call the shrine of so-and-so shaykh.
And when they are rebuked for this, they claim that this cemetery is far from the mosque. You find, I mean, many of them, I mean, do not cite evidence for this action and they claim that, saying: This mosque is separate from the shrine, meaning there is a distance between them.
The Shaykh : Fine.
The questioner : What is the validity of the prayer in this mosque?
The Shaykh : If the mosque is not in the cemetery—peace be upon you—and there is no grave in it, then the prayer in it is valid.
The questioner : But it is next to it, meaning not far away.
The Shaykh : And even if it is next to the cemetery, as long as the cemetery is not in front of it, but on the right or on the left, then there is nothing wrong with it.
Due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan Ibn Majah 567Sahih (Darussalam).
However, yes, if the mosque was built on the grave, then the prayer in it is not valid. And if a grave is buried in the mosque, if a dead person is buried in the mosque, then it is obligatory to dig it up and bury it with the graves of the people. Yes.
The questioner : What is the last question?
Your Eminence, we find in some Arab countries, or rather in the Sufi groups or orders, that they perform prayer in the mosque while there is a cemetery nearby, or what they call the shrine of so-and-so shaykh.
And when they are rebuked for this, they claim that this cemetery is far from the mosque. You find, I mean, many of them, I mean, do not cite evidence for this action and they claim that, saying: This mosque is separate from the shrine, meaning there is a distance between them.
The Shaykh : Fine.
The questioner : What is the validity of the prayer in this mosque?
The Shaykh : If the mosque is not in the cemetery—peace be upon you—and there is no grave in it, then the prayer in it is valid.
The questioner : But it is next to it, meaning not far away.
The Shaykh : And even if it is next to the cemetery, as long as the cemetery is not in front of it, but on the right or on the left, then there is nothing wrong with it.
Due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
the earth has been made for me a place of worship and a means of purification.
جعلت لي الأرض مسجدا وطهوراHowever, yes, if the mosque was built on the grave, then the prayer in it is not valid. And if a grave is buried in the mosque, if a dead person is buried in the mosque, then it is obligatory to dig it up and bury it with the graves of the people. Yes.
The questioner : What is the last question?