If the grave is in the mosque after the mosque was built, and it is not in the direction of the qiblah, but there is a fear that people’s hearts will become attached to the owner of the grave, is it permissible to pray in it?
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The questioner : We decided yesterday that if the grave was built before the mosque, the mosque must be demolished. If the reverse is the case, meaning the mosque was built first and then the grave was brought into it, the grave must be exhumed.
The Shaykh : Okay.
The questioner : May Allah preserve you. If there is, for example, a grave and we are unable to exhume it, did we say that it is permissible to pray if it is not in the direction of the qiblah in the mosque, is that not so, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah preserve you. If this leads to a means to corruption, such that the hearts of some of the worshippers become attached to these graves, what is the ruling?
The Shaykh : You heard his question yesterday. We decided that if the mosque is built over the grave, the mosque must be demolished and it is not permissible to pray in it. If the mosque is built and then the deceased is buried in it, the deceased must be exhumed, and the prayer in the mosque is valid, provided the grave is not in the direction of the mosque’s qiblah, for it is not permissible to pray toward it.
He says: If the grave is not in the direction of the qiblah, and it is a later addition while the mosque was built before it, but there is a fear that people’s hearts will become attached to this grave, is it permissible to pray in it?
And the answer is no. And you must know the principle: “If a permissible act is feared to lead to a forbidden act, it becomes forbidden”, because the permissible act takes on the nature of what it serves as a means to.
The Shaykh : Okay.
The questioner : May Allah preserve you. If there is, for example, a grave and we are unable to exhume it, did we say that it is permissible to pray if it is not in the direction of the qiblah in the mosque, is that not so, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah preserve you. If this leads to a means to corruption, such that the hearts of some of the worshippers become attached to these graves, what is the ruling?
The Shaykh : You heard his question yesterday. We decided that if the mosque is built over the grave, the mosque must be demolished and it is not permissible to pray in it. If the mosque is built and then the deceased is buried in it, the deceased must be exhumed, and the prayer in the mosque is valid, provided the grave is not in the direction of the mosque’s qiblah, for it is not permissible to pray toward it.
He says: If the grave is not in the direction of the qiblah, and it is a later addition while the mosque was built before it, but there is a fear that people’s hearts will become attached to this grave, is it permissible to pray in it?
And the answer is no. And you must know the principle: “If a permissible act is feared to lead to a forbidden act, it becomes forbidden”, because the permissible act takes on the nature of what it serves as a means to.