A question about a cemetery that is like a city, with shops and houses, and some graves inside the houses?
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The questioner : Sometimes the cemetery is, I mean, it resembles a city completely, with buying and selling, and roads, and shops, and either the grave is inside a room of the house, or people live above the house, above the grave.
The Shaykh : I mean, and the clothes and food, these are for the dead, or how?
The questioner : No, they live in an area that the living inhabit.
The Shaykh : I mean, so the cemetery is separate.
The questioner : The cemetery is surrounded by a wall, and inside the wall, the living and the dead reside.
The Shaykh : Inside.
The questioner : Inside the wall.
The Shaykh : The living reside.
The questioner : Either the grave is in a house, inside one of the rooms of the house.
The Shaykh : The grave.
The questioner : The grave.
The Shaykh : Do they bury the dead in their houses?
The questioner : The same house.
The Shaykh : In their houses.
The questioner : Due to the narrowness of the spaces, or...
The Shaykh : Due to the narrowness of the spaces.
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : We seek help from Allah, glory be to Allah, this is a mistake, it is not possible that the spaces become narrow, it is not possible.
The questioner : Even the mosque becomes a cemetery, with more than one mosque, two or three mosques in the same cemetery.
The Shaykh : But, O Sa'd, it is not possible, what is the area of the land, what is the area of Egypt, for example?
The questioner : Very large.
The Shaykh : Okay, do the dead not take up...
The questioner : This, O Shaykh, the spaces have been for the dead since ancient times, these areas are for the dead, so the living took them over.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible, I say it is not permissible for the living to reside in the graves of the dead, I mean, the dead have more right to them, it is not valid as long as the graves exist, it is not valid, Allah is the Greatest.
The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah reward you, in some mosques here, the bathrooms are within the mosque wall... above these bathrooms is a library, so is this library part of the mosque, is i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) valid in it?
The Shaykh : Part of what?
The questioner : Part of the mosque... is i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) valid in it, and does it have the ruling of the greeting of the mosque, the ruling of prayer in it, above the bathrooms.
The Shaykh : Yes, indeed.
The Shaykh : I mean, and the clothes and food, these are for the dead, or how?
The questioner : No, they live in an area that the living inhabit.
The Shaykh : I mean, so the cemetery is separate.
The questioner : The cemetery is surrounded by a wall, and inside the wall, the living and the dead reside.
The Shaykh : Inside.
The questioner : Inside the wall.
The Shaykh : The living reside.
The questioner : Either the grave is in a house, inside one of the rooms of the house.
The Shaykh : The grave.
The questioner : The grave.
The Shaykh : Do they bury the dead in their houses?
The questioner : The same house.
The Shaykh : In their houses.
The questioner : Due to the narrowness of the spaces, or...
The Shaykh : Due to the narrowness of the spaces.
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : We seek help from Allah, glory be to Allah, this is a mistake, it is not possible that the spaces become narrow, it is not possible.
The questioner : Even the mosque becomes a cemetery, with more than one mosque, two or three mosques in the same cemetery.
The Shaykh : But, O Sa'd, it is not possible, what is the area of the land, what is the area of Egypt, for example?
The questioner : Very large.
The Shaykh : Okay, do the dead not take up...
The questioner : This, O Shaykh, the spaces have been for the dead since ancient times, these areas are for the dead, so the living took them over.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible, I say it is not permissible for the living to reside in the graves of the dead, I mean, the dead have more right to them, it is not valid as long as the graves exist, it is not valid, Allah is the Greatest.
The questioner : Shaykh, may Allah reward you, in some mosques here, the bathrooms are within the mosque wall... above these bathrooms is a library, so is this library part of the mosque, is i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) valid in it?
The Shaykh : Part of what?
The questioner : Part of the mosque... is i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) valid in it, and does it have the ruling of the greeting of the mosque, the ruling of prayer in it, above the bathrooms.
The Shaykh : Yes, indeed.