Explanation of the Book of Prayer-08

The Shaykh : He said: "And from Abu Murthad al-Ghanawi (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) say:

Do not pray toward graves and do not sit on them.

لا تصلوا إلى القبور ولا تجلسوا عليها

Sunan an-Nasa'i 760Sahih (Darussalam)

" First: The word "narrated" is by al-Tirmidhi, and he graded it weak, saying: It is weak. We will ask: Why do the scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) mention weak hadiths?
The student: Because they are well-known among the scholars, so their weakness is pointed out so that no one acts upon them.

The Shaykh : For that reason.
The student: So that no one takes them at face value.

The Shaykh : Yes, because they may be well-known among the scholars, so they are mentioned to make their weakness clear and so that no one acts upon them. Is the weakness from someone below the level of the Companions, or from a Companion?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : So, the weakness is from whom? From someone below the Companion. Good. As for his saying (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): It is not hidden that "la" is the negative particle, and the sign of the prohibition is that the nun was deleted. Meaning: facing them. The intended meaning is the generic, which includes a single grave, just as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: And it is known that a person will not perform i'tikaf (spiritual retreat) except in a single mosque. Graves are the burial places of the dead. These graves are the burial places of the deceased. The poet said:
"For every people there is a burial ground in their courtyard *** They decrease, and the graves increase"
"For every people there is a burial ground in their courtyard *** They decrease, and the graves increase"
And if it were not that Allah the Exalted creates other peoples, the generation would perish. And his saying: Sitting is known, meaning: sit on them, meaning: on the grave.
The point of this hadith is his saying: This indicates the prohibition of praying facing a grave such that the grave is in front of the one praying, even if it is not in a cemetery, because it has been established for us that one does not pray in a cemetery, even if the graves are behind. But this is praying facing the grave. Let us suppose a grave is in an open space and a man comes to pray facing it. We say: This is forbidden. Do not pray facing the grave. The wisdom of the prohibition is that it is a means to associating partners with Allah, for a person may first pray to Allah at this grave, then the reverence of the grave's occupant enters his heart, and he prays to the occupant of the grave, making this a means to major shirk (associating partners with Allah). The Lawgiver has a view and intention in blocking the means to shirk in any way. The more souls are inclined to something, the more strictly its means are blocked, because the soul calls to it. If there is nothing to prohibit it and keep one away from it, the soul may fall into it, like a shepherd who grazes his sheep around a protected area; he is likely to fall into it. If someone asks: What is the limit of this? We say: What is established by custom, or about three cubits or so. But if it is far away, then there is nothing wrong with it.