His second question asks whether it is permissible to visit shrines if one believes that they neither harm nor benefit, and that one’s belief in that matter is in Allah alone, but when

The questioner : His second question asks whether it is permissible to visit shrines if one believes that they neither harm nor benefit, and that one’s belief in that matter is in Allah alone, but when we heard that these places are pure and Allah responds to those who supplicate in them?

The Shaykh : Visiting shrines, meaning graves, is a recommended practice (sunnah), but not to fulfill the visitor’s needs; rather, it is for the benefit of the one being visited, or for the visitor to take a lesson from them. It is not for satisfying one’s needs or obtaining one’s desires. Visiting graves to take a lesson and to remember the Hereafter, and that these people who were on the earth yesterday ate as we eat, drank as we drink, wore as we wear, and lived as we live, are now in their graves subject to their deeds. If a person visits the cemetery for this purpose, to take a lesson and to remember, and also to supplicate for them, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to supplicate for them when he visited them: This is a prescribed visit that is required, and men should perform it, whether in the day or in the night. As for visiting graves to seek blessing from them and believing that supplication at them is answered, this is a religious innovation (bid'ah) and forbidden (haram), and it is not permissible, because it has not been established in the Qur'an or the Sunnah that the location of graves is more pure, greater in blessing, or closer to the answering of supplication. Therefore, it is not permissible to intend the graves for this purpose. There is no doubt that mosques are better than the cemetery and closer to the answering of supplication and to the presence and humility of the heart. Yes.