The Ruling on Exhuming Graves and Moving Them from One Place to Another
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Your Eminence! Is it permissible to exhume graves after a year has passed and bury them in another place, in order to make use of those graves, as long as they are within the city, for example?
Answer:
If there is a need, such as a shortage of land, and there is available land, then there is nothing wrong with it. Otherwise, the graves should remain as they are, and new burials should take place in other land. Every deceased person should remain in his place, and new graveyards should be established for the rest, and so on. Except in cases of extreme necessity, in which case there is nothing wrong with combining two or three people in one grave, or exhuming them and placing them in a specific location in a special pit. However, leaving them as they are is obligatory, except in cases of necessity. Yes.
The presenter : In cases of necessity?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The presenter : So, if this custom exists, do you direct people to avoid it?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes. The graves should remain as they are, with every deceased person in his grave, and new graves should be established in the desert, outside the city. Cars are available, praise be to Allah...
The presenter : Praise be to Allah. May Allah reward you with good. One might resort to this matter for a single reason, which is that the cemetery is close within the city, in which case...
The Shaykh : That is not an excuse.
The presenter : It is not an excuse?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The presenter : May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.
Your Eminence! Is it permissible to exhume graves after a year has passed and bury them in another place, in order to make use of those graves, as long as they are within the city, for example?
Answer:
If there is a need, such as a shortage of land, and there is available land, then there is nothing wrong with it. Otherwise, the graves should remain as they are, and new burials should take place in other land. Every deceased person should remain in his place, and new graveyards should be established for the rest, and so on. Except in cases of extreme necessity, in which case there is nothing wrong with combining two or three people in one grave, or exhuming them and placing them in a specific location in a special pit. However, leaving them as they are is obligatory, except in cases of necessity. Yes.
The presenter : In cases of necessity?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The presenter : So, if this custom exists, do you direct people to avoid it?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes. The graves should remain as they are, with every deceased person in his grave, and new graves should be established in the desert, outside the city. Cars are available, praise be to Allah...
The presenter : Praise be to Allah. May Allah reward you with good. One might resort to this matter for a single reason, which is that the cemetery is close within the city, in which case...
The Shaykh : That is not an excuse.
The presenter : It is not an excuse?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The presenter : May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.