What is prescribed regarding visiting graves and greeting them?

Question:
Greeting the graves: Is this specific to those who enter them, or does one who passes by them, even if at a distance, also greet them?

Answer:
One who passes by them and greets them receives the reward for that, and one who stops at them, enters them, greets them, and makes du'a for them is more complete. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to visit the graves, stand over them, greet them, and say to his companions: , and he used to visit al-Baqi' and say: .
So the Sunnah is to visit them with the intention, to stand over them, to make du'a for them, to seek mercy for them, and to remember this great station, remembering death and the terrors that follow it, so that he benefits from this visit. However, one should not sit at the graves for du'a or recitation, nor call upon the dead or seek their aid. No, rather, one greets them, makes du'a for them, and remembers, just as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and in the other wording: .
As for what the ignorant do, visiting them to call upon them other than Allah, and seeking aid from the dead; this is major shirk, this is the religion of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance.
And among the religious innovations: visiting them to make du'a at them, sitting at them and making du'a, thinking that du'a at them is more beneficial, or reciting at them because recitation at them is more beneficial. This is an error, this is from religious innovations and ignorance. Recitation in the mosques and in your home is better. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
So the point is that the graves have their status, and the houses have their status. The function of the visitor at the graves is to make du'a for them, seek forgiveness for them, seek mercy for them, and remember their conditions, so that he remembers death and what comes after it. But he does not visit them to ask them, seek their aid, or request their help, as the ignorant do with al-Badawi, or with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), or with al-Husayn, or with Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, or with Abu Hanifa, or with so-and-so, or so-and-so. No.
He visits the graves for what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , , and the dead are in need of being made du'a for, not of being called upon. They are weak, they cannot fulfill your need; its fulfillment is with Allah . But you make du'a for them, and seek mercy for them, for they are in need of your du'a. You seek forgiveness for them, and ask Allah for their salvation, mercy, and pardon. As for your needs, ask them from Allah, request them from your Lord : in your home, in the mosque, in any place you humble yourself to your Lord, and ask Him to fulfill your need: from the settlement of a debt, from the attainment of forgiveness, from salvation from the Fire, from the facilitation of marriage, from the facilitation of children, from the facilitation of provision, and other such matters.
And likewise, asking by the right of the dead or by their status is all from religious innovations, it has no basis. Rather, seeking nearness to Allah is by His beautiful names and His exalted attributes in your du'a, or by your righteous deeds, or by your tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and your sincerity.