How was the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) incorporated into the mosque?

The first message in this episode, Your Eminence, is from one of our listening brothers, identified as (J. M. A.), who works in the Kingdom. Our brother requests a discussion of a topic regarding which you have previously graciously answered a question. He says, Your Eminence: What is the relationship between the Prophet’s Mosque (peace and blessings be upon him), including his grave and the graves of his two companions, and other mosques that contain graves? Since hearing Your Eminence, Abdul Aziz, clarify this issue, it was explained that it was an error during the expansion of the mosque in the era of Abdul Malik. However, many Muslims ask: If this was an error, it is possible to rectify and treat it by completely separating the grave from the mosque, because a wall is not sufficient; the other graves in other mosques also have walls around them. Thus, it is difficult to convince them of the difference between al-Masjid al-Nabawi and others. If you would be gracious in settling this issue, it will certainly put an end to the confusion of Muslims and will prevent and help stop the digging up of graves that have been newly added to mosques. We ask Allah for success for you in researching this topic, and may Allah reward you with good.
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon His servant and messenger, His choice from among His creation, and His trustee over His revelation; our Prophet, our Imam, and our Master Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and his Companions, and whoever follows his path and is guided by his guidance until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows: There is no doubt that incorporating the noble grave into the noble mosque was a cause of fitnah (trial) for some people in placing graves in mosques and building over graves. It has been explained in previous episodes that the reality is that al-Walid ibn Abdul Malik, and not Abdul Malik, but al-Walid ibn Abdul Malik, during his caliphate, when he expanded al-Masjid al-Nabawi, saw the incorporation of the Prophet’s Chamber into the mosque due to the expansion. Some people, some of the Tabi'un, criticized him for this. However, he saw that the expansion called for it, so he incorporated it, and this incorporation became a cause of fitnah for some people in building over graves and establishing mosques over them.
The relationship between the Prophet’s Mosque (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Chamber is not like the relationship between mosques and other graves. It is a great difference. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was buried in his house, in the house of Aisha, and his two companions were buried with him; Abu Bakr and Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both). He (peace and blessings be upon him) was not buried in the mosque, nor were his two companions, but all of them were buried in the house. As for the other graves, they are buried in mosques, and their people think that this is a means of drawing near to Allah and that it is obedience. Perhaps the mosque was established after that; the grave exists and then a mosque is built over it. All of this is the reality, so this is not like that.
And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith, indeed in the authentic hadiths: And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: narrated by Muslim in the Sahih. And when Umm Salama and Umm Habiba (may Allah be pleased with them both) said to him (peace and blessings be upon him): He informed them that those who build mosques over graves and place images on them are the worst of creation; because they did something that leads people to shirk (associating partners with Allah) and causes them to fall into shirk; because building over graves, establishing mosques over them, and placing images on them, all of this is among the means of shirk; for this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) warned against it, repeating and reiterating it.
And al-Walid, when he incorporated the Prophet’s Chamber, did not have this matter in mind, and he did not think that people would be confused by the matter and believe that this is like that, and that incorporating the entire Chamber is of the same kind as creating graves in mosques, or of the same kind as establishing mosques over graves. This is not like that.
So the conclusion is that incorporating the Prophet’s Chamber into the mosque is not of the same kind as the work of the extremists regarding graves who built mosques over them, or established them in mosques. This is different from that.
So creating a grave in a mosque is a matter that is not permissible, and it is munkar (what is wrong) and a means of shirk with the person in the grave. Likewise, having a mosque built over it, as the Children of Israel did, having a mosque built over it, this is also not permissible; for this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim: .
So it is obligatory for the people of Islam, wherever they are, in every place, not to build mosques over graves, and not to build domes over them or anything else, and to leave them open and exposed, as the graves were in the era of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so in al-Baqi' cemetery and others, there is no building over them. And as is the case now in al-Baqi', and praise be to Allah, the buildings have been removed from them. And so in Makkah.
So the point is that it is obligatory that graves be open and exposed, with no building over them. This is the obligation. No domes, mosques, or anything else should be built over them.
And as for al-Walid ibn Abdul Malik incorporating the Prophet’s Chamber, it was for the sake of expansion. And although this was an error, it should be that it did not occur out of fear of this fitnah that happened for some people. But he (may Allah have mercy on him), and may Allah forgive us and him, did not pay attention to this matter that has occurred among people now. Perhaps the reason for not removing it from the mosque after that is that every governor who takes over Madinah fears that if he does something, it will be held against him, and it will be criticized, and it will be said: You hate the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and you, and you, and you, so he will be accused. For this reason, people left the Chamber from being removed after it was incorporated. Perhaps this is the reason, and Allah knows best, in my belief, that the governors who took over authority after al-Walid perhaps feared that if they removed the Chamber from the mosque, it would be said about them that they are such and such, that they do not love the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or that they are negligent in the rights of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or something similar to these sayings that one might fear. For this reason, this matter was left and it was not removed from the mosque out of fear of people’s talk and the fitnah of people through gossip about removing it from the mosque after it was incorporated.
And also, as mentioned before, this is not of the same kind as what people do. Rather, this is an entire Chamber, an entire house, that was incorporated. It is not part of the mosque, it is not on the land of the mosque, it is not buried in the mosque, and the mosque is not established over it. Rather, the mosque is standing and independent before the incorporation of the Chamber. So the mosque is standing, and only the slight expansion that came from the east side occurred. This is the reality.
So it is not permissible for anyone to use this as an argument for building over graves or incorporating graves into mosques. He has no argument in this. Rather, it is obligatory that graves be far from mosques, not in mosques, but in independent land, open, sunny, and exposed, with no building over them and no mosques over them. This is the obligation for all Muslims in every place, in obedience to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and implementation of his command and following of his Sunnah, and out of fear of the means of shirk.
For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) repeated and reiterated this, and it was frequent; so that people do not fall into shirk. And among that is what was mentioned in the authentic hadiths: And from this is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): narrated by Muslim in the Sahih from the hadith of Jundub ibn Abdullah al-Bajali. And so the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) in the Sahih, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
So it is obligatory for the people of Islam to be cautious of that and not to use what al-Walid ibn Abdul Malik did in incorporating the Prophet’s Chamber as an argument. He incorporated a house and did not bury in the mosque, and did not create a grave in the mosque, but rather incorporated the Chamber as an ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) for the expansion for the Muslims. So this is not like what people have innovated, and it should not be compared to this. Rather, it is obligatory to be cautious of what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade and cursed the doers of it. And among that is what Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade plastering the grave, and forbade sitting on it, and forbade building over it. And this includes the dome and the mosque and anything else.
So it is obligatory for all Muslims to obey the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and implement his command and be cautious of what he forbade regarding graves and others. So nothing should be built over them, nor a dome or mosque established over them, nor plastered. All of this is among what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade.
The purpose of all this is to block the means leading to shirk (associating partners with Allah) and to prohibit its tools; because if people see a mosque that is honored with a dome, carpets, and the like, they will honor it by making du'a' (supplication) and calling for aid, calling upon it and seeking aid from its occupant, and thus shirk occurs.
Therefore, it is obligatory for Muslims in any place to fear Allah and to be wary of burying people in mosques, or establishing a mosque over a grave, even if it is a great grave, and even if its occupant is righteous. The prophets are the most righteous of people, and there is no building over their graves; so the rest of people are even more so. The obligatory thing is to obey the command of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), to adhere to what he said (peace and blessings be upon him), and to be wary of what he prohibited (peace and blessings be upon him).
The wisdom in this is clear, the wisdom is apparent, and it is: blocking the means leading to shirk. The presence of a grave in the mosque, or the presence of a mosque over a grave, all of this is among the means of shirk with the occupant of the grave. We ask Allah for guidance and success for everyone, and we ask Allah to make the Muslims see clearly and to grant them understanding in the religion, and to protect them from the causes of shirk and its means and paths. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the Near.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good. I do not know, Your Eminence, our brother the author of this letter says: Why is that error committed by al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik not corrected?
The Shaykh: We explained that the reasons for that—and Allah knows best—are that every state fears that if it undertakes this matter, it will be accused and it will be said about it: that it has been short in its right to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and that it hates the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or that it is ignorant of Islam, or that it is... or that it is... They may shy away from entering into this matter, saying: Since those before us remained silent and left it as it was, we will leave it; and because the wisdom in that and the operative cause of that is clear, he (peace and blessings be upon him) was not buried in the mosque, but only the room was included in its entirety. So this issue is not like the issues in which people fell in many countries where they buried people in mosques and created graves in mosques, or built mosques over graves. This is the reality, and this is different from what al-Walid did. This is a great difference. Yes.
The presenter: So, is it better to stay away from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) and leave things as they are?
The Shaykh: This is the reason, this is the reason that made people leave things as they are, out of fear of a fitnah that would arise among people due to their suspicion of the one who removed it, thinking that he intended by this to belittle the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his two companions, or that he intended by it some other matter that may not be understood in the Shari'ah sense, and they may suspect him of something else. Perhaps this is the reason for which the previous states left it. Yes.
The presenter: So, does Your Eminence see that a war of ideas might be waged by the enemies of Islam against the Muslims if...
The Shaykh: It might be a war of ideas and also a non-ideological war. This might be among the causes of some of the fitnahs that some people create for the most trivial reasons, so how... and this is a matter concerning the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his two companions? Most of creation do not have sufficient knowledge and sufficient insight in these matters; rather, they believe that building over graves and making mosques over them is religion and a means of drawing near to Allah. Indeed, some of them, and many of them, see that making du'a' to the dead and calling for aid from the dead is religion and a means of drawing near to Allah. We ask Allah for safety.
The presenter: May Allah bless you. Perhaps Your Eminence would remind the honorable listeners of what our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to 'A'ishah regarding the Ka'bah?
The Shaykh: Yes, it is an authentic hadith. When it was said to him (peace and blessings be upon him) about the Hajar Isma'il, he said: So he left the rebuilding of the Ka'bah and included the Hajar in it out of fear of fitnah (peace and blessings be upon him), so he left it as it was. Yes.
The presenter: Okay, so this is close to this.
The Shaykh: This is of the same kind as this, of the same type as this. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.