Question :
A question was asked about traveling to visit the honoured grave [i.e. that of the Prophet], and the use of graves as mosques.
Fatwa in Brief: Traveling to visit the grave of
the Prophet (upon him be peace), the use of graves as
mosques, building mosques on graves, praying at graves,
or burying the dead in mosques, is not permitted.
Shaykh Ibn Jebrin, Fatawa fil-Tawhid 23-25
Response:
The honoured grave [that of the Prophet] is the most
desirable grave to visit [thus it is permitted to do
so]; and using graves as mosques means orienting one’s
worship towards them, and towards those that are buried
there.
Commentary:
Visiting the grave of the Prophet (upon him be peace),
or, more correctly speaking, visiting him in his grave,
involves a Muslim visiting the most honoured of graves.
Regarding other graves, [it is also permitted to visit]
the Madinan mosque, as it is close to the honored grave
[of the Prophet]. The aim of the visitor is to glorify
the man who is buried in this spot; it is not to glorify
the local itself.
Visiting the Prophet (upon him be peace) requires going
to his mosque. The Prophet (upon him be peace) attached
blessings to this act when he said: “Prayers performed
in my mosque are better than a thousand prayers
performed in any other place, except the Haram mosque”.
It is thus recommended (mustahab) that Muslims
visit the graves of the Prophet (upon him be peace) and
those of the righteous.
In Al-Shifa‘
fi’l-Ta‘rif bi Huquq al-Mustafa,
Al-Qadi ‘Iyad includes a report attributed to Imam Malik
ibn Anas. According to this, Abu Ja‘far al-Mansur
disputed with Malik in the mosque of the Prophet (upon
him be peace). Malik told him [Abu Ja‘far]: O Commander
of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu’minin) do not raise
your voice in this mosque! For, as God says to the
people:
“Lift not up your voices
above the voice of the Prophet, nor shout when speaking
to him as ye shout one to another, lest your works be
rendered vain while ye perceive not”.
(Q. 49: 2)
And He advises the people
further, by saying:
“Lo! They who subdue their
voices in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, those
are they whose hearts Allah hath proven unto
righteousness. Theirs will be forgiveness and immense
reward”. (Q. 49:
3)
Others He critises:
“Lo! Those who call thee
from behind the private apartments, most of them have no
sense”. (Q. 49:4)
[Malik continued] We respect
the Prophet dead as we respected him alive. Abu Ja‘far
drew close to Malik, and replied: ‘O Abu ‘Abd Allah, do
I face the Qibla and pray, or do I face the Messenger of
God (upon him be peace)?’ He [Malik] replied, ‘why would
you take your face away from him, when he is the way to
God for both you and your father, Adam, on the Last Day?
Rather, you should face him [the Prophet] and ask for
his intercession, so that God relieves you of torment
[on the Last Day]’. God says:
“And if, when they are
wronged themselves, they had but come unto thee and
asked forgiveness of Allah, and the Messenger had asked
forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah
Forgiving, Merciful”. (Q. 4: 64)
Yet, while it is recommended
to visit the grave of the Prophet (upon him be peace)
and those of the righteous, Muslims must also be aware
of the prohibition against mistaking these graves to be
mosques, or [places for] celebrations. Many texts deal
with this matter. Among these are the Prophetic
hadiths: “May God curse the Jews and the Christians,
for they have taken the graves of their Prophets as
places of worship”; and “Do
not
let
my grave
become an
idol
that is
worshipped,
God’s wrath is immense
against those peoples who turn the
graves
of their
Prophets
into mosques”;
and “do not make your houses graves, and do not make my
grave a place of festivity. But invoke blessings on me,
for your blessings reach me wherever you may be”. Using
graves as houses means
directing one’s worship to them, and to those residing
there, and this is illegal, worship is to be directed
only to God. This is the meaning behind the prohibition
against making graves into idols to be worshipped. For,
here, the meaning of “mosque” is as a place of worship
involving prayer and other [mandatory or recommended
religious] acts. [Likewise] Taking a grave as a place of
celebration entails trying to draw close to God in
[certain festival seasons] and times.
Dr. Yassir ‘Abd al-‘Azim