The Islamic Hotline Phone _______ was created in Egypt __ the year 2000 with ___ vision of becoming the _____'_ foremost source of information ___ centrist Islamic teachings utilizing ___ mediums of telephone, and ___ internet..
Home Q & A About us FAQ Advertise Contact us   URDU Arabic
 

 

Q & A --> Innovation (bid‘a) --> The Ruling of Traveling to Visit the Grave of the Prophet (upon him be peace)

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