Visiting the Grave

By Mukhdoom Shariq Raina in TAZKIRA AWLIYA E KASHMIR(R.A.)

Some people in this Present era believe that If somebody visits the graves of Pious people and take them as a means to Allah or seeks blessing through their relics, then this act is either Shirk or Biddah. Some even claim that this act wasn't done by Sahaba or in past centuries. Let us now see this in light of Quran and Hadith



...وَكَذَلِكَ أَعْثَرْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ لِيَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَأَنَّ السَّاعَةَ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهَا إِذْ يَتَنَازَعُونَ بَيْنَهُمْ أَمْرَهُمْ فَقَالُوا ابْنُوا عَلَيْهِم بُنْيَانًا رَّبُّهُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِهِمْ قَالَ الَّذِينَ غَلَبُوا عَلَى أَمْرِهِمْ لَنَتَّخِذَنَّ عَلَيْهِم مَّسْجِدًا


Quran states: Thus did We make their case known to the people, that they might know that the promise of Allah is true, and that there can be no doubt about the Hour of Judgment. Behold, they dispute among themselves as to their affair. (Some) said, "Construct a building over them": Their Lord knows best about them: those who prevailed over their affair said, "Let us surely build a place of worship over them." (18:21)


Imam Ibn Jarir (Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nhoimuhullah) writes in his Tafsir at Tabri:


فقال الـمشركون: نبنـي علـيهم بنـياناً، فإنهم أبناء آبـائنا، ونعبد الله فـيها، وقال الـمسلـمون: بل نـحن أحقّ بهم، هم منا، نبنـي علـيهم مسجداً نصلـي فـيه، ونعبد الله فـيه


Translation: The Mushrikeen said: We will build a building over it and worship Allah in it but the Muslims said: We have more right over them and we will surely “BUILD A MOSQUE” so that we can pray there and worship Allah. [Tafsir at-Tabri (15/149)


Mullah Ali Qari (Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nho) writes in detail and gives perfect clarification by saying:


أما من اتخذ مسجدا في جوار صالح أو صلى في مقبرة وقصد الإستظهار بروحه أو وصول أثر ما من أثر عبادته إليه لا للتعظيم له والتوجه نحوه فلا حرج عليه ألا ترى أن مرقد إسماعيل عليه السلام في المسجد الحرام عند الحطيم ثم أن ذلك المسجد أفضل مكان يتحرى المصلى لصلاته والنهي عن الصلاة في المقابر مختص بالقبور المنبوشة لما فيها من النجاسة كذا ذكره الطيبي وذكر غيره أن صورة قبر إسماعيل عليه السلام في الحجر تحت الميزاب وإن في الحطيم بين الحجر الأسود وزمزم قبر سبعين نبيا


Translation: Anyone who builds a mosque near the grave of an upright person or prays in the tomb (Maqbara) or intends to ask for help through the Ruh of that upright person or intends to seek barakah from his left overs, If he does all that without the intention of giving him Tazeem or doing tawajuh towards him ( in prayer) “Then there is nothing wrong in that, don't you see that Grave of Hadrat Ismail(A.S) is inside the Masjid ul Harram near the hateem and to Pray there is Superior than anything else ” however to pray near the graves is only forbidden when the soil becomes dirty because of Najasat of deceased… In the Hateem near Hajr al Aswad and Mizaab there are “Graves of 70 Prophets” [Mirqat, Sharh al Mishqaat, Volume No. 2, Page No. 202]


Imam Abu Hayyan al Andalusi (Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nho) said:


وروي أن التي دعت إلى البنيان كانت كافرة أرادت بناء بيعة أو مصنع لكفرهم فمانعهم المؤمنون وبنوا عليهم مسجداً


Translation: The person who told to make a building over them was a Kafir woman, she told to make a Church over them where deeds of Kufr can take place, however the momineen stopped her and made a Masjid over there instead [Tafsir Bahr al Muheet, Volume No. 7, Page No. 158]


Imam Qurtubi had also mentioned this in his Tafsir under 18:21


Allama Ibn Jawzi (Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nho) who is considered the most strict scholar and revered highly by Salafi Muslims, he states in his Tafsir under 18:21


قال ابن قتيبة: يعني المُطاعين والرؤساء، قال المفسرون: وهم الملك وأصحابه المؤمنون اتخذوا عليهم مسجداً


Translation: Ibn Qutayba (Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nho) said that the Mufasireen said: People who made Masjid were the (Muslim) King and his Momineen companions [Tafsir Zaad ul Maseer, Volume No. 5, Page No.124]



وعن ابن عمر أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال:

"في مسجد الخيف قبر سبعون نبياً".
رواه البزار ورجاله ثقات.


Translation: Narrated by Ibn Umar (RA) from Prophet (salallaho alaihi wasalam) who said: In (fi) the Mosque of al-Khayf there is Qabr of 70 Prophets (together) –- Imam al Haythami said that it is narrated by Al-Bazzar and “all its narrators are trustworthy” (i.e. Hadith is absolutely sahih) It is narrated by "Imam al-Haythami in Majma az Zawaid, Volume No. 3 Bab fi Masjid al Khayf, Hadith #5769"


These proofs establish from the Nass of Quran and Hadith that to build tombs over graves of Prophets and Saliheen is a righteous act. The Wahabiyyah declared vast majority of Muslims as Mushrikeen by saying that tombs are Naudhobillah Idol houses and that graves of righteous even the Prophet should be destroyed or flattened, they did this heinous act to the graves of many Sahaba who are buried in Jannat ul Baqi and Muala but due to Muslim pressure they were not able to do this to the blessed grave of Prophet (Peace be upon him)


Proof No:1


Let's settle the score on the issue of "SHAPE OF GRAVE" The great Hanafi Muhadith, Imam Muhammad Ibn al-Hassan Ash-Shaybani (Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nho) allocates a whole chapter to this with title:


“BUILDING A MOUND OVER THE GRAVE...”


Under it he brings the hadith


Abu Hanifa informed us from Hammad that Ibrahim said: Someone informed me that they had seen the grave of Prophet (Peace be upon him), the grave of Abu Bakr Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nho, and the grave of Umar Radhiyallaaho T`aalaa A`nho with “mounds on top of them protruding prominently from the gournd” and on them pieces of white clay.


Imam Muhammad said: We (Ahnaaf) adhere to this, the grave is marked with a prominent mound, but it is not to be made in the form of a square and that is the “Verdict of Abu Hanifa” [Kitab ul Athaar, Page No. 145, Published by Turath Publishing


The Wahabi sect claims that all graves should be flattened or destroyed, this is directly in opposition to Sunnah. The Hadith which they misuse refers to flattening the graves of Mushrikeen not momineen because the graves of Prophet, Abu Bakr, Umar and other sahaba is proven to be built in "MOUNDED SHAPE"