Is it correct to pray in mosques in which there are graves?
Praise be to Allaah.
Prayers should not be offered in mosques in which there are graves.
The graves should be dug up and the remains transferred to the public
graveyards, with each set of remains placed in an individual grave as
with all other graves. It is not permissible for graves to be left in
mosques, whether that is the grave of a wali ("saint") or of anyone
else, because the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) forbade that and warned against that, and he cursed the Jews and
Christians for doing that. It was narrated that he (peace and
blessings ofAllaah be upon him) said: "May Allah curse the Jews and
the Christians, for they took the graves of their Prophets as places
ofworship." 'Aa'ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said, "He was
warning against what they had done." Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1330,
Muslim, 529.
And when Umm Salamah and Umm Habeebah told him about a church in which
there were images, he (peace and blessings ofAllaah be upon him) said:
"When a righteous man died among them, they would build a place of
worship over his grave and put those images in it. They are the most
evil of mankind before Allaah." (Saheeh, agreed upon. Al-Bukhaari,
427; Muslim, 528)
And he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Those who
came before you took the graves of their Prophets and righteous people
as places of worship. Do not take graves as places of worship – I
forbid you to do that." (Narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, 532,from
Jundab ibn 'Abd-Allaah al-Bajali). So the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade taking graves as places of
worship and he cursed those who do that, stating that they are the
most evil of mankind. So we must beware of that.
It is known that everyone who prays at a grave is taking it as a place
of worship, and whoever builds a mosque over a grave has taken it as a
place of worship. So we must keep graves far away from the mosques and
not put graves inside mosques, in obedience to the command of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and so as to avoid
the curse issued by our Lord against those who build places of worship
over graves, because when a person prays in a mosque in which there is
a grave, theShaytaan may tempt him to call upon the deceased or to
seek his help, or to pray to him or prostrate to him, thus committing
major shirk; and because this is the action of the Jews and Christians
and we are obliged to differ from them and to keep away from their
ways andtheir evil actions. But if the graves are ancient and a mosque
was built over them, then it should be knocked down, because this is
an innovated thing, as was stated by the scholars, and so as to avoid
the means that may lead to shirk. And Allaah is the Source of
strength.
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