Narrated `Aisha and `Abdullah bin `Abbas: When the disease of Allah's Apostle got aggravated, he covered his face with a Khamisa, but when he became short of breath, he would remove it from his face and say, "It is like that! May Allah curse the Jews Christians because they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship." By that he warned his follower of imitating them, by doing that which they did.
Explanation & Benefits
Maulana Dawood Raz
Hadith Commentary:
More wretched than the Jews and Christians are those Muslims who have adorned the graves of saints and ascetics, turning them into shops, and there they make people prostrate and present petitions, hang requests, and offer votive offerings.
These people perform these acts from outside the grave, while those saints inside the graves send curses upon them, because all these saints were followers of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and acted according to his will. Indeed, these worshippers of graves are, in the sight of Allah, polytheists and accursed, no matter how much they pray or perform pilgrimage.
Never be among those people who deceive Allah with a prostration and the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) with a salutation.
Source: Sahih Bukhari: Commentary by Maulana Dawood Raz, Page: 5816
Shaykh Abdul Sattar al-Hammad
Hadith Commentary:
(1)
Among us, there is also a category of Muslims who, like the Jews and Christians, have adorned the graves of saints and turned them into shops. There, they make people prostrate, hang petitions, and offer votive offerings (niyaz).
These people are running their business on the graves, while the saint inside the grave is sending curses upon them.
Such people are accursed in the sight of Allah, even if they are pilgrims (hajis) and those who perform prayers.
(2)
Imam Bukhari rahimahullah has established from this hadith that the "khameesah"—that is, a black blanket with designs—can be used, as the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam covered himself with it in his final moments.
Source: Hidayat al-Qari: Commentary on Sahih Bukhari, Urdu, Page: 5816
Shaykh Abdul Sattar al-Hammad
Hadith Commentary:
In this hadith, a characteristic of the Children of Israel—the Jews and Christians—has been described: they turned the graves of their prophets and righteous people into places of worship.
The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) also said:
“Do not gather around my grave in crowds, nor create an atmosphere of festivity upon it.”
As Allama Hali has said:
Do not make my grave your idol.
Alas! The so-called Muslims have done exactly with graves and shrines what the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) had forbidden, and by acting in accordance with the warning expressed in the hadith, they have brought about their own ruin.
Source: Hidayat al-Qari: Commentary on Sahih Bukhari, Urdu, Page: 3454
Shaykh Abdul Sattar al-Hammad
Hadith Commentary:
The Jews and Christians used to prostrate at the graves of their prophets and, out of reverence, would make them their qiblah (direction of prayer). Therefore, Muslims have been prohibited from this practice.
In fact, another hadith further clarifies this matter.
Umm Habibah (radi Allahu anha) mentioned to the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) a church she had seen in Abyssinia, in which there were also images.
The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
“It was their custom that when a righteous man among them died, they would build a mosque over his grave and place images in it.
On the Day of Resurrection, these people will be the worst of all creatures in the sight of Allah.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Salat, Hadith: 434)
Source: Hidayat al-Qari: Commentary on Sahih Bukhari, Urdu, Page: 4444
Shaykh Abdul Sattar al-Hammad
Hadith Commentary:
➊
Building mosques over graves and making them places of worship is excess (ifrat), and disrespecting them by unnecessarily exhuming them is negligence (tafrit).
The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade both excess and negligence.
In these hadiths, the excess of the Jews and Christians regarding graves is described.
Imam Bukhari (rahimahullah) did not establish a separate chapter heading for these hadiths, because they are a result or supplement of the previous chapter.
The common point in these hadiths is that making graves equivalent to mosques is prohibited.
Imam Bukhari (rahimahullah) expresses the reprehensibility of this act, stating that it is extremely blameworthy, whether images are kept in them or not.
(Fath al-Bari: 1/689)
One reason for not mentioning a heading could also be that the dislike for prayer in the worship places of Jews and Christians is due to the presence of statues and images there; otherwise, in principle, prayer is permissible everywhere. The real reason for prohibition is the presence of evil and unlawful matters.
On this basis, this prohibition is not exclusive to the worship places of Jews and Christians; rather, if such a situation arises in the mosques of Muslims as well, then praying in them will also not be free from dislike. For example:
If a grave is prominently maintained in a mosque.
It is as if Imam Bukhari (rahimahullah) wants to state that maintaining graves in mosques is just like the presence of images in the worship places of Jews and Christians.
Thus, a heading for these hadiths could be established in the following words:
(Bab Karahiyyat as-Salat fi al-Masajid allati fiha al-Qubur)
“Prayer is disliked in mosques in which graves are maintained.”
➋
There is an objection in the first hadith that both Jews and Christians are blamed for the polytheistic act, whereas in reality, the main culprits in making the graves of prophets places of prostration are the Jews. The Christians did not make any prophet’s grave a place of prostration because Isa (alayhis salam) was raised to the heavens and there was no occasion to make his grave, and after him until the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), no other prophet came. So, in these circumstances, what is the meaning of associating the Christians with the Jews in the crime of making the graves of the prophets places of prostration? There are several explanations for this as follows:
© After Isa (alayhis salam), prophets did come, but they were not messengers (rusul).
As some of the Hawariyyun were appointed for this task, as mentioned in Surah Yasin, verses 13 to 18.
Therefore, the blame for making the graves of prophets places of prostration can be directly attributed to them as well.
© In the hadith, along with the prophets (alayhim as-salam), the major followers are also intended.
As in the hadith of Sahih Muslim, it is stated that the Jews and Christians made the graves of their prophets and righteous people places of prostration.
This is why, in hadith number 434, when the Christians are specifically mentioned, reference is made to making the grave of a righteous person a place of prostration, and when in hadith number 436 the Jews are specifically mentioned, the making of the graves of prophets places of prostration is mentioned.
© Although the Jews were the ones who actually did this, the Christians followed them in this evil act, so both became partners in this curse.
The Jews as innovators (those who did it first),
and the Christians as followers (those who imitated the Jews).
(Fath al-Bari: 1/689)
➌
It is possible that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) narrated this hadith at the time when Umm Salamah (radi Allahu anha) and Umm Habibah (radi Allahu anha) related their eyewitness accounts regarding the Church of Marya in the land of Abyssinia, which was mentioned earlier in hadith 434, and during his final illness, he came to know through signs or revelation that the time of departure from this world was near. So he warned the ummah not to make his grave a place of festivity and supplicated to Allah: “O Allah! Do not make my grave an idol that is worshipped.”
(Musnad Ahmad: 2/246)
At that time, he also narrated this hadith as a precaution, lest such treatment be given to his grave.
But it is regrettable that the so-called Muslims of the present age, instead of respecting the last wish of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), are engaged in violating it. May Allah grant the government of Saudi Arabia and its officials the best reward for preventing people from performing unlawful acts at the blessed grave of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Even more regrettable is that from the innovators comes the demand that Madinah Munawwarah be declared an open city so that they may freely promote their innovations and superstitions there.
➍
If we examine the conduct of common Muslims in light of this hadith, it becomes clear that today the majority are determined to oppose the Prophetic hadith. For example, the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade praying at the graves of the prophets, yet Muslims consider worship at graves to be a source of blessing. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade building structures over graves, yet Muslims construct shrines and lodges over them and call them sanctuaries. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade lighting lamps at graves, yet Muslims make special arrangements for lamps and lights at graves.
The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade adding extra soil to graves, yet these people reinforce them with marble and ceramic tiles.
The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade writing on graves, yet our customary Muslims hang plaques containing Qur’anic verses and have the name of the deceased engraved, and today, even circumambulation (tawaf) of some graves and the performance of “rites of Hajj” there, similar to the Ka’bah, are carried out.
(hadahumullahu ta‘ala)
Source: Hidayat al-Qari: Commentary on Sahih Bukhari, Urdu, Page: 436
Hafiz Muhammad Ameen
704. Commentary:
➊ When making the graves of the Prophets into places of prostration (mosques) is an act worthy of curse, then how can it ever be permissible to do so with the graves of other people? In the next narration, the mention is of making the graves of righteous people into mosques. Thus, the Jews and Christians made both the graves of the Prophets and the graves of the righteous into mosques (places of worship), and in this way, they worshipped other than Allah, just as today a sect that calls itself Muslim is also following this very path. May Allah guide them.
➋ It is prohibited to send curses upon a specific individual, but it is permissible upon a particular characteristic, for example: "May Allah curse the thief." "May Allah's curse be upon those who make graves into mosques." Similarly, it is also permissible to curse someone whose dying upon disbelief is certain, for example: Pharaoh, Abu Jahl—may Allah curse them.
➌ The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was suffering from the intensity of burning fever, so he felt distress, but even at that time he did not neglect conveying the message. (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam)
Source: Sunan Nasa'i: Translation and Benefits by Shaykh Hafiz Muhammad Amin Hafizullah, Page: 704