Taken from: Fatawa Ameenpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri
❖ Question:
What is the ruling on reciting the opening and concluding verses of Surah Al-Baqarah at the grave after burial?
❖ Answer:
Reciting the opening and ending verses of Surah Al-Baqarah at the head or foot of the grave after burial is not proven from authentic sources.
The narrations commonly presented as evidence for this practice are weak (ḍa‘īf) and unreliable.
✿ Analysis of the Narrations:
① Narration of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḥajjāj:
He narrated from his father that he said:
“O my son, when I die, recite at my head the beginning and at my feet the end of Surah Al-Baqarah, for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say so.”
(Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr by al-Ṭabarānī: 19/220, Hadith 491; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 3/44)
✖ Chain is weak, as ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-ʿAlāʾ is unknown in status (majhūl al-ḥāl).
Only Imam Ibn Ḥibbān has declared him reliable, but no other scholar has confirmed this.
✔ Hafiz Ibn Hajar called him “maqbūl”, which indicates weakness unless supported.
(Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 3975)
② Narration attributed to Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما):
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Let the beginning of Surah Al-Baqarah be recited at his head and the end at his feet.”
(Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr by al-Ṭabarānī: 12/240, Hadith 13613)
✖ The chain is very weak:
- Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbdullāh al-Bābaltī is weak.
Declared weak by Ibn Hajar (Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb: 7585, Lisān al-Mīzān: 1/490) and Hāfiz al-Haythamī (Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 3/44)
- Ayyūb ibn Nahīk is also weak.
Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī: Munkar al-ḥadīth
Abū Ḥātim: Ḍaʿīf al-ḥadīth
(Al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl by Ibn Abī Ḥātim: 1/259)
✔ Thus, Ibn Hajar’s statement grading the chain as ḥasan in Fatḥ al-Bārī (3/184) is not reliable in light of these criticisms.
③ Mawqūf Report from Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما):
This narration also appears in Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī (4/56) in mawqūf form (as the statement of Ibn ʿUmar himself),
but still includes ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-ʿAlāʾ, making it weak due to the same defect.
④ Report from ʿĀmir al-Shaʿbī (رحمه الله):
“When a person from the Anṣār would die, they would recite the Qur’an around his grave.”
(Al-Amr bi al-Maʿrūf wa al-Nahy ʿan al-Munkar by al-Khallāl: 123; Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 3/236)
✖ Chain is very weak:
- Mujālid ibn Saʿīd is weak according to the majority.
His memory deteriorated in old age and he was known to accept prompted reports (talaqqin).
- Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth is a mudallis, and he has not clearly stated his hearing of the narration.
Ibn Hajar declared Mujālid to be weak.
(Fatḥ al-Bārī: 9/480)
❖ Final Verdict:
✔ There is no authentic evidence for reciting the opening and closing verses of Surah Al-Baqarah at the grave after burial.
✖ Such practice is not proven from the Sunnah.
✖ General recitation of the Qur’an in graveyards is also prohibited.
✅ Conclusion:
- The recitation of Surah Al-Baqarah at the grave, specifically its first and last verses, is based on weak and unreliable narrations.
- It is not part of the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ or his companions.
- Therefore, it should be avoided, and no religious significance should be attributed to this practice.
