Ruling on Placing Flowers on Graves
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Question:
What is the ruling on placing flowers on graves?
Answer:
Placing flowers or spreading sheets on the graves of saints and righteous people is a remnant of non-Arab traditions and a reprehensible innovation (bidʿah). This act is in direct opposition to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the Companions رضي الله عنهم, and the pious predecessors رحمهم الله.
If there were any religious benefit or merit in this act, the Prophet ﷺ would have guided towards it, and the Salaf would have practiced it. However, Shayṭān strives to legitimize such actions, aiming to turn graveyards into centers of shirk and innovation, filling the silence of the resting places with noise, pomp, and sinful practices. People then begin to offer vows and sacrifices in the name of graves, organize fairs and gatherings, and hold sessions of music and polytheistic poetry, all to keep people attached to the graves.
Innovation means going ahead of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. The Salaf رحمهم الله detested it and severely condemned it.
❀ Al-ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله (751 AH) states:
The pious predecessors and the Imams of the religion strongly refuted innovations. They warned people greatly against the trials of the innovators. Their opposition to innovations was more severe than their opposition to immorality and oppression because the harm and damage to the religion caused by innovation is far greater than that of other sins.
(Madārij al-Sālikīn 1/372)
When Shayṭān sees people being advised to avoid innovations, he joins the very ones being warned, fabricates arguments for them, and puts them into their mouths. The ignorant then assume the innovation to be part of the religion. Often, these arguments are based on general evidences. But it should be understood that had these innovations truly been established by such proofs, the Prophet ﷺ, his Companions, and the Tābiʿīn would have clarified and practiced them.
❀ Al-ʿAllāmah al-Shāṭibī رحمه الله (790 AH) states:
Those who interpret such meanings and adopt these innovative paths are of two kinds: either they acquired an understanding of Sharīʿah that the Salaf did not possess, or they themselves fell into error. Clearly, the second is true, for the Salaf were upon the straight path. The arguments used by the innovators were also known to the Salaf, who understood and acted upon them. Since they neither saw these innovations in them nor practiced them, it is certain that the innovators’ interpretations are false.
The consensus of the Salaf against such practices proves that the innovators are mistaken in both reasoning and action, and they are in opposition to the Sunnah. If asked whether the meanings they extract from the texts were known to the Salaf, they would be forced to admit no. If they say yes, then why did the Salaf refrain from such actions? To claim that the Salaf collectively erred is absurd and rejected by both reason and revelation.
Hence, any act contrary to the way of the Salaf is undoubtedly misguidance.
(Al-Muwāfaqāt 3/73)
