Source: “Ahkam wa Masail in the Light of the Qur’an and Hadith”, Volume 02
Referenced from: Fatawa Thanaiyyah, Volume 1, Page 264
As-Salāmu ʿAlaikum wa Rahmatullāhi wa Barakātuh
Our mosque has been demolished, and we are now in severe distress and confusion. The issue before us is whether it is permissible to construct a mosque and offer prayers over a graveyard.
Bones have been unearthed from the land where we wish to rebuild, but they appear to be from graves buried around a year and a half ago. Can this land still be considered a graveyard, and is it permissible to build a mosque on it?
Also, it should be noted that at the time this mosque was initially built, there was no other mosque in the vicinity, and the former inhabitants were likely polytheists. Considering this, is constructing a mosque there still prohibited?
According to Islamic precedent, the land of Masjid Nabawi (Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah) was originally a graveyard used by the polytheists of Arabia. Despite this, it was not forbidden to establish the mosque there.
This case, therefore, forms a valid analogy:
→ Since the graves belonged to mushrikeen (polytheists), there is no sanctity or inviolability attached to their burial grounds.
This is supported by a historical example where the corpses of polytheists from a battle were thrown into a well filled with filthy water, and no honor or protection was afforded to them.
(Referenced in: Mishkāt, p. 345 — agreed upon Hadith)
However, the matter is entirely different for Muslims. The dead of the Ummah must be treated with dignity and sanctity, and their bodies and bones are not to be disrespected or disturbed.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
«كَسْرُ عَظْمِ الْمَيِّتِ كَكَسْرِهِ حَيًّا»
“Breaking the bone of a deceased person is like breaking it while he was alive.”
— (Abu Dawood, chain meets the criteria of Muslim; also narrated in Ibn Mājah from Umm Salamah with additional wording regarding the sin)
— (Bulūgh al-Marām, p. 40)
Another narration:
Sayyiduna ʿAmr ibn Hazm (رضي الله عنه) said:
“The Prophet ﷺ saw me leaning on a grave and said: ‘Do not harm the inhabitant of this grave.’”
— (Musnad Aḥmad, Mishkāt, p. 149)
Imam Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī said in Fatḥ al-Bārī: “Its chain is authentic.”
— (Tanfiʿ al-Ruwāt, p. 333)
▶ If the graves belonged to polytheists, and their bones were found, constructing a mosque on that land is not prohibited, as no sanctity is afforded to those graves.
▶ However, if the graves were of Muslims, and bones were discovered, it becomes absolutely forbidden to construct a mosque on such ground after exhuming and disturbing those remains.
Therefore, if the land contained Muslim graves—even if the bones were unearthed after a year and a half—it remains sacred, and building a mosque there is strictly impermissible.
والله تعالى أعلم بالصواب
And Allah, the Exalted, knows best what is correct.
Written by: Abu Saʿīd Sharf al-Dīn Dehlawi
(Fatawa Thanaiyyah, Volume 1, Page 264)
Referenced from: Fatawa Thanaiyyah, Volume 1, Page 264❖ Question:
As-Salāmu ʿAlaikum wa Rahmatullāhi wa Barakātuh
Our mosque has been demolished, and we are now in severe distress and confusion. The issue before us is whether it is permissible to construct a mosque and offer prayers over a graveyard.
Bones have been unearthed from the land where we wish to rebuild, but they appear to be from graves buried around a year and a half ago. Can this land still be considered a graveyard, and is it permissible to build a mosque on it?
Also, it should be noted that at the time this mosque was initially built, there was no other mosque in the vicinity, and the former inhabitants were likely polytheists. Considering this, is constructing a mosque there still prohibited?
❖ Answer:
According to Islamic precedent, the land of Masjid Nabawi (Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah) was originally a graveyard used by the polytheists of Arabia. Despite this, it was not forbidden to establish the mosque there.
This case, therefore, forms a valid analogy:
→ Since the graves belonged to mushrikeen (polytheists), there is no sanctity or inviolability attached to their burial grounds.
This is supported by a historical example where the corpses of polytheists from a battle were thrown into a well filled with filthy water, and no honor or protection was afforded to them.
(Referenced in: Mishkāt, p. 345 — agreed upon Hadith)
However, the matter is entirely different for Muslims. The dead of the Ummah must be treated with dignity and sanctity, and their bodies and bones are not to be disrespected or disturbed.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
«كَسْرُ عَظْمِ الْمَيِّتِ كَكَسْرِهِ حَيًّا»
“Breaking the bone of a deceased person is like breaking it while he was alive.”
— (Abu Dawood, chain meets the criteria of Muslim; also narrated in Ibn Mājah from Umm Salamah with additional wording regarding the sin)
— (Bulūgh al-Marām, p. 40)
Another narration:
Sayyiduna ʿAmr ibn Hazm (رضي الله عنه) said:
“The Prophet ﷺ saw me leaning on a grave and said: ‘Do not harm the inhabitant of this grave.’”
— (Musnad Aḥmad, Mishkāt, p. 149)
Imam Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī said in Fatḥ al-Bārī: “Its chain is authentic.”
— (Tanfiʿ al-Ruwāt, p. 333)
❖ Conclusion:
▶ If the graves belonged to polytheists, and their bones were found, constructing a mosque on that land is not prohibited, as no sanctity is afforded to those graves.
▶ However, if the graves were of Muslims, and bones were discovered, it becomes absolutely forbidden to construct a mosque on such ground after exhuming and disturbing those remains.
Therefore, if the land contained Muslim graves—even if the bones were unearthed after a year and a half—it remains sacred, and building a mosque there is strictly impermissible.
والله تعالى أعلم بالصواب
And Allah, the Exalted, knows best what is correct.
Written by: Abu Saʿīd Sharf al-Dīn Dehlawi
(Fatawa Thanaiyyah, Volume 1, Page 264)
