Taken from: Fatawa Ameenpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri
What is the Islamic ruling on performing Ṭawāf (circumambulation) around graves?
✔ Circumambulating (ṭawāf) around graves is strictly forbidden (nā-jāʾiz) and a clear innovation (bid‘ah) in Islam.
✖ It is a form of unlawful reverence that resembles the ṭawāf of the Kaʿbah, which is a purely Islamic ritual exclusively for the House of Allah.
❖ Imām al-Ālūsī (رحمه الله, d. 1270 AH) states:
“I have seen people performing acts of ignorance at the graves of the so-called saints. They raise the graves, build them with bricks and lime, hang lamps upon them, pray facing them, perform ṭawāf around them, kiss them, gather there at specific times, and other such acts...”
They take false evidence from verses of the Qur’an and stories such as that of the People of the Cave (Aṣḥāb al-Kahf), where a king supposedly celebrated an annual festival and preserved them in a wooden casket.
“All of this is against Allah and His Messenger and is the invention of a religion for which Allah has given no permission.”
(Rūḥ al-Ma‘ānī: 15/239)
According to al-Ālūsī and others, these actions at graves are innovations and sinful:
✖ Performing ṭawāf around graves is a prohibited act that has no basis in the Sunnah.
✔ It is considered a religious innovation (bid‘ah) and a form of wrongful veneration.
The only place where ṭawāf is prescribed is the Kaʿbah in Makkah, and doing it elsewhere, especially at graves, is a clear deviation from the teachings of Islam.
❖ Question:
What is the Islamic ruling on performing Ṭawāf (circumambulation) around graves?
❖ Answer:
✔ Circumambulating (ṭawāf) around graves is strictly forbidden (nā-jāʾiz) and a clear innovation (bid‘ah) in Islam.
✖ It is a form of unlawful reverence that resembles the ṭawāf of the Kaʿbah, which is a purely Islamic ritual exclusively for the House of Allah.
✿ Statement of Scholars:
❖ Imām al-Ālūsī (رحمه الله, d. 1270 AH) states:
“I have seen people performing acts of ignorance at the graves of the so-called saints. They raise the graves, build them with bricks and lime, hang lamps upon them, pray facing them, perform ṭawāf around them, kiss them, gather there at specific times, and other such acts...”
They take false evidence from verses of the Qur’an and stories such as that of the People of the Cave (Aṣḥāb al-Kahf), where a king supposedly celebrated an annual festival and preserved them in a wooden casket.
“All of this is against Allah and His Messenger and is the invention of a religion for which Allah has given no permission.”
(Rūḥ al-Ma‘ānī: 15/239)
❖ Why Grave-Ṭawāf is Forbidden:
- Ṭawāf is an act of worship that has been legislated only for the Kaʿbah, not for any person, grave, or shrine.
- Performing ṭawāf at graves imitates polytheistic rituals and compromises Tawḥīd (Islamic monotheism).
- It opens the door to shirk (associating partners with Allah), as people begin to believe in the intercession, power, or divine proximity of the person buried in the grave.
✖ Additional Innovations at Graves (Condemned by Scholars):
According to al-Ālūsī and others, these actions at graves are innovations and sinful:
- Raising and decorating the graves
- Plastering or fortifying them with bricks
- Hanging lights or lamps
- Praying towards the grave
- Touching or kissing the grave
- Appointing annual gatherings or festivals
Conclusion:
✖ Performing ṭawāf around graves is a prohibited act that has no basis in the Sunnah.
✔ It is considered a religious innovation (bid‘ah) and a form of wrongful veneration.
The only place where ṭawāf is prescribed is the Kaʿbah in Makkah, and doing it elsewhere, especially at graves, is a clear deviation from the teachings of Islam.