Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
I, Ahmad Khan, am writing from Phuladiyon, Sindh province. There is a problem: some people say that when Ahl-e-Hadith do not accept qul, khatam, chehlum and similar practices, what do they do when they go to the graveyard? That is to say, what was the practice of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he went to the graveyard?
Is reciting the Quran at a graveyard also prohibited?
People say: are you also against reciting the Quran and gifting (its reward) to the deceased?
The Answer:
والسلام وليكم ورحمته الله وبركاته، اما بعد:
There are several purposes for going to the graveyard.
➊ It is the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. He ﷺ used to go to the graveyard and make supplications for the dead. Sayyida Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) says:
حتي جاء البقيع فقام، فأطال القيام ، ثم رفع يديه ثلاث مرات، ثم انحرف فانحرفت. . .
“Until he came to al-Baqi’ (the graveyard of Madinah) and stood, and he stood for a long time. Then he raised his hands three times (in supplication). Then he turned and I turned as well. . .”
Then the Prophet ﷺ told his beloved wife Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) that Jibril (peace be upon him) came to him and said: your Lord commands you to go to the people of al-Baqi’ (their graves) and seek forgiveness for them.
It is narrated from Abdullah bin Abi Mulaykah (a trustworthy jurist of the Tabi’un) that:
أن عائشة أقبلت ذات يوم من المقابر، فقلت لها: يا أم المؤمنين من أين أقبلت؟ قالت: من قبر أخي عبدالرحمن بن أبى بكر، فقلت لها: أليس كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم نهي عن زيارة القبور؟ قالت: نعم كان نهي ثم أمر بزيار تها
Once Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) came back from the graveyard, and I asked her: O Mother of the Believers, where have you come from? She said: from the grave of my brother Abdur Rahman bin Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). I said to her: Did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ not prohibit visiting graves? She said: Yes, he prohibited it, then he commanded visiting them.
From this hadith two matters are established.
First: the ruling prohibiting visiting graves has been abrogated.
Second: it is permissible for women to visit the graves of their close relatives occasionally.
A summary of a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (1283) is that the Prophet ﷺ saw a woman weeping beside (her child’s) grave and advised her to be patient (but he did not forbid her from coming to the grave).
See:
Warning (1):
It is prohibited for women to visit graves frequently, as narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that:
أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لعن زوارات القبور
“Verily the Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed the women who visit graves excessively.”
Warning (2):
It is prohibited for women to visit the graves of non-relatives (strangers). A summary of a hadith in Sunan Abi Dawud is that the Prophet ﷺ, (to teach his ummah), said to his beloved daughter Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her): if you had gone as far as the Kudi (graveyard)… Then he spoke harsh words.
The narrator of this hadith, Rabi’ah bin Sayf, is trustworthy and truthful according to the majority of muhaddithun.
See:
From this hadith with its severe warning it is established that it is prohibited for women to go to the graves of unrelated men.
In Sahih Muslim the Prophet ﷺ said:
فزورو القبور فإنها تذكر كم الموت
“So visit the graves, for verily it reminds you of death.”
It is narrated from Buraydah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
ونهيتكم عن زيارة القبور فمن أراد أن يزور فليزر ولا تقولو اهجرا
“I had forbidden you from visiting graves; so whoever wishes to visit, let him visit, and do not say hajr (futile things).”
➋ Going to the graveyard refreshes the remembrance of death and the Hereafter. A person gains admonition and lesson, as has already passed.
➌ Visiting the graveyard is a means of making supplication for forgiveness for the deceased Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ (at times) would go to the Baqi’ al-Gharqad graveyard in Madinah during the last part of the night and make this supplication: “اللھم اغفر لأ ھل بقیع الغرقد” — O Allah, forgive the people of Baqi’ al-Gharqad.
For detailed evidences, see the book “Kitab al-Janaiz” and other works of the eminent muhaddith Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him).
In brief: Ahl al-Sunnah, that is Ahl al-Hadith, visit graveyards, make supplication for the deceased, and remember the Hereafter and death. In this way the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is also acted upon. Ahl al-Hadith do not perform false actions (actions opposing the Book and the Sunnah) at graves, nor do they say false things there. Supplicating to the dead at graves, presenting them before Allah as a means (tawassul), performing shirkī and bid’ī acts toward the dead, laying cloths on graves, holding qul and chehlum, reciting the Quran and gifting its reward to the dead, and similar practices have no proof from the Quran, Hadith, consensus, or the narrations of the righteous predecessors. Therefore all these acts are false, and Ahl al-Hadith completely abstain from them.
You may go and observe the shirkī acts and the practices contrary to the Book and the Sunnah being performed at graves, so that you can personally refute these grave-worshippers. Regarding the grave-worship of these people, Allamah Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (died 911 AH), after establishing the chapter “The origin of idol worship” (أصل عبادة الأوثان), writes:
و لهذا تجد أقواما كثيرة من الضالين يتضرعون عند قبر الصالحين و يخشعون و يتذللون و يعبدو نهم بقلوبهم عبادة لا يفعلو نها فى بيوت الله المساجد ، بل ولا فى الأسحار بين يدي الله تعالىٰ و يرجون من الصلوة عندها و الدعاء مالا يرجو نه فى المساجد التى تشد إليها الرحال
And for this reason you see that many misguided peoples supplicate at the graves of righteous people, humbling themselves, showing humility and abasement, and they worship them in their hearts with a worship they do not perform in the houses of Allah, the mosques, nor even in the pre-dawn hours before Allah the Exalted. At the graves and in prayer and supplication there, they hope for things they do not hope for even in the mosques to which journeys are undertaken (Masjid al-Haram, Masjid an-Nabawi and Masjid al-Aqsa).
It should also be remembered here that a sahih hadith establishes that travelling for special reward or blessing to any mosque or place other than the Masjid al-Haram, the Masjid an-Nabawi and the Masjid al-Aqsa is not established.
See:
Once Sayyidna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) went to Mount Sinai, and Sayyidna Basrah ibn Abi Basrah al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: “If I had known before you went, you would not have gone,” and then he narrated to him a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ.
See:
Ibn Hibban (Mawarid al-Zaman: 1024) has declared it sahih, and this narration, with some of its text, is found in brief in Sunan Abi Dawud (1046), Sunan al-Tirmidhi (491, he said: hasan sahih), Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah (1738), and al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim (1/278, 279; he declared it sahih on the condition of the two Shaykhs, and al-Dhahabi agreed).
It is thus known that travelling to Mount Sinai to seek reward is not permissible, so travelling to graves is also not permissible.
For this reason Shah Waliullah al-Dihlawi al-Hanafi (died 1176 AH) writes:
و الحق عندي أن القبر و محل عبادة ولي من أولياء الله و الطور كل ذلك سواء فى النهي، والله أعلم
“And in my view the truth is that the grave, the place of worship of any of the saints of Allah, and Mount Sinai are all equal in the prohibition, and Allah knows best.”
Say to these people that there is no proof in the Quran or Hadith for the custom of qul, the mullah’s khatm sharif, chehlum and similar practices.
Reciting the Quran and gifting it to the dead is also not established by any evidence, since the verse:
﴿وَاَنْ لَّيْسَ لِلانْسَانِ اِلَّا مَا سَعٰي﴾
“Man will have only what he strives for”
establishes that the reward of the Quran does not reach the dead.
Hafiz Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (died 774 AH) writes:
و من هذه الآيه الكريمة استنبط الشافعي رحمه الله ومن اتبعه أن القراء ة لا يصل اهداء ثوابها إلى الموتي لأ نه ليس من عملهم ولا كسبهم ولهذا لم يندب إليه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أمته ولا حثهم عليه ولا أرشدهم إليه بنص ولا إ يماء ولم ينقل ذلك عن أحد من الصحابة رضي الله عنهم ولو كان خيرا السبقونا إليه. . .
“From this noble verse, Imam al-Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) and those who followed him deduced that the reward of recitation does not reach the dead by gifting it to them, because it is not from their deeds or their earnings. For this reason the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not encourage his ummah to it, nor urge them to it, nor guide them to it by explicit text or allusion, and no such thing is narrated from any one of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. Had it been good, they would have preceded us to it.”
It is hoped that you now understand this matter.
ان شا ء الله وما علينا إلا البلاغ
(9 Rabi’ al-Awwal 1426 AH)
