395- Issue: He said: (There is no harm in a man visiting the graveyards).
We do not know of any disagreement among the scholars regarding the permissibility of [a man visiting the graves] (1). Ali ibn Sa'id said: I asked Ahmad about visiting the graves; is leaving it better in your view, or visiting them? He said: Visiting them. It has been authentically reported from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) that he said: "I used to forbid you from visiting the graves, but [now] visit them, for they remind you of death." Narrated by Muslim (2). Al-Tirmidhi narrated it with the wording (3): "For they remind [one] of the Hereafter."
Section: When one passes by the graves or visits them, it is recommended that he say what Muslim (5) narrated on the authority of Buraydah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to teach them when they went out to the graveyards, and one of them would say: Peace be upon you, O inhabitants of the abodes among the believers and the Muslims. We, if Allah wills, will certainly join you (6). We ask Allah for us and for you for well-being. In the hadith of 'Aishah: And may Allah have mercy upon those of us who have gone before and those who come later (7). And in another hadith: O Allah, do not deprive us of their reward, and do not put us to trial after them (8). And if he [adds and says] (9): O Allah, forgive us and them, it is good.
(1) In the original: "a man visiting the graves," and in [I]: "his visiting them for men." (2) In: The Chapter on the Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) seeking permission from his Lord, the Almighty and Majestic, to visit his mother's grave, from the Book of Funerals; and in: The Chapter of Clarification of What Was [Initially] Forbidden Regarding Eating the Meat of Sacrificial Animals After Three [Days] at the Beginning of Islam and the Clarification of Its Abrogation, from the Book of Sacrificial Animals. Sahih Muslim 1/671, 672, 3/1564. Al-Tirmidhi, in: The Chapter on What Has Been Said Regarding the License to Visit Graves, from the Chapters of Funerals. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 4/274. It was also extracted by Abu Dawud, in: The Chapter on Visiting Graves, from the Book of Funerals; and in: The Chapter on Vessels, from the Book of Drinks. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/195, 298. Al-Nasa'i, in: The Chapter on Visiting Graves, and The Chapter on Visiting the Grave of a Polytheist, from the Book of Funerals; and in: The Chapter on Permission Regarding That, from the Book of Sacrificial Animals; and in: The Chapter on Permission Regarding Some of That, from the Book of Drinks. Al-Mujtaba 4/73, 74, 7/207, 8/278. Ibn Majah, in: The Chapter on What Has Been Said Regarding Visiting the Graves of Polytheists, from the Book of Funerals. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/501. Imam Malik, in: The Chapter on Storing the Meat of Sacrificial Animals, from the Book of Sacrificial Animals. Al-Muwatta 2/485. Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 2/441, 3/38, 63, 66, 237, 250, 5/350, 355-357, 359, 361. (3) Omitted from the Original, [M]. (4) In [A] and [M], there is an addition: "on the authority of". (5) In: The Chapter on What Is Said When Entering Graveyards and Supplicating for Their Inhabitants, from the Book of Funerals. Sahih Muslim 2/671. It was also extracted by Al-Nasa'i, in: The Chapter on the Command to Seek Forgiveness for the Believers, from the Book of Funerals. Al-Mujtaba 1/77. Ibn Majah, in: The Chapter on What Has Been Said Regarding What Is Said When One Enters the Graveyards, from the Book of Funerals. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/494. Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 5/353, 360.
