4.3. TAKING GRAVES AS PLACES OF WORSHIP
Ibn Mas‘oud reported that the Prophet said, “The most evil of mankind are those who will be alive when the Last Day arrives and those who take graves as places of worship.” Jundub ibn ‘Abdillaah reported that five days before the Prophet’s death he heard him say, “Those before you took the graves of their prophets as places of worship. Do not take graves as places of worship for verily I forbid you to do so.” After understanding clearly from the previous Hadeeth That taking graves as places of worship is forbidden by the Prophet, it is necessary to define exactly what is meant by the phrase “Taking graves as places of worship.” There are three possible meanings which can be deduced from the phrase in Arabic:
1. Making Prayer or Sujood (prostration) on or Towards a Grave. Praying on the grave is forbidden explicitly in Ibn ‘Abbaas’ Hadeeth in which the Prophet said, “Do not pray towards graves nor on them ” as well as the Hadeeth Narrated by Abu Marthad mentioned earlier.
2. Building a Masjid over a Grave or Putting a Grave in a Masjid. Building masjids over graves is forbidden by Umm Salamah’s hadeeth in which the Prophet explained that those who build places of worship over graves are the most evil of creation in Allaah’s sight. Placing a grave in a masjid was also forbidden according to ‘Aa’eshah interpretation of the Prophet’s final statement, “May Allah curse a people who take their Prophets’ graves as masjids.” When the suggestion was made to bury the Prophet in his masjid, she opposed it based on the Prophet’s last words.
3. Praying in a masjid containing a grave, Praying in a masjid built over a grave is forbidden, because it is a natural consequence of the prohibition placed on building masjids over graves. The prohibition of a path necessarily prohibits
what is at the end of the path. For example, the Prophet forbade wind and stringed musical instruments (ma‘aazif). Abu Maalik al-Ash‘aree reported that he heard the Prophet say, “There will be among my followers those who make allowable (halaal) fornication and adultery, the wearing of silk (for men), taking intoxicants, and musical instruments (ma‘aazif).”Both the playing of these instruments and listening to music are automatically prohibited as they are the purposes for which musical instruments are made. Similarly, neither the prohibition on building masjids over graves not the order to build them elsewhere is aimed at the act of construction, for building is in itself permissible. It is, in fact, aimed at the performance of salaah in them, which is the purpose for which they are built. Thus, the prohibition of building masjids on graves automatically implies the prohibition of salaah in such masjids.
By Bilal Philips
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