8/7/2019 Visiting Graves and Reciting Quran There
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Sayyeda- Canada
Title Visiting Graves and Reciting Quran There
Question As-Salamu alaykum. A friend of mine keeps on
visitingher cousin's grave saying that she is trying to deal
with
the loss of such a close relative. My question is, doesIslam
advise and encourage people to visit graves andrecite the Quran
there?
Date 23/Nov/2004
Name ofCounsellor
Ahmad Kutty
Topic Funerals
Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings
be upon His Messenger.
Sister, we really do appreciate your question, which shows how
interested you are in becoming wellacquainted with Islam and its
teachings. May Allah bless your efforts in the pursuit of
knowledge!
Regarding your question, it should be clear that Islam does
encourage visiting the graves since it remindspeople of the
hereafter. When visiting the graves, a person is to make
du`aa(supplication) for the deadand seek Allahs forgiveness for
them.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior
lecturer and Islamic scholar at theIslamic Institute of Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, states:
Visiting graves is a recommended sunnah of the Prophet (peace
and blessings be upon him), who said,In the past, I had forbidden
you earlier from visiting graves, but now you can do so, for
ithelps to remind you of the hereafter. In other words, in the
early days of Islam, Muslims were toldnot to visit graves, because
of the fear ofshirk, as the Arabs had been closer to their pagan
ways, for theyhad been in the habit of worshiping idols, statues,
and graves, etc. But after Islamic creed oftawheed (theOneness of
Allah) had become rooted and people had imbibed the true lessons of
Islam, there was no fearof Muslims reverting to the practice of
worshiping graves; hence the above prohibition was lifted and
theMuslims were allowed to visit graves.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), however, did not
merely allow them to visit graves, butalso went a step further to
encourage them to do so because of the obvious benefits associated
with it:First, it reminds them of their final resting place;
second, it helps people remember their dead ones andoffer prayers
for them. Allah tells us in the Quran that the true believers are
those who supplicate to Allahsaying, [Our Lord, forgive us and our
brothers who have preceded us in faith and do not allowfor any
rancour in our hearts towards the believers; our Lord you are Full
of Pity, Merciful] (Al-Hashr 59:10).
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) demonstrated the
sunnah of visiting graves through hisown practice. We are told that
he used to visit the graves of his Companions who had passed away
andprayed for them. Once when `Aishah, the beloved wife of the
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),saw him returning from
the graveyard, she inquired, If I were to visit the graves, what
should I say?Then he told her, Pray: Greetings of peace to you, the
faithful residing in these dwellings. Surelywe will be joining you
soon. May Allah forgive us and you and all the Muslims.
So you need not object to your cousin if she does not go
overboard with her visits; it is fine andrecommended so long as she
does not trespass any of the limits of the Shari`ah while visiting
graves.Such violations include mourning for more than three days
for anyone other than a husband, indulging inwailing and
lamentations. We are, however, allowed to pray for them on a
regular basis and invoke Allahs
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