over them.” (1) The basic principle regarding a prohibition is that it denotes forbiddance. Moreover, this is a means leading to shirk, for when structures are built over graves, they come to be venerated, and in the end they may even be worshipped besides Allah. Satan draws mankind from minor matters to major ones, and from major sins to disbelief.

Thus, the correct view is that plastering graves and building over them are forbidden.

Some later scholars have said that, by “disliked” here, the jurists meant prohibitively disliked. But this is not accepted, because it runs contrary to their terminology.

“Writing upon it; sitting and walking upon it; leaning against it; and it is forbidden to bury two or more in it except out of necessity . . .”

His statement, “and writing,” means writing on the grave, whether one writes on the stone erected over it or on the grave itself. This is because it leads to its veneration, and venerating graves may lead a person to shirk.

The apparent meaning of the author’s words, may Allah have mercy on him, is that writing is disliked, even where it is needed—for example, to identify the occupant of the grave—in order to ward off harm.

Our Shaykh, Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa‘di, may Allah have mercy on him, said: What is meant by writing is what people used to do in the pre-Islamic period: inscriptions of praise and commendation. This is what entails the prohibited matter. As for writing merely for identification, it is not disliked.

His statement, “and sitting and walking upon it,” means that sitting on the grave is disliked—according to the author’s view—with discouraging disapproval.

The correct view is that it is forbidden.