There is no difference between the burials taking place at the same time—such as when two funerals are brought and buried in one grave—or one funeral being buried today and the second tomorrow.

His statement, “except out of necessity,” refers to a situation in which the number of deceased is great while those available to bury them are few. In that case, there is nothing wrong with burying two or three men in a single grave.

The evidence for this is what the Prophet ﷺ did with the martyrs of Uhud: he instructed that two men be buried in one grave, saying, “See which of them knew more of the Quran, and place him first in the burial niche.” (1)

Some scholars held that burying more than two persons in one grave is mildly disliked.

They reasoned that mere practice does not indicate prohibition; that is, the mere fact that Muslims bury each funeral separately does not prove that burying more than one person is forbidden. Rather, it only indicates that departing from the practice of the Muslims is disliked.

Others held that it is better for each deceased person to be buried in his own grave, while combining them is neither disliked nor forbidden.

Abandoning a sunnah practice or what is better does not necessarily mean that a person has done something disliked, for what is disliked is genuinely prohibited, whereas abandoning what is better is not prohibited.

Thus, if a person were to omit the regular sunnah prayer before Zuhr, for example, we would not say that he has done