Does “graveyard” here mean land designated for graves, even if no one has yet been buried in it, or does it mean land in which someone has actually been buried?

The answer is that it means land in which someone has been buried. If there is a piece of land purchased to serve as a graveyard but no one has been buried there, prayer performed there is valid. But once someone has been buried in it, prayer there is not valid, because all of it is then called a graveyard.

The basic principle is that prayer is valid on all land, due to the Prophet’s statement: “The earth has been made for me a place of prayer and a means of purification.” (1) Therefore, evidence must be brought for places in which prayer is not valid.

If someone asks, “What is the evidence that prayer is invalid in a graveyard?”

We say: The evidence is as follows:

First: The Prophet’s statement: “The entire earth is a place of prayer except for the graveyard and the bathhouse.” (2) This is an exception, and an exception establishes the generality of the ruling.

Second: The Prophet’s statement: “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians: they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.” (3) Here, “places of worship” may have a broader meaning than a constructed building, for it may refer to a place upon which a structure is built, or to a place that is taken as