and he taught his Companions to say when they visited the graves: “Peace be upon you, inhabitants of this dwelling, people of faith. God willing, we shall soon join you. May Allah show mercy to those of you who preceded us and those who follow later. We ask Allah to grant you wellbeing. O Allah, reward them, do not test us after them, and forgive us and them.” 1

Now, in al-Baqīʿ lie Ibrāhīm, his daughters Umm Kulthūm and Ruqayyah, and the foremost woman of all creation, Fāṭimah. One of them was buried there long ago, shortly after the Battle of Badr; yet none of these reprehensible innovations was ever practiced at the graves of those honored ones. What is prescribed is simply to greet them and to supplicate—asking forgiveness and other forms of prayer on their behalf.

The same applies to him ﷺ: he commanded that blessings and peace be invoked upon him both from near and far, saying, “Increase your prayers upon me on Friday and the night before Friday, for your prayers are presented to me.” They asked, “How will our prayers be presented to you when you have decayed?”—meaning that your body would have decomposed. He replied, “Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the prophets.” 2

He also said, “No person passes by the grave of someone he used to know in this world and offers him greetings except that Allah restores his soul so that he may return the greeting.” 3