Section: On the Prohibition of Performing Other Acts of Worship at Graves

It has already been established that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—forbade turning graves(1) into places of prayer, praying at them, or treating them as recurring festivals, and that he implored Allah that his own grave never be taken as an idol to be worshipped.

We have also clarified that making a site an “ʿEid” means habitually visiting it for worship or any other purpose. The specific prohibition against praying at or toward graves has already been cited, together with the injunction to offer greetings to the deceased and to supplicate for them.

We likewise discussed a person’s supplication for himself at the graveside, distinguishing between visiting it expressly for supplication and supplicating only incidentally while there. To complete the discussion we must address the remaining acts of worship, and the ruling concerning all of them(2) is the same as for supplication: there is no added merit in remembering Allah there, or reciting Qur’an at the grave, or fasting there, or slaughtering an animal there, over performing these acts in any other location; indeed, intentionally doing so at graves is not recommended. I know of no Muslim scholar who maintains that dhikr, fasting, or Qur’an recitation at graves is superior to carrying out these practices elsewhere.

As for what some people claim—that the deceased benefits from hearing the Qur’an(3) when it is recited beside the grave, unlike when it is recited elsewhere—if by this(4) they mean that the reward reaches him when it is recited