—narrated by Muslim. Al-Tirmidhī likewise recorded—and judged authentic—Jābir’s report that the Prophet said, “He forbade plastering graves, writing on them, and walking over them.” The reason is that such practices open the door to polytheism and attachment to shrines, for when the uninformed see a grave embellished and built up, they become devoted to it.

It is also unlawful to illuminate graves with electric lights or any other form of lighting, to build mosques upon them, or to perform prayer at them or in their direction. Women, moreover, are forbidden to visit graves, for the Messenger of Allah said, “Allah has cursed the women who habitually visit graves and those who erect mosques and lamps over them,” narrated in the Sunan collections. In the authentic collections he also said, “Allah has cursed the Jews and the Christians; they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.” Indeed, exalting graves by building over them and the like is the very root of idolatry in the world.