and to pray for the Muslim dead, asking that they be shown mercy and forgiven. Such a visit, moreover, must be undertaken without travel. If, however, one visits graves in order to seek barakah (blessing) from them, to request assistance, to have needs met or hardships removed by the dead, or if the visit involves travel, or if the visitor is a woman, then Shaykh al-Islām is by no means the only scholar who forbids it; every careful scholar, early and later, has ruled the same. This is because such a visit is either polytheistic or innovated, and the proofs of the Qur’an and Sunnah prohibit it. Consider his own words on the matter. He, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

“Visiting graves is of two kinds: one that is sanctioned and one that is innovated. The sanctioned visit aims to greet the deceased and pray for him, whether he is a prophet or someone else. Thus the Companions, when they visited the Prophet ﷺ, would send salām to him, supplicate for him, and then depart; none of them would stand at his grave to pray for himself. For that reason Mālik and others disliked doing so and deemed it a recently-invented bidʿah. The jurists therefore said: if, after offering salām, a person wishes to make duʿāʾ for himself, he should not face the grave but the qiblah. They differed, however, about the direction while giving salām: Abū Ḥanīfah held that one faces the qiblah, whereas Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī held that one faces the grave.

“This is because of the Prophet’s ﷺ statement, ‘O Allah, do not make my grave an idol that is worshipped,’ his statement, ‘Do not take my grave as a festival,’ and his statement, ‘May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians; they turned the graves of their prophets into places of worship,’ warning against what they did. He also said, ‘Those before you used to turn graves into places of worship. Beware—do not turn graves into places of worship, for indeed I forbid you to do so.’

“For this reason the early Muslims agreed that no grave—whether of a prophet or anyone else—is to be touched, rubbed, or kissed, that praying beside it is not recommended, and that it is not to be singled out as a place to make supplication either at it or through it. Such practices were among the causes that led to shirk and idol-worship, as Allah Most High said: ‘And they said, “Do not abandon your gods; do not abandon Wadd…’ (71:23).