of the dead. It is well known that they enjoy an inviolable sanctity; they preceded us to that place and have now settled there, so the graves are their dwellings. Therefore it is unlawful to exhume them except for a legitimate purpose—one that benefits the deceased himself or wards off harm from him and the like. If the motive serves anyone else, whether living or dead, it is impermissible.

8 – Part of showing respect for graves and their occupants is not to walk among them with footwear, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Remove your two sabtiyyah (leather) sandals.” [Reported by Ibn Mājah (1568)].

Ibn al-Qayyim said: “Safeguarding graves from being trodden upon in shoes is one of the fine qualities of the Sharia. The Prophet ﷺ also said, ‘Sitting on a burning coal is better than sitting on a grave.’ Graves are the home and abode of the dead, the place where they visit one another, and upon them mercy from their Lord descends. They are the dwellings of the favored and the landing place of compassion. The deceased meet one another at the thresholds of their tombs, sit together, and exchange visits, as many reports confirm.” End of his words.

9 – The hadith is an explicit text prohibiting the breaking of a dead person’s bones, for it likens them to the bones of the living in sanctity and respect; no one may interfere with them, for a human being is inviolable both in life and after death. Death never nullifies the dignity of the protected person; his honor remains intact.

Accordingly, al-Iqnaʿ and its commentary state: “It is forbidden to sever any part of the deceased’s limbs or to destroy his body, in view of the hadith, ‘Breaking the bone of the dead is like breaking the bone of the living,’ and because his sanctity endures even if he stipulates otherwise—that is, if he requests such severing or destruction, we do not carry out his request, for the right belongs to Allah Most High. His guardian—namely, the deceased himself—may defend that right by warding off, with the mildest means possible, anyone who seeks to cut a limb or the like.”

The compiler—may Allah pardon him—says: “The fatwa of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī and the resolution of the Council of Senior Scholars accord with the rules and fundamentals of the Sharia and do not contradict what the author of Sharḥ al-Iqnaʿ has stated.”