482 – On the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed women who visit graves.” Al-Tirmidhī narrated it, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it authentic.⦗1⦘

Degree of authenticity:
The ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ in light of its corroborating routes. Aḥmad (2/356), al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, and Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ all transmitted it through Abū Hurayrah, and it is further supported by reports from a number of Companions, including:

1 – The ḥadīth of Ḥassān: recorded by Aḥmad (15230), Ibn Abī Shaybah, Ibn Mājah (1574), al-Ḥākim (1/530), and al-Bayhaqī (4/78). Al-Būṣayrī said in al-Zawāʾid: “Its chain is sound and its transmitters are trustworthy.”

2 – The ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās: recorded by Ibn Abī Shaybah (2/151), Abū Dāwūd (3236), al-Tirmidhī (320), al-Nasāʾī (2043), Ibn Ḥibbān (7/453), al-Ḥākim (1/530), and al-Bayhaqī. Al-Tirmidhī graded it “ḥasan.”

Points inferred from the two ḥadīths:
1 – Ḥadīth no. 481 indicates that in the early days of Islam visiting graves was prohibited and unlawful. Allah knows best, this was because many Muslims had only recently left disbelief and there was a fear that such visits might lead to attachment to the deceased and to their shrines.

2 – Once sound belief had taken firm root in their hearts, they understood their religion, and they learned the proper objective of visitation, that prohibition was abrogated—not to mere permissibility but to recommendation.

Al-Nawawī and al-Muwaffaq (Ibn Qudāmah) both transmitted consensus that visiting graves is recommended for men but not for women.