O inhabitants of these dwellings from among the believers and the Muslims. Indeed, if Allah wills, we shall soon join you. We ask Allah to grant well-being to us and to you.”

His practice ﷺ, when visiting the graves, was to say and do the very same kinds of supplication, mercy, and seeking forgiveness that he pronounced over the deceased in the funeral prayer. The polytheists, however, would do nothing but call upon the dead, swear oaths by invoking them before Allah, ask them to fulfill needs, seek their assistance, and turn toward them. This is the opposite of his guidance ﷺ, for his way is pure monotheism and kindness to the deceased, whereas theirs is polytheism and wrongdoing to themselves and to the dead. Their conduct never escapes one of three situations:
(a) they invoke the dead directly,
(b) they invoke Allah by means of the dead,
(c) or they supplicate beside the grave.

They even deem supplication at the graveside more binding and superior than supplication in the mosque or during the pre-dawn hours. Whoever reflects on the guidance of Allah’s Messenger and his Companions will recognize the difference between the two approaches. Success comes from Allah alone.

13 – Shaykh al-Islam said: Visitation is of two kinds—sanctioned and innovated. The sanctioned visit is intended to greet the deceased and pray for him. The innovated visit is where the visitor’s aim is to ask the deceased to fulfill his needs—this is major shirk—or to make supplication at his grave, or to supplicate through him; such conduct is a reprehensible innovation and a pathway to polytheism.

14 – Whether one is visiting a graveyard or accompanying a funeral, a person should not behave with joy and merriment as if attending a celebration. Rather, he should be inwardly moved—or at least show sympathy before the family of the deceased—recall the condition of those in the graves, remember that his own end will be the same, and take from that a lesson and admonition.

15 – Al-Bukhari (1189) and Muslim (1397) transmit from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Mounts should not be prepared for travel except to three mosques: the Sacred Mosque,