impermissible, they would never have buried him—peace and blessings be upon him—inside his mosque!

Third: The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—performed prayer in Masjid al-Khayf, even though, as he himself stated, it contains the graves of seventy prophets!

Fourth: Some works relate that the grave of Ishmael, peace be upon him, and others lies within the Hijr of the Sacred Mosque—the most excellent mosque to which worshippers deliberately travel to pray.

Fifth: Abu Jandal—may Allah be pleased with him—built a mosque over the grave of Abu Basir—may Allah be pleased with him—during the Prophet’s lifetime, as recorded by Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr in al-Istīʿāb.

Sixth: Certain people claim that the prohibition against turning graves into mosques was only due to the fear that the buried person might become a source of temptation; once monotheism had become firmly established in the believers’ hearts, they say, the ban no longer applied.

How, then, can these points be reconciled with the stated prohibition?

In reply, and with Allah the Exalted as my help, I say: