And his practice was that graves should not be desecrated or trodden upon, nor should anyone sit or lean on them (1). Nor should they be so venerated that they become places of prayer, with prayers offered beside them or toward them, or be made into sites of recurring gatherings and idols (2).
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His Practice in Visiting Graves
When he visited the graves of his Companions, he did so to supplicate for them, ask Allah to have mercy on them, and seek forgiveness for them. This is the kind of visitation he established and prescribed for his community. He instructed them to say when visiting graves:
“Peace be upon you, inhabitants of these dwellings, believers and Muslims. Allah willing, we shall join you. We ask Allah to grant us and you well-being” (3).
His practice when visiting them was to say and do things akin to what he said when offering the funeral prayer over him (4): supplicating for him, asking Allah to have mercy on him, and seeking forgiveness for him. Yet the polytheists insisted instead on supplicating to the deceased
(1) Recorded by Muslim (971), from Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him).
(2) Recorded by al-Shāfi‘ī in Harmalah (Ma‘rifat al-Sunan, 5:357), al-Humaydī (1055), Ahmad (7358), al-Bazzār (16:48), and Abū Ya‘lā (6681), from Abū Hurayrah, who reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Do not make my grave an idol. Allah cursed people who took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.” Al-Shāfi‘ī’s version reads: “O Allah, do not make …” Its chain includes Hamzah ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Nashīt al-Qurashī, of whom Ibn Ma‘īn said: “There is nothing wrong with him.” However, he alone transmitted it from Suhayl ibn Abī Sālih, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah. The well-known version is the Prophet’s supplication transmitted as a mursal report by Mālik (475), ‘Abd al-Razzāq (1587), and Ibn Abī Shaybah (7626, 11941), from Zayd ibn Aslam, from ‘Atā’ ibn Yasār.
(3) Recorded by Muslim (975), from Buraydah ibn al-Husayb. He also recorded it from ‘Ā’ishah (974) and Abū Hurayrah (249).
(4) The al-Risālah edition reads: “over the deceased.” This alteration was made by al-Fiqī.