“Shall I not dispatch you on the very task for which the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—sent me? Do not leave any image without obliterating it, nor any raised grave without leveling it.” (1)

He likewise forbade coating graves with plaster or constructing over them. Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—prohibited plastering the grave, sitting upon it, and erecting any building over it.” (2)

3 – He—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—also warned against performing prayer at graves. ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “When the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was in his final illness, he would pull a small cloak over his face; whenever breathing became difficult, he would uncover it. In that state he declared: ‘May Allah curse the Jews and Christians; they turned the graves of their prophets into places of worship.’ He was cautioning against what they had done. Were it not for this concern, his grave would have been left open to view, but he feared it might be taken as a mosque.” (3) He—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—also said: “Behold, those before you used to take the graves of their prophets as places of worship. Beware—do not take graves as places of worship.”