to do so. He said:

“I previously forbade you to visit graves. Now visit them, for they remind you of the Hereafter.”

He also said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“I asked my Lord for permission to visit my mother’s grave, and He granted me permission. I asked Him for permission to seek forgiveness for her, but He did not grant me permission. So visit graves, for they remind you of the Hereafter.”

There are two issues here: one is agreed upon, while the other is disputed.

As for the first, visits to graves are of two kinds: those prescribed by Islam and those based on religious innovation.

The prescribed visit consists of greeting the deceased with peace and supplicating for him, much like offering the funeral prayer for him. It is established in an authentic hadith that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to teach his Companions to say when visiting graves:

“Peace be upon you, inhabitants of these abodes, Muslims and believers. Allah willing, we shall join you. May Allah have mercy on those among us and you who have gone before and those who are yet to follow. We ask Allah for well-being for ourselves and for you. O Allah, do not deprive us of our reward on their account, do not subject us to trials after them, and forgive us and them.”

Parts of this supplication are reported in different hadiths, and it has been transmitted in several wordings, just as the tashahhud (the testimony recited while seated in prayer) and other supplications have been transmitted in different wordings. This is the kind of visit the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to make when he went out to visit the graves of the people of al-Baqīʿ.

As for visits based on religious innovation, they are of the same kind as the visits made by Jews, Christians, and adherents of