the Muslims; rather, prayer in mosques built over graves is either forbidden or disliked.

A visit that constitutes religious innovation is one in which the visitor intends to ask the deceased to fulfil his needs, deliberately seeks to supplicate at his grave, or intends to invoke Allah through him. This is not part of the Sunnah of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor did any of the early generations or imams of this Ummah consider it recommended. Rather, it is among the prohibited innovations, by agreement of the early generations and imams of this Ummah.

Mālik and others disliked a person saying, “I visited the grave of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” This wording has not been transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Rather, the hadiths cited on this subject, such as the saying attributed to him:

“Whoever visits me and my father Abraham in a single year, I guarantee him Paradise from Allah,”

and the saying:

“Whoever visits me after my death, it is as though he visited me during my lifetime; and whoever visits me after my death will be entitled to my intercession,”

and similar reports, are all weak hadiths—indeed, fabricated. They are not found in any of the authoritative hadith collections of Islam, nor were they transmitted by any of the imams of the Muslims, neither the four imams nor others. However, al-Bazzār, al-Dāraqutnī and others like them narrated some of these reports through weak chains of transmission. For it is the practice of al-Dāraqutnī and others like him to include such reports in their Sunan collections so that they may be known; he and others explain the weakness of those reports that are weak.

Thus, if these practices involving associating partners with Allah and religious innovation are forbidden at his grave, although he is the best of creation, then their prohibition at anyone else’s grave is all the more warranted and appropriate.