by fear that the grave may lead people astray, not merely by its impurity, as some people suppose. For this reason, the early generations instructed that graves be levelled and that the traces of those liable to lead people astray be effaced. Thus, when Daniel’s grave was discovered in Tustar, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb ordered that its traces be effaced. Abū Mūsā had written to him, mentioning that Daniel’s grave had been discovered and that people used to seek rain through him. ‘Umar wrote back, instructing him to dig thirteen graves during the day, then bury him in one of them at night and efface its traces, so that people would not be led astray through him.

What we have mentioned from Mālik and other leading scholars was well known among the early generations. Abū Ya‘lā al-Mawsilī narrated in his Musnad, and the hadith master Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Maqdisī included in his selected collection, a report from ‘Alī ibn al-Husayn ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, known as Zayn al-‘Ābidīn. He saw a man coming to an opening beside the Prophet’s grave—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—entering it and supplicating there. He forbade him from doing so, saying:

“Shall I not relate to you a hadith that I heard from my father, from my grandfather, from the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace? He said: ‘Do not make my grave a place of recurring observance, nor make your houses graves, for your greetings of peace reach me wherever you may be.’”

This hadith also appears in Sunan Abī Dāwūd, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, who said: “The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

‘Do not make your houses graves, nor make my grave a place of recurring observance. Send blessings upon me, for your blessings reach me wherever you may be.’”

In the Sunan of Sa‘īd ibn Mansūr: ‘Abd al-‘Azīz ibn Muhammad narrated to us: Suhayl ibn Abī Suhayl informed me, saying: “I was seen by al-Hasan ibn