The Muslims differed over visiting graves. A group of the early generations held that all such visits were prohibited and that this prohibition had not been abrogated, for al-Bukhārī did not narrate the hadiths establishing its abrogation, and those hadiths had not become widely known. When al-Bukhārī discussed visiting graves, he cited as evidence the hadith of the woman who wept beside a grave.

Ibn Battāl related that al-Shaʿbī said:

“Had the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not forbidden visiting graves, I would have visited my son’s grave.”

Al-Nakhaʿī said, “They used to disapprove of visiting graves.” A similar statement is related from Ibn Sīrīn.

Ibn Battāl said that Mālik was asked about visiting graves and replied:

“He, peace be upon him, had forbidden it, then permitted it. If someone were to do so and say nothing but good, I would see no harm in it. It is not, however, the practice of the people.”

It is also related that he held such visits in low regard.

The scholars agree that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, initially forbade visiting graves. Some said this was because it leads to associating partners with Allah; others said it was because of the wailing at graves; and others said it was because people used them as a source of mutual boasting. In explaining the words of the Most High,

“Rivalry for more distracts you, until you visit the graves,”

a number of scholars mentioned that people would compete in numbers by counting the graves of their dead.

Among those who mentioned this was Ibn ʿAtiyya in his Quran commentary. He said:

“This is a rebuke for visiting graves excessively—that is, you have made visiting graves an occupation that distracts you from worship and knowledge, seeking to swell your numbers with those who have gone before and to extol their memory. Then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘I had forbidden you to visit