and other matters, as the leading scholars of Islam from the four legal schools and others have expressly stated. Some explicitly declared it forbidden, while others used the term “disliked.” They do not regard this as the same issue as praying in a public cemetery. Regarding the latter, some explain the prohibition by the impurity of the soil, while others explain it by the resemblance to the polytheists. As for mosques built over graves, they prohibited prayer in them for fear that venerating a created being would lead people astray, as al-Shāfiʿī and other leading Muslim scholars have mentioned.
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited prayer at sunrise, at sunset, and when the sun is at its zenith, and said that these are times when the disbelievers prostrate to it.
He prohibited this because it involves resembling them, even if the worshipper intends to prostrate only to the One God. What, then, of prayer in mosques built to venerate graves? We have discussed this issue at length elsewhere.
The purpose here was only to establish the whereabouts of the head of al-Husayn, may Allah be pleased with him, and to explain that the claims concerning the places popularly known in Egypt and Syria as al-Husayn’s shrine—that his head is there—are lies and fabrications, falsehoods and slander. And Allah knows best.
Written by Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah.