deliberately going to them to pray beside them, lest this lead to invoking their occupants and prostrating to them—invoking them and prostrating to them was far more strictly forbidden than taking their graves as places of prayer.

For this reason, visits to the graves of Muslims are of two kinds: prescribed visits and innovated visits. A prescribed visit is one in which the visitor’s purpose is to supplicate for the deceased, just as the purpose of offering the funeral prayer is to supplicate for him. Standing at his grave is thus of the same nature as praying over him. Allah Most High said concerning the hypocrites:

“Never pray over any of them who dies, nor stand at his grave.”

He forbade His Prophet to pray over them or stand at their graves because they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger and died as disbelievers. Since He forbade both acts for this reason—disbelief—this indicates that the prohibition ceases to apply when that reason is absent. Singling them out for this prohibition also indicates that funeral prayers may be offered for others and that one may stand at their graves. Had this not been prescribed for anyone, they would not have been singled out for the prohibition, nor would their disbelief have been given as its reason.

For this reason, praying over deceased believers and standing at their graves are part of the Sunnah established through mass transmission. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would pray over deceased Muslims and prescribed this for his community. Whenever a man from his community was buried, he would stand at his grave and say:

“Ask for him to be granted steadfastness, for he is now being questioned.”

This was narrated by Abū Dāwūd and others. He would visit the graves of those buried in al-Baqīʿ and of the martyrs at Uhud. He also taught his Companions that, when visiting graves, each of them should say:

“Peace be upon you, believers and Muslims who inhabit these abodes. We shall, if Allah Most High wills, join you. May Allah have mercy on those of us and of you who have gone before, and on those who come later. We ask Allah for well-being for us and for you. O Allah, do not deprive us of the reward on their account, and do not put us to trial after them.”

And in the Sahīh of