Muslim, it is narrated from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out to the cemetery and said:
“Peace be upon you, believers who inhabit these abodes. We shall, if Allah wills, join you.”
The hadiths concerning this are authentic and well known. The purpose of this visit to the graves of believers is to supplicate for them. This differs from the form of visitation that is also permissible at the graves of disbelievers. As established in Sahīh Muslim and the collections of Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasā’ī and Ibn Mājah, Abū Hurayrah said:
“Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to his mother’s grave and wept, causing those around him to weep. He then said, ‘I asked my Lord’s permission to seek forgiveness for her, but He did not grant me permission. Then I asked His permission to visit her grave, and He granted me permission. So visit graves, for they remind you of the Hereafter.’”
This visit, which serves as a reminder of death, is prescribed even if the person buried is a disbeliever. By contrast, a visit intended to supplicate for the deceased is prescribed only for believers.
As for an innovated visit, it is one intended to ask the deceased to fulfil one’s needs, to ask him to supplicate or intercede, or to supplicate at his grave because the visitor supposes that supplications are more readily answered there. Visits made for any of these purposes are innovations: the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not prescribe them, nor did the Companions practise them, whether at the Prophet’s grave, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or at any other grave. They fall within the category of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and the practices that lead to it.
Even if someone intended to pray at the graves of prophets and righteous people without intending to invoke them or to supplicate beside them—for instance, by taking their graves as places of prayer—this would still be unlawful and forbidden, and the person doing so would expose himself to Allah’s anger and curse. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:
“Allah’s anger was severe against a people who took the graves of their prophets as places of prayer.”
He also said:
“May Allah curse the Jews and Christians: they took the graves of their prophets as places of prayer.”
He was warning against what they had done. He also said:
“Indeed, those who came before you used to