the Hereafter has squandered both this world and the next.

We therefore ought to visit the graves—but do we do so to benefit them, or to derive benefit from them? The first aim is to benefit them: one goes out to pray for the dead, not to pray to them. He greets the graves, just as the Prophet did. ʿĀʾishah said: “Whenever the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was with me, he would go out late at night and greet the people of al-Baqīʿ, saying, ‘Peace be upon you, O abode of believing folk. What you were promised has reached you. Tomorrow you will be deferred, and we, if Allah wills, shall follow you.’”

He would then add: “O Allah, forgive the people of Baqīʿ al-Gharqad.” Baqīʿ al-Gharqad is the cemetery of the people of Madinah. It is hoped that this supplication embraces everyone who will ever be buried there until the Day of Resurrection, though it may have been intended only for those interred there during the Prophet’s own time, excluding those who came later.

Whoever belongs to the people of mercy is of them, whether or not this supplication reaches him; and whoever is destined for wretchedness is not included in it and gains no benefit from it.

In short, a person should visit the graves at any time—by night or by day, morning or evening, on Friday or on any other day; there is no fixed moment for it. Whenever your heart grows heedless and you become absorbed in worldly life, go to the graveyard and reflect upon those who, only yesterday, were like you on the earth, eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves. Where are they now? They are now held in pledge to their deeds, and nothing has helped them except their own works, just as the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—informed us.