Hadith 4

ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: During the illness from which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not recover he said, “May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians; they turned the graves of their prophets into places of worship.” ʿĀʾishah added, “Had it not been for that statement, his grave would have been left exposed; however, it was feared that it might be taken as a mosque.”

Overall meaning

ʿĀʾishah—who nursed the Prophet ﷺ during his final sickness and was present when his blessed soul departed—relates that, while still confined to that illness, he feared that his grave might be converted into a place of prayer, a step that could lead people to worship him instead of Allah. Accordingly he declared: “May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians; they turned the graves of their prophets into mosques,” thereby warning his community against imitating them.

The Companions understood exactly what he intended, so they buried him inside ʿĀʾishah’s apartment. Neither they nor the early generations after them ever set out deliberately to enter his grave chamber in order to pray or supplicate there.

Later, when the sunnah was displaced by innovation and people began travelling to graves, Allah safeguarded His Prophet from what he disliked by enclosing the grave behind three solid barriers through which no innovator can reach him.

Takeaways from the ḥadith

1. A forceful, unequivocal prohibition on turning graves into mosques or intending to pray at them. Al-Ṣanʿānī (may Allah have mercy on him) said that this practice opens the door to venerating the deceased, circumambulating the grave, rubbing against its corners, and calling upon the buried person by name. Such innovations have become widespread: graves have been exalted with shrines and domes, and people have gone even further than the pre-Islamic pagans by installing lamps there and allocating part of their wealth to them, as Allah says, “And they assign to what they do not know a share of what We have provided them” ⦗an-Naḥl 16:56⦘. He also noted that several reports show the early Muslims did nothing of the sort with the Prophet’s grave; Abū Dāwūd narrates that al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad entered upon ʿĀʾishah and she uncovered for him three graves—“neither raised high nor sunken low,” namely the Prophet’s grave and those of his two Companions. Al-Ṣanʿānī concluded that all such practices are forbidden, whether the grave lies in the qiblah line of a mosque or elsewhere.

2. Making graves into places of worship is the practice of the Jews and the Christians; whoever does so is following their path and abandoning the sunnah of Muḥammad ﷺ.

3. Performing ṣalāh at a grave—whether inside a mosque or outside it—is one of the avenues that lead to major shirk.