بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
ثمامة بن شفي قال: كنا مع فضالة بن عبيد بأرض الروم برودس، فتوفي صاحب لنا، فأمر فضالة بن عبيد بقبره فسوي، ثم قال: سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يأمر بتسويتها [صحيح مسلم (٩٦٨)]
Thumāmah bin Shufayy said: “We were with Faḍālah bin ʿUbayd in the land of the Romans at Rhodes, and a companion of ours passed away. So Faḍālah bin ʿUbayd ordered regarding his grave, and it was leveled. Then he said: ‘I heard the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ ordering that they be leveled.'” [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (968)]
عن أبي الهياج الأسدي قال: قال لي علي بن أبي طالب ألا أبعثك على ما بعثني عليه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أن لا تدع تمثالا إلا طمسته، ولا قبرا مشرفا إلا سويته [صحيح مسلم (٩٦٩)]
Abū al-Hayyāj al-Asadī said: ʿAlī bin Abī Ṭālib said to me: “Shall I not send you on the same mission as the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ sent me? That you do not leave an image without obliterating it, nor a high grave without leveling it.” [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (969)]
عن جابر قال نهى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أن يجصص القبر، وأن يقعد عليه، وأن يبنى عليه [صحيح مسلم (٩٧٠)]
Jābir said: “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ forbade that the grave should be plastered, that it be sat upon, and that it be built over.” [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (970)]
معاوية قال: إن تسوية القبور من السنة، وقد رفعت اليهود، والنصارى فلا تشبهوا بهما [المعجم الكبير للطبراني ١٩/٣٥٢ وسنده صحيح وانظر اقتضاء الصراط المستقيم ١/ ٢٩٧]
Muʿāwiyah said: “Indeed, the leveling of graves is from the Sunnah. The Jews and Christians have raised (theirs), so do not imitate them.” [Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr by al-Ṭabarānī (19/352); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ. See Iqtiḍāʾ al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm (1/297)]
عن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في مرضه الذي لم يقم منه: لعن الله اليهود والنصارى؛ اتخذوا قبور أنبيائهم مساجد. لولا ذلك أبرز قبره، غير أنه خشي، أو خشي، أن يتخذ مسجد [البخاري (١٣٩٠)]
ʿĀʾishah (may Allāh be pleased with her) said: “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said during his illness from which he did not recover: ‘May Allāh curse the Jews and the Christians; they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.’ Were it not for that, his grave would have been made prominent, but he feared -or it was feared- that it might be taken as a place of worship.” [Al-Bukhārī (1390)]
عن القاسم بن محمّد قال: دخلتُ على عائشة فقلت: يَا أُمَّتِ اكْشِفى لي عن قبر النّبيّ، صلى الله عليه وسلم، وصاحبَيْه، فكشفت لي عن ثلاثة قبور لا مُشْرِفَةٍ ولا لاطئةٍ مبطوحةٍ ببَطْحاءِ العَرْصَةِ الحمراءِ، قال: فرأيتُ قبر النّبيّ، صلى الله عليه وسلم، مُقَدّمًا وقبرَ أبى بكر عند رأسه، ورأسَ عمر عندَ رِجْلِ النّبيّ، صلى الله عليه وسلم، قال عمرو بن عثمان فوصف القاسمُ قبورهم [الطبقات لابن سعد (٣/ ١٩٢) وسنده حسن]
Al-Qāsim bin Muḥammad said: “I entered upon ʿĀʾishah and said: ‘O Mother, uncover for me the grave of the Prophet ﷺ and his two companions.’ So she uncovered for me three graves that were neither high nor flat, but were covered with the red gravel of the open area. He said: ‘I saw the grave of the Prophet ﷺ in front, the grave of Abū Bakr at his head, and the head of ʿUmar at the feet of the Prophet ﷺ.'” [Al-Ṭabaqāt by Ibn Saʿd (3/192); Isnād Ḥasan]
صالح بن أبي الأخضر، قال: رأيت قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم شبرا أو نحوا من شبر [المراسيل لأبي داود (٤٢١) وسنده صحيح]
Ṣāliḥ bin Abī al-Akhḍar said: “I saw the grave of the Prophet ﷺ was a hand-span or about a hand-span (in height).” [Al-Marāsīl by Abū Dāwūd (421); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
سفيان التمار قال: دخلت البيت الذي فيه قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فرأيت قبر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وقبر أبي بكر وعمر مسنمة [ابن أبي شيبة (١٢٠٩٠) وسنده صحيح]
Sufyān al-Tammār said: “I entered the house in which is the grave of the Prophet ﷺ, and I saw the grave of the Prophet ﷺ and the grave of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar were humped.” [Ibn Abī Shaybah (12090); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
قال عمرو بن شُرَحبيل لا تُطيلوا جَدَثى، يعنى القبر، فإنّ المهاجرين كانوا يكرهون ذلك [طبقات ابن سعد (٨/ ٢٢٨) وسندهما صحيح]
ʿAmr bin Shuraḥbīl said “Do not make my grave mound tall, meaning the grave, for indeed the Muhājirūn used to detest that.” [Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd (8/228); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
عن أبي مجلز قال: تسوية القبور من السنة [ابن أبي شيبة (١٢١٥٧) وسنده صحيح]
Abū Mijlaz said: “Leveling the graves is from the Sunnah.” [Ibn Abī Shaybah (12157); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
عن القاسم أنه أوصى قال: يا بني لا تكتب على قبري، ولا تشرفنه إلا قدر ما يرد عني الماء [ابن أبي شيبة (١٢٠٩٧) وسنده حسن]
Al-Qāsim, advised me saying: “O my son, do not write on my grave, and do not raise it except the amount that repels water from me.” [Ibn Abī Shaybah (12097); Isnād Ḥasan]
وقد رأيت من الولاة من يهدم بمكة ما يبنى فيها فلم أر الفقهاء يعيبون ذلك [الأم (١/ ٣١٦)]
Al-Shāfiʿī said: “And I have seen some of the governors in Makkah demolishing what was built in it (over graves), and I did not see the jurists finding fault with that.” [Al-Umm (1/316)]
[Adapted from Bid’aat p. 215 onwards by shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amanpuri حفظه الله with additions]
How sad is it that we see people go against clear commands of Allah and His messenger ﷺ. They prohibited from praying in graveyards yet they do that and even take them as places of doing Sujood to those who can’t hear them! They waste money while this is an act of Shaytan. Indeed, they were prohibited from writing on graves so they went a step further and started writing Quran on it. Indeed we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. See Nayl al-Awtar (7/429)
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