Visiting Graves and Reciting Qur’an There.

As-Salamu `alaykum.

Does Islam advise and encourage people to visit graves and recite the Qur’an
there?

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His
Messenger.

It should be clear that Islam does encourage visiting the graves since it reminds
people of the hereafter. When visiting the graves, a person is to make du`aa’
(supplication) for the dead and seek Allah’s forgiveness for them.

In response to this question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic
scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

Visiting graves is a recommended sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him), who said, “In the past, I had forbidden you earlier from visiting graves, but
now you can do so, for it helps to remind you of the hereafter.” In other words, in
the early days of Islam, Muslims were told not to visit graves, because of the fear of
shirk, as the Arabs had been closer to their pagan ways, for they had been in the habit
of worshiping idols, statues, and graves, etc. But after Islamic creed of tawheed (the
Oneness of Allah) had become rooted and people had imbibed the true lessons of
Islam, there was no fear of Muslims reverting to the practice of worshiping graves;
hence the above prohibition was lifted and the Muslims were allowed to visit graves.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), however, did not merely allow them
to visit graves, but also went a step further to encourage them to do so because of the
obvious benefits associated with it: First, it reminds them of their final resting place;
second, it helps people remember their dead ones and offer prayers for them. Allah
tells us in the Qur’an that the true believers are those who supplicate to Allah saying,
[Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who have preceded us
in faith and do not allow for any rancour in our hearts
towards the believers; our Lord you are Full of Pity, Merciful]
(Al-Hashr 59:10).

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) demonstrated the sunnah of visiting
graves through his own practice. We are told that he used to visit the graves of his
Companions who had passed away and prayed for them. Once when `A’ishah, the
beloved wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), saw him returning
from the graveyard, she inquired, “If I were to visit the graves, what should I say?”
Then he told her, “Pray: Greetings of peace to you, the faithful residing in these
dwellings. Surely we will be joining you soon. May Allah forgive us and you and
all the Muslims.”

So you need not object to your cousin if she does not go overboard with her visits; it
is fine and recommended so long as she does not trespass any of the limits of the
Shari`ah while visiting graves. Such violations include mourning for more than three
days for anyone other than a husband, indulging in wailing and lamentations. We are,
however, allowed to pray for them on a regular basis and invoke Allah’s mercy on
them every day of our lives.

A final point: While visiting graves there is nothing wrong in reading some Qur’an
and saying prayers (du`aa’) for the dead; we are told that some of the members of As-
Salaf As-Salih (the pious predecessors) used to read Al-Fatihah and parts of Surat Al-
Baqarah while visiting the graves.

I pray to Allah to forgive us and all those brothers and sisters who have preceded us in
faith; and may He remove rancor and malice against the faithful from our hearts.
Ameen.

Is it haram (prohibited) for women to visit the graves of their beloved ones?

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His
Messenger.

Dear sister in Islam, thanks a lot for your question which reflects your care to have a
clear view of the teachings of Islam. Allah commands Muslims to refer to people of
knowledge to get themselves well-acquainted with the teachings of Islam as well as
all aspects of life.

In his answer to the question, the late Sheikh Sayyed Ad-Darsh, former Chairman of
the UK Shari`ah Council, stated the following:

"There are conflicting ahadith on this subject. While one set of ahadith prohibits such
practices, another set seemingly goes the opposite way.

Those people who reject the idea altogether quote the following hadith in which the
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: ‘Allah has
cursed women who often go and visit graves.’ Another hadith relates an incident in
which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked his daughter, Fatimah,
why she had left her house. She is reported to have replied: ‘I went to the family of
such-and-such a dead person and I prayed to Allah to shower His mercy on the
person.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is then reported to have
asked whether she went to the funeral and she replied: ‘God forbid, how could I do
such a thing when I have heard that you have forbidden this?'

However, those looking for evidence to show that women are allowed to visit graves
quote some of the following ahadith: According to one tradition, the Prophet (peace
and blessings be upon him) is reported – after acknowledging that he had earlier
forbade women to visit cemeteries – to have said: ‘Now you are allowed to go and
visit them, for they remind you of the life to come.’ In another hadith, reported by
Muslim and Al-Bukhari, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported by
Umm `Atiyyah to have forbade women from following funeral prayers –‘… but Umm
`Atiyyah added, ‘he did not stress it.’

The question then is: what does the believer conclude form all this? After much
deliberation, scholars have concluded that women can go to gave sides and
cemeteries, providing they fulfill usual requirements – in the same way as, for
example, they go shopping or visiting friends and neighbors. This, say scholars, is the
best method of combining the two sets of ahadith which may otherwise appear
contradictory."

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?
cid=1119503549230&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE
%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar