دَفْنُ المَوتَى فِي المَسَاجِدِ

Burying the Dead in Mosques

لِسَمَاحَةِ الشَّيْخِ العَلَّامَةِ

عَبْدِ العَزِيزِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ بْنِ بَازٍ

رَحِمَهُ اللهُ

Author His Eminence Shaykh

‘Abdul-‘Azīz ibn ‘Abdullāh ibn Bāz

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

The Eleventh Treatise:

Burying the Dead in Mosques

In the name of Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and those who are guided by his guidance. To proceed:

I came across the newspaper “Al-Khartoum” issued on 17/4/1415 AH, and found that it published a statement about the burial of Sayyid Muhammad al-Hasan al-Idrīsi next to his father in their mosque in the city of Omdurman... etc.

Due to the obligation Allah Almighty has placed on advising Muslims and clarifying to denounce the evil, I felt it necessary to point out that burying in mosques is impermissible. Rather, it is a means to Shirk and one of the practices of the Jews and Christians, for which Allah Almighty condemned them, and His Messenger (ﷺ) cursed them, as reported in the Two Sahīh Collections from ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:

"May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians, for they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship." In Sahīh Muslim, Jundub ibn ‘Abdullah reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:

"Indeed, those who were before you took the graves of their prophets and righteous people as places of worship. Never take the graves as places of worship; for I forbid you from that." The Hadīths in this regard are numerous.

It is incumbent upon Muslims everywhere—governments and peoples—to fear Allah Almighty, to avoid what He has forbidden, and bury their dead outside the mosques, just as the Prophet (ﷺ) and his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to bury the dead outside the mosques, and so did their righteous followers.

As for the grave of the Prophet (ﷺ) and his two Companions, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with them), in his mosque (ﷺ), it does not serve as evidence for burying the dead in mosques. This is because he (ﷺ) was buried in his house—in the house of ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her)—and then his two Companions were buried alongside him. When Al-Walīd ibn ‘Abdul-Malik expanded the mosque, he incorporated the chamber into it at the beginning of the first century of Hijrah. The scholars criticized him for this, but he believed that it did not prevent the expansion and that the matter was clear and not ambiguous.

Thus, it becomes clear to every Muslim that the Prophet (ﷺ) and his two Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were not buried in the mosque. Their inclusion in it due to the expansion is not evidence for the permissibility of burial in mosques, for they are not in the mosque but rather in his house (ﷺ). Moreover, the action of Al-Walīd is not valid proof for anyone in this regard; rather, the proof lies in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and in the consensus of the righteous predecessors of the Ummah (may Allah be pleased with them), and may He make us among their followers in righteousness.

For providing advice and discharge of responsibility, it was written on: 14/5/1415 AH.

And Allah alone is the One Who grants success. May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his Companions, and those who follow them in righteousness.

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