1. A single hadith is misinterpreted to level the graves of companions of the Prophet. However, the hadith refers to destroying statues and high graves of non-Muslims, not Muslim graves. 2. The hadith instructing to level all graves cannot apply to Muslim graves, as the Prophet supervised Muslim burial practices and built high graves for companions. 3. Destroying the graves of companions is considered an insult, while the hadith warns that even sitting on an ordinary Muslim grave is abhorrent.

1. Fra: Humaira Sohail
Til: Humaira Sohail
Emne: Graves of muslims
Dato: Thursday, November 19, 2015 10:48:49 PM
NO , OUR ARGUMENT IS WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE HADITH.
Levelling of the Graves
All Praises are due to Allah Ta'ala.
Salutations upon the Messenger, His Family and His Companions.
A single prophetic narration due to which the entire military and correspondent powers under the Saudi rule
destroyed and levelled the tombs of the Companions and Family of the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ . This was based on
disinformation and disinterpretation of the narration which states as follows:
Yahya ibn Yahya, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba and Zuhair ibn Harb narrate: Waki' narrates from Sufyaan who narrates
from Habib ibn Abi Thabit who narrates from Abi Waail and he narrates from Abil Hayyaaj Asadi who said that
Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Talib radiAllahu anhu said to him:
"Should I not send you on the same mission as the Messenger of Allah ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ sent me? Do not leave any
statue without obliterating it, or a high grave without levelling it (to the ground)"
(Sahih Muslim, Kitaabul Janaaiz, Baabul Amr bitaswiyatil quboor, Hadith# 2139)
(Mishkaat Sharif, Baab Dafni Mayyit, Faslul Awwal, Hadith# 1605 in reference to Sahih Muslim Hadith# 2139)
Imam Muslim narrates the same Hadith with a different chain of narrators with the word "picture" replacing the
word "statue" (Sahih Muslim, Hadith# 2140)
Explanation:
In this prophetic narration, Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Talib is sending Abil Hayyaj Al-Asadi for a mission which the
Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ had once commissioned Hadrat Ali to do, and that was to obliterate every statue and high
grave. These graves were of the Jews and Christians, and not the Muslims for the following reasons:
1. In the time of Rasulullah ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ , the funeral rites of enshrouding and burying the Muslims was done
under the personal supervision of Nabi ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ . Then howcome Hadrat Ali was sent to destroy the tombs of
the Muslim graves by the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫?صلى‬
2. What is the connection of a statue or a picture with a grave of a muslim? There are no statues or photos at the
graves of the Muslims. Yes, the graves or tombstones of the Christians are high and the photos or statues of the
deceased are placed on their graves.
3. The grave of the Muslim cannot be levelled to the ground because the ruling is to keep the grave high as one hand
or two, and in the above Hadith the command is to level down every grave.
Imam Bukhari narrates from Muhammad who heard from Abdullah who heard from Abu Bakr ibn Ayaash who says
that Sufyaan Tammaar states that he saw the Grave of the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ which was in the shape of a
camel's hump.
(Sahih Bukhari, Kitaabul Janaaiz, Baab Maa jaa fi qabrin Nabiyyi ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ wa Abi Bakri wa Umara, Hadith#
1311)

2. Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba (one of the narrators of the Hadith of Hadrat Ali) narrates from Sufyaan: "I entered the
room in where the grave of the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ is and there I saw that the graves of the Prophet ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬
‫وسلم‬ , Hadrat Abu Bakr and Hadrat Umar ibn Khattaab radiAllahu anhuma, were in the shape of the camel's hump"
(Fathul Qadeer, Vol 2, pg 101,of Imam ibn Humaam (d.861))
4. In Sahih Bukhari, in the section of the construction of Musjid e Nabawi, the graves of the fire worshippers were
levelled and exhumed, for which Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Talib also took part in. So that the Hadith of Abil Hayyaaj is in
reference to this work which Nabi ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ commissioned Hadrat Ali to do.
Anas ibn Maalik radiAllahu anhu narrates a lengthy Hadith. In it he states about the land of Prophet's Mosque:
'There were date-palm trees and graves of the polytheists, and ruins. The Messenger of Allah ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬
ordered that the trees be cut, and the graves dug out, and the ruins should be levelled'
(Also in Sahih Muslim, Kitaabus Salaah, Baab Ibtidaau Musjidun Nabi ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ , Hadith # 564)
5. In Fathul Baari Sharah Sahih Bukhari of Imam ibn Hajar Asqalaani under the section of the construction of the
Prophet's Mosque, it is stated that it is permissible to obliterate the graves of the polytheists, besides these graves,
the graves of the Prophets and their followers cannot be destroyed because doing so is a direct insult to them.
6. It is impermissible to construct high graves for the Muslims, but if it is built, it is impermissible to destroy them
as well; because doing so is an insult upon the grave and the deceased Muslim. Similarly, it is impermissible to
print very small sized Qur'an, but if it is printed then it is prohibited to burn it.
Abu Hurairah radiAllahu anhu narrates that the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ said: "It is better for you to sit on the ambers
of fire which shall reach your skin after burning your clothes, than to sit on the grave (of a Muslim)"
(Sahih Muslim, Kitaabul Janaaiz, Hadith#2144)
If sitting on the grave of an ordinary Muslim is considered abhorrent and blasphemous, then how is bulldozing the
graves of the Companions of the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫ صلى‬ with a tractor not considered as a blasphemy?
7. It is in Sahih Bukhari that Hadrat Khaarija states:
"We were young in the time of Hadrat Uthmaan ibn Affaan radiAllahu anhu and the greatest jumper amongst us was
that person who could jump over the grave of Uthman ibn Maz'oon radiAllahu anhu"
(Sahih Bukhari, Kitaabul Janaaiz, Baabul Jareed alal Qabr, Between Hadith#1280 and #1281)
This grave was so high that it was difficult to jump over it and this grave was built by none other than Nabi ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ . Then how can Hadrat Ali radiAllahu be referring to the graves of the Muslims to be levelled down when
Nabi ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ himself constructed such graves?
8. Another Hadith which the so-called Salafi Wahabi regime issue as a warrant for destroying the constructed graves
of pious Muslims is this:
Jabir ibn Abdullah radiAllahu anhu narrated that the Messenger of Allah ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫ه‬ ‫صلى‬ forbade plastering graves,
sitting on them or building over them.
(Sahih Muslim, Kitaabul Janaaiz, Baabu Karaahiya li binaai wa tahsis alal quboor)
Since the time memorial, the Muslims have been constructing buildings over the graves of the Pious, and no Ulama
prohibited them from doing so is evidently clear that the ruling from the Hadith is of unnecessity. That is, without
any reason, building over the grave is impermissible.
Under this Hadith, Mulla Ali Qaari (d.1014 A.H) states in the commentary of Mishkaat:
"If there is building over the grave for some beneficial reasons such as for the recitation of the Holy Qur'an near the

3. grave, then this reason does not fall under the prohibition of this Hadith. And the SALAF (pious predecessors) have
permitted to place a building over the graves of the Ulama and Mashaaikh, so that the public may visit these graves
and sit with comfort"
(Mirqaat Sharah Mishkaat, Volume 4, pg 69, Maktaba Imdaadiya, Multan, 1392 A.H publication)
The commentator of Sahih Bukhari, Imam Ayni (d.855 A.H) states under this Hadith in Bukhari:
"If there is a valid reason for a building over the grave to be in place then it is permissible just like how it is
permissible to build a roof for the living so that they may avoid the heat"
(Umdatul Qaari Sharah Sahih Bukhari, Volume 8, pg 183, Idaarah Tab'aatul Muneeriya, Egypt, 1348 A.H
publication)
Allama Abdul Wah'ab Sharaani Shaafi (d.973 A.H) states:
"My teacher, Shaykh Ali, and my brother AfzaludDeen, considered building over the graves and placing sheets of
cloths over the graves of ordinary muslims to be abhorrent. They used to say: "To build domes and place sheets of
cloths over the graves is only allowed for the graves of the Prophets and the Pious. As for us, we are ought to be
buried under the feet of others in the road"
(Lawaaqihul Anwaarul Qudisiyah, pg 593, Mustafa Baabi distributors, first edition, 1381 A.H.)
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