The narration 'Whoever visits my grave after my death is...'

7-5-2009 | IslamWeb

Question:

is this hadeeth true whoever visits my grave is like he visits me in my life?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

 

This narration is reported by Ad-Daaraqutni and At-Tabaraani may Allaah have mercy upon them but the scholars like Ibn Hajar may Allaah have mercy upon him classified its chain of narration as weak. Rather, he classified all the chains of narrations that are reported about the excellence of visiting the grave of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) as weak. Al-‘Uqayli may Allaah have mercy upon him said: “There is no authentic narration about this chapter.” Moreover, Imaam Ibn Taymiyyah may Allaah have mercy upon him authoritatively asserted that all the narrations that were reported about the excellence of visiting the grave of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) are fabricated.

It should be mentioned that visiting the grave of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is included in the general narrations about the desirability of visiting graves for men in general, like his sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) saying: “I forbade you from visiting the graves, but you may now visit them, for it reminds you of the Hereafter.” [Ahmad and Muslim] Therefore, such a visit is desirable for whoever passes by the grave of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) or visits his [Prophet’s] mosque, or arrives to Madeenah. However, it is not permissible to travel just in order to visit the grave because it is not permissible set out on journey to a specific place for the purpose of worship except to three mosques: Al-Haraam mosque (i.e. Makkah), Madeenah mosque and Al-Aqsa mosque, as confirmed in a narration from the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ); for more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 82932 and 88852.

Therefore, whoever travels to Madeenah, he should have the intention of visiting the Prophet’s mosque and praying in it. Then, when he arrives to the mosque, he should visit the grave according to the etiquettes of visiting graves.   

Allaah Knows best.

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