Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Please let me know whether kissing a grave is permitted or not.And if not,then why? 

 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

 

Answer:

 

Kissing Grave

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person,  no grave, no prophet,  no imam,  no dai,  nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

'Aishah reports that Umm Salamah mentioned the churches she saw in Abyssinia and the pictures they contained to the Messenger of Allah (saws) . The Prophet (saws)  said to her: "These are the people who, when a pious servant or pious man among them dies,  build places of worship upon their graves and put those pictures in it.  They are the worst of the whole creation in the sight of Allah."

Related by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and an-Nasai .

 

The Messenger of Allah (saws) strictly prohibited the believers to build a structure over the graves of their deceased, wiping their hands over it, kissing it, revering it, invoking it, circumambulating around it, or making it a shrine or a tomb or a place of worship in any form or manner.

 

The kissing of a grave of one who is deceased in reverence, or in the belief that it is holy, or believing that the deceased can harm or benefit anyone in any way, etc. are all forms and manifestations of the heinous and unforgivable crime of ‘shirk’, and thus absolutely forbidden for the believers who sincerely believe in Allah and the Last Day.

 

Allah says in the Quran: Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa Verse 48

Shirk (associating other deities with Allah) is the only sin that Allah does not forgive, and He forgives, whomsoever He pleases, sins other than this.  For whosoever associates any other partner with Allah, does indeed forge a big lie and commits the most heinous sin.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 72:

Whoever commits ‘shirk’ (invoking anything with Allah),  Allah shall forbid for him Paradise,  and Hell shall be his abode.  And for such wrong doers there will be no one to help.

 

If one trusts,  obeys,  and follows the guidance and commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws),   one can be assured of never ever being misled;   but if one believes,  obeys and follows any other guidance,  other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws),  one can be assured of being led astray.  

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

 

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 

Burhan