Farming on a grave

Question

There was a grave in Zayd’s orchard. He levelled it with a plough so that no trace [of it] remained, and sowed grain there. Please tell us: what will the grain that grew on this grave be [in its status] for him? And what is the ruling of the Shari‘a on obliterating the traces of a grave?

Answer

If that grave was so old that the deceased in it had already turned to dust, then there is no harm in ploughing it; rather, farming and the like there is permissible. Or, if someone had buried his dead in Zayd’s land without Zayd’s permission, then too it is permissible for Zayd to farm that spot and the like.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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