Making a road through a graveyard

Question

What is [the ruling on] clearing the trees and the like in a graveyard and making a road through the middle? All people — men and women — walk along the road. Please write with references.

Answer

If the graveyard is waqf, then making a road or a highway there is not permissible: in whatever area is turned into a road after cutting down the trees, the dead could not be buried, and this is contrary to the intention of the waqif (the endower): [ar]شرط الواقف كنص الشارع[/ar] “The stipulation of the endower is like the text of the Lawgiver” (“Shami”).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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