Incorporating Old Graves into a Mosque

Question

I narrated this hadith, but these people rejected it, and I have since separated myself from them. From ‘A’isha ﵂ [it is reported] that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said during his illness, from which he did not recover: [ar]لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَى، اتَّخَذُوا قُبُورَ أَنْبِيَائِهِمْ مَسَاجِدَ[/ar] “Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians: they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship” (muttafaq ‘alayhi; Mishkat, p. 69).

Answer

The meaning of this noble hadith is that graves must not be prostrated to or turned into an object of worship. But if a grave is old, its site has been levelled and incorporated into the mosque, and no trace of the grave remains, this does not fall under that ruling.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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