Building a Madrasa on the Site of an Old Graveyard
Question
We have established a religious madrasa in which the Noble Qurʾan, prayer, masaʾil (practical rulings) and religious education and the like are taught. Formerly there were also eight or ten graves in this place. When the graves were levelled, people began living there; after that an imambara (a Shi‘i hall for mourning gatherings for Imam Husayn ﵁) for ta‘ziyas (replicas of Imam Husayn’s tomb carried in Muharram processions) was made in this place, in which the trace of one grave still remains.
Answer
From your letter it appears that the place was for graves and that no one has been buried there for a long time. When the old graves disappeared, people began living there, and then an imambara for ta‘ziyas was made there, because the place is ownerless and waqf, that is, it has no owner at all, and whoever wishes takes possession of it.
Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya
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