It was heard that one person cried out...

It was heard that one person cried out: “Have they found that which they had lost”, another person replied: “No they have become disappointed and have given up.” لعن الله اليهود والنَّصار إتخذوا قبور انبيائهم مسجداً قالت (عائشة) ولولا ذلك لابرزُوا قبره غير أنَّي أخش أن يُتخذ مسجداً May the curse of Allah be upon the Jews and Christians (for) considering the graves of their Prophets as mosques.

She (Ayesha) said: “If it was not for this fear that the grave of the Holy Prophet (s) would become a mosque, the Muslims would have kept his grave open (and not put up a barrier around it). Muslim has narrated in Sahih the same tradition with slight variation. As such we confine ourselves to narrating only one text.

[^3] ألا وإن من كان قبلكم كانُ,ا يتَّخذون قبور أنبيائهم وصالِحيهم مساجد ألا فلا تتخذوا القُبور مساجد إنى أنهاكُم عن ذلك Know that people before you took the graves of their Prophets and the pious people as mosques. Never take the graves as mosques, I forbid you from that.

[^4] إن أُم حبيبة وأم سلمة ذكرتنا كنيسة رأيتها بالحبشة فيها تصاوير لرسول الله (صلى الله عليه وأله) فقال رسول الله إن أولئك إذا كان فيهم الرجُل الصالح فما بنوا على قبره مسجداً وصوَّروا فيه تلك الصُور أولئك شرار الخلق عند الله يوم القيامة. Umm Habiba and Umm Salama (Wives of the Holy Prophet) saw a prophet's picture in the country of Ethiopia (when they had travelled to that place along with a group).

The Holy Prophet (s) said: They are such people that whenever a pious man dies amongst them they construct a mosque over his grave and draw his picture on it. They are the worst of the people before God on the Day of Judgement.

Thus Ibn-Taymiyya writes: قال عُلمائنا لا يجوز بناء المسجد على القبور “Our scholars have said that it is never allowed to construct a mosque over the grave.” [^7] A Probe into The Context of Traditions Now we have to pay attention to the contents of the traditions and derive its correct meanings.