Etiquette of Visiting Graves (Ziyarat al-Qubur) in the Quran & Sunnah
Etiquette of Visiting Graves (Ziyarat al-Qubur) in the Quran & Sunnah
Visiting graves in Islam (ziyarat al-qubur): its permission and purpose, the taught greeting, weeping at the graveside, and the honours and limits of the dead, from the Quran and authentic Sunnah.
Part 1: The Graves in the Light of the Quran
1. Rivalry in increase distracted you — until you visited the graves.
Allah says:
أَلْهَىٰكُمُ ٱلتَّكَاثُرُ
You are distracted by mutual competition in amassing (worldly benefits), (Surah At-Takathur 102:1)
حَتَّىٰ زُرْتُمُ ٱلْمَقَابِرَ
until you reach the graves. (Surah At-Takathur 102:2)
The graveyard ends the competition of this world in a single visit; that is why the Sunnah turned the visit into an act of remembrance, not of dread.
Part 2: Visiting the Graves in the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ
1. “I had forbidden you to visit graves — now visit them.”
Buraydah reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “I forbade you to visit graves, but now you may visit them — for in visiting them there is a reminder.”
Lesson: The visit is an act of worship with a stated purpose: remembering death and the meeting with Allah.
2. He ﷺ taught them what to say when they went out to the graves.
He used to teach his Companions, when they went out to the graveyards, to say: “Peace be upon the inhabitants of these abodes — believers and Muslims. We, Allah willing, shall join you. We ask Allah for well-being for us and for you.”
Lesson: The visitor greets the dead as he greets the living — with salam, and with dua for their well-being and his own.
3. He ﷺ wept at his mother’s grave.
Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ visited his mother’s grave and wept, and made those around him weep. He said: “I asked my Lord’s permission to seek forgiveness for her, and I was not permitted; and I asked permission to visit her grave, and I was permitted. So visit the graves, for they remind you of death.”
Lesson: Tears at a grave are the Sunnah itself; what is not permitted is seeking forgiveness for one who died upon shirk.
4. Do not sit on a grave.
“It is better for one of you to sit on live coals that burn his clothes and reach his skin, than to sit on a grave.”
Lesson: The dead are honoured like the living: their resting place is not stepped on, sat on, or treated as open ground.
5. Two graves, two warnings for the visitor.
The Prophet ﷺ passed by two graves and said: “They are being punished — and not for a great sin (in their own eyes): one of them used to carry tales between people, and the other did not guard himself from urine.”
Lesson: The graveyard’s sermon is short: tale-carrying and carelessness in purity fill graves with torment — leave both before you are carried there.
6. Never take graves as places of worship.
In his final illness the Prophet ﷺ said: “May Allah curse the Jews and the Christians, for they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.”
Lesson: Visiting is remembrance and dua for the dead — not prayer to them, not prostration at their graves, and not festivals built upon them.
Adab No. 55 — all evidences for this entry, taken from the DeenHub Global library. Open any link to read the original hadith or ayah in full.
- Part 1, Point 1: Surah At-Takathur (102), Ayah 1 and Surah At-Takathur (102), Ayah 2
- Part 2, Point 1: Sahih Muslim 977a (Sahih)
- Part 2, Point 2: Sahih Muslim 975 (Sahih)
- Part 2, Point 3: Sunan Abu Dawud 3234 (Sahih (Al-Albani))
- Part 2, Point 4: Sahih Muslim 971a (Sahih)
- Part 2, Point 5: Sahih Muslim 292a (Sahih)
- Part 2, Point 6: Sahih al-Bukhari 435 (Sahih)