What do you say when you visit a Muslim grave?

In more detail

• The greeting

  The Prophet ﷺ taught his Companions, when they went out to the graves, to say: Peace be upon you, people of these dwellings, believers and Muslims; we shall, if Allah wills, join you. I ask Allah for well-being for us and for you. ʿĀʾishah heard him at al-Baqīʿ say: Peace be upon you, abode of believing people… O Allah, forgive the people of Baqīʿ al-Gharqad.

  Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 975 · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 974a

• Then pray for them

  Greet and pray for the one you visit and for the whole graveyard, preferably with the wording of the ḥadīth. “O Allah, forgive us and them” is good. The Mālikī text sets no fixed day, time, length or wording: reflect, and busy yourself with duʿāʾ.

  Al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī), 5:310–311 · Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), 2:421–422 and 2:424–425 · Al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, with Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī (Mālikī), 1:422

• Why we visit

  The Prophet ﷺ first forbade visiting graves, then said: visit them, for they remind you of the Hereafter.

  Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 977a · Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1054 (ṣaḥīḥ, Darussalam; al-Tirmidhī: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ)

• Manners at the graves

  Do not sit on graves or tread on them. The Prophet ﷺ told a man walking between the graves in sandals to take them off; Ibn Qudāmah calls this recommended unless there is a need, such as thorns. Al-Nawawī: do not touch or kiss the grave.

  Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 972a · Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1052 (ṣaḥīḥ, Darussalam; al-Tirmidhī: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ) · Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3230 (ḥasan, al-Albānī) · Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī), 2:421–422 and 2:424–425 · Al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī), 5:310–311

• Reciting Qurʾān there

  The Ḥanafī text has the visitor recite Yā Sīn and other sūrahs and ask Allah to send its reward. Al-Shāfiʿī recommended reciting what is easy, then praying for them. Aḥmad’s later position: no harm. The Mālikī text calls it disliked; later scholars saw no harm in it. Ask your imam.

  Can you read the Qurʾān for someone who has died?

  Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār (Ḥanafī), 2:242 · Al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ (Shāfiʿī), 5:310–311 · Ibn Qudāmah, al-Mughnī (Ḥanbalī, with the other schools), 2:422–424 · Al-Dardīr, al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, with Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī (Mālikī), 1:423

• Another greeting you may hear

  “Peace be upon you, people of the graves; may Allah forgive us and you; you went before us and we follow.” This version is graded weak; the greeting in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim above is the sound one.

  Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 1053 (WEAK: ḍaʿīf, Darussalam; al-Tirmidhī: ḥasan gharīb)