Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem,
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,
Praise be to Allah the Almighty who is the Lord of the Worlds, and Endless Blessings be upon His Beloved Messenger, the Last Prophet of Islam, (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam).Jazakallah for your question. Let it be known that in this day and age, where there are so many groups of Muslims, who all claim themselves to be on the True Path, yet sometimes who may criticise other devotees who attend mazaars regularly, who make supplications there, produce coverings for the grave, and ask for forgiveness, do sometimes become the target of attack by other Muslims.
Such Muslims produce verses from the Qur'an al kareem and hadith, to falsify the devoted Muslims who visit graves and therefore ordinary devotees may become the target of attack. To prevent this from happening, and to prevent people going into extremes, and when asked, is this action a Sunnah? Or where is the proof of this action, then to prevent such events from occuring, devotees are normally under a great duty to observe the etiquette of grave visitation, and only from the Qur'an and Sunnah.
It is a Sunnah of the Beloved Habeeb of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) to visit the graves, as it is stated in a hadith in the Sahih Muslim, that Hadrat Buraydah (Radi Allahu anhu) narrated that the Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) said that:
'I had prevented you from visiting the graves, but now you may visit the graves'.
This hadith repeals the previous statement of the Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) which is normally used against the common Muslims, from preventing them from going to the graveyards, as it now allows them to do so. A similar hadith can be seen in the Sunan Ibn-e-Majah, narrated by Hadrat Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud
(Radi Allahu anhu). There are a number of supplications that can be recited on entering a graveyard.
In a hadith compiled in the Tirmidhi Sharif, and narrated by Hadrat Ibn Abbas that the Beloved Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) passed some graves in the Blessed City of Madinah, when he turned His Enlightened Face towards them and recited:
'Assalam-o-Alaykum ya ahl al quburi yaghfir ullahu lana wa la kum antum salafuna wa nahnu bil athar.'Ziyarat can be done every week of the graves, but it is liked that one goes for the ziarat on a Friday or Thursday, or Saturday or Monday. The best day to go is in the morning of the Friday. It is also permissable to go to the ziyarat of Great Pious people, with the intention of doing ziyarat, because it is believed that such persons do benefit those who attend. But if one sees something that the shar'iyyah disallows, for example when he faces women, or hears music, then he should not merely give up his ziyarat for that sake, but should continue, as no good action should be discontinued merely for the observance of a bad act. He should however regard that act as bad, and then do what he can to prevent that bad act from re-occuring.
The method of ziyarat should be that one should enter the shrine or approach the grave from the foot-end of the grave, and then should stand with his back towards the qiblah, and his face, facing the face of the deceased. After he has recited the du'a quoted above, he should then recite the Surah al Fatihah. He can also recite Surah al Ikhlas, and ask Allah the Almighty for his forgiveness, (if he was a friend), and his own forgiveness. He should then sit at a distance if he wishes, the lenghth of time he would sit with him when he was alive.
If however the grave is within a shrine, or it is a grave of an eminent personality of Islam, the He may make that personality a medium, between himself and Allah the Almighty, as intercession can be sought from the person in the grave. The Qur'an al kareem states:
'wa la taqulu li mayy yuqtalu fi sabil illahi amwat, bal ahya'uww wa la killa tash'urun.''and those who are killed in the path of Allah, do not say they are dead, yes they are alive, but you do not understand.'This verse of the Qur'an al kareem proves that whether a person has been martyred on the battlefield, died of plague, as a student of Islam, or by a fever, are all known as 'shahid', and they are the ones who have been killed in the way of Allah. Therefore, they are not merely dead, as they can hear what you are saying whilst you are visiting them. To the extent that we are not even allowed to refer to them as dead.
In the book 'Radd-al-Mukhtar', and 'Bahar-e-Shar'iyyat', it states that one should not arrive to the grave from the headside, as it is a means of giving difficulty and hardship, to the person who is in the grave. Whilst in the presence of the grave, one may recite any chapters or verses of the Noble Qur'an, some of the more effective being Surah Ya Sin, Surah Mulk, Surah Idha zulzilat, and Surah alhakum ut takathuru. Other supplications and invocations can also be made.
When one goes, or sets off from home to go to the graveyard, he should not indulge himself in false talk. When he reaches the shrine or the graveyard, he should take off his shoes, and stand and attend by the method shown above. There is also great reward in attwending the graves of the beloved on certain nights, for example, Shab-e-barat, and Shab-e-Qadr. It is also permissable to go to visit the graves on Eid days, and also on the Tenth of Dhil Hijjah.
As far as kissing the walls, the graves, the coverings, and the floors of a shrine of a blessed person, then as long as one does not commit any form of shirk, or has the thought of shirk, then he must be very careful. In this day and age, many actions such as these, are referred to as shirk, by all those people who oppose the natural way of Islam, and Islam can be subject to attack by such people, because of these minor incidents. Then it is better for us to have the etiquette shown to us by the Most Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam),and to follow that accordingly, intead of having our Great Ones in disrepute because of our actions.
May Allah the Almighty keep us all on the True Path of the Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama'ah, and may He flourish the name of Islam due to our behaviour, actions, and deeds. (Amin).Wallahu A'lamu BiththawaabM. Waseem Ashrafi
