*Riyad al-Salihin* (The Meadows of the Righteous), from the words of the Master of the Messengers, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Chapter: The Desirability of Visiting Graves for Men, and What the Visitor Should Say.
On the authority of Buraydah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"I had previously forbidden you from visiting graves, but now visit them."
Narrated by Muslim.
Among the beneficial points of this hadith:
The hadiths of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
contain the abrogating (*nasikh*) and the abrogated (*mansukh*),
just as found in the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
This only occurs in commands and prohibitions;
as for informative reports (*akhbar*) regarding Allah, Mighty and Majestic,
or regarding His Messenger, peace be upon him,
abrogation is strictly impermissible.
The prohibition against visiting graves is abrogated according to what is stated in this hadith.
Encouragement to visit graves as a recommended and commendable act,
because the command came after a prohibition,
thus indicating permissibility or recommendation, as established in legal theory (*usul al-fiqh*).
The underlying wisdom (*'illah*) in visiting graves
is that it serves as a reminder of the Hereafter,
softens the heart, brings tears to the eyes,
reminds one of death, and shortens worldly hopes.
Visiting graves does not mean seeking assistance from the dead,
supplicating to those within them, or crying out to them for help,
for that is polytheism (*shirk*) which contradicts the wisdom of the legislated visit.
On the authority of 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said:
Whenever it was her night with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
he used to go out,
towards the end of the night, to al-Baqi',
saying: "Peace be upon you, abode of a believing people.
There has come to you what you were promised,
deferred until tomorrow,
and we, if Allah wills, shall soon join you.
O Allah, forgive the inhabitants of Baqi' al-Gharqad."
Narrated by Muslim.
Al-Baqi' is the graveyard of the people of Madinah.
"There has come to you what you were promised deferred until tomorrow"
means that what you were promised would occur in the future has now reached you.
"Deferred" (*mu'ajjalun*)
refers to the appointed period between death and the Resurrection.
Al-Gharqad is a type of thorny tree,
and the cemetery of Madinah was named after it
because this type of tree was present there.
Among the beneficial points of the hadith:
The permissibility of visiting graveyards at night.
The dead have witnessed what Allah promised them of bliss or punishment,
and in this is affirmation of the punishment and bliss of the grave.
The ultimate fate of every living being is death.
The recommendation of seeking forgiveness for the believers,
and that this brings benefit to them.
Regarding the meaning of the exception (*in sha' Allah*) in his saying, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:
"And we, if Allah wills, shall soon join you,"
there are two interpretations:
The first:
It refers back to the meaning of his saying:
"Abode of a believing people,"
meaning:
"And we shall join you in a state of faith, if Allah wills,"
since no believer is safe from tribulation;
we ask Allah for safety.
The second:
It is not spoken out of doubt,
but rather in accordance with the customary idiom of the Arabic language.
Do you not see the saying of the Exalted:
﴿You shall surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if Allah wills, in safety﴾?
And doubt cannot possibly be attributed to Allah the Exalted,
the Knower of the unseen.
On the authority of Buraydah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
used to teach them, whenever they went out to the graveyards,
that the speaker among them should say:
"Peace be upon you, inhabitants of these abodes, among the believers and Muslims,
and we, if Allah wills, shall soon join you.
I ask Allah for well-being for us and for you."
Narrated by Muslim.
Among the beneficial points of the hadith:
The Prophet's keenness, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to teach his Ummah what benefits them.
Knowledge precedes action,
which is why the Messenger, peace be upon him,
taught them before they acted.
It is impermissible to undertake an act of worship without knowledge.
The recommendation of supplicating for the dead,
including oneself in the supplication,
and specifically designating the greetings of peace and supplications for the people of faith.
On the authority of Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
passed by some graves in Madinah,
so he turned his face toward them and said:
"Peace be upon you, O inhabitants of the graves.
May Allah forgive us and you.
You are our predecessors, and we are following in your footsteps."
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi.
"Our predecessors" (*salafuna*) means those dear ones who died before a person.
"Following in your footsteps" (*nahnu bi-l-athar*)
means we shall be following you shortly.
Chapter: The Dislike of Wishing for Death Due to Harm That Has Befallen One,
and That There Is No Harm in It Due to Fear of Tribulation in One's Religion.
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him,
that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"None of you should wish for death;
for if he is a doer of good, he may increase in it,
and if he is an evildoer, he may seek to make amends."
Agreed upon, and this is the wording of al-Bukhari.
In a narration by Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him,
from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who said:
"None of you should wish for death,
nor pray for it before it comes to him;
for when one dies, his deeds come to an end,
and indeed, a believer's life only adds to his goodness."
"He may seek to make amends" (*yusta'tab*) means that he might return to Allah the Exalted
in repentance and redressing injustices,
seeking the pleasure of Allah the Exalted.
Among the beneficial points of the hadith:
The prohibition against wishing for death and asking for it from Allah the Exalted
before it descends upon a person,
because an increase in life spent in piety towards Allah the Exalted
brings an increase in good deeds.
Supplication is answered when it coincides with an hour of response;
for this reason, wishing for death was prohibited,
and it is counted among the disliked forms of supplication.
A believer should take advantage of his life
in obedience to Allah and in increasing good deeds,
and in holding oneself accountable and repenting
from whatever sins and misdeeds have issued from him.
On the authority of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
"None of you should wish for death because of harm that has afflicted him;
but if he must do so,
let him say:
'O Allah, keep me alive as long as life is good for me,
and take my soul if death is good for me.'"
Agreed upon.
On the authority of Qays ibn Abi Hazim, who said:
We visited Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, may Allah be pleased with him, to inquire after his health,
and he had been cauterized seven times.
So he said:
"Our companions who have passed away before us departed
without the world diminishing anything of their reward,
while we have attained worldly wealth for which we find no place except the dust.
And were it not that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
forbade us from praying for death,
I would have prayed for it."
Then we came to him another time while he was building a wall of his,
and he said:
"Indeed, a Muslim is rewarded for everything he spends,
except for that which he puts into this dust."
Agreed upon,
and this is the wording of al-Bukhari's narration.
"Departed before us" (*salafu*)
means they died and went to Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
"Without the world diminishing anything of their reward"
means they did not enjoy any worldly pleasures
that would diminish what has been prepared for them in the Hereafter.
"We find no place for it except the dust"
means we accumulated wealth beyond our need,
finding no place to store it except in the earth,
burying it therein out of fear of theft.
Among the beneficial points of the hadith:
The prohibition against wishing for death.
The virtue of Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, may Allah be pleased with him,
his deep awareness of his Master,
and his severe self-reproach and self-reckoning,
even in permissible matters.
Encouragement to visit the sick.
The virtue of emulating those who died upon Islam
before partaking in any of the worldly luxuries.
Spending on construction and building
carries no reward if it is done without a genuine need or necessity,
because it is putting wealth in other than its proper place,
and because spending excessively on building fosters attachment to this world
and distracts from the Hereafter.
The permissibility of cauterization when needed,
as it is the final remedy;
however, one should know that cauterization is disliked
because it conflicts with optimal reliance on Allah (*tawakkul*).
Chapter: Scrupulousness (*Wara'*) and Avoiding Doubtful Matters.
Allah the Exalted said:
“When ye welcomed it with your tongues, and uttered with your mouths that whereof ye had no knowledge, ye counted it a trifle. In the sight of Allah it is very great.” (24:15)
And the Exalted said:
﴿Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful.﴾
On the authority of al-Nu'man ibn Bashir, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, saying:
"Verily, the lawful is clear,
and the unlawful is clear,
and between them are doubtful matters about which many people have no knowledge.
So whoever guards against doubtful matters
clears his religion and his honor,
and whoever falls into doubtful matters
falls into the unlawful,
like a shepherd who grazes his flock around a sanctuary,
on the verge of pasturing within it.
Truly, every king has a sanctuary;
truly, the sanctuary of Allah is His prohibitions.
Truly, in the body there is a piece of flesh:
if it is sound, the entire body is sound,
and if it is corrupted, the entire body is corrupted.
Truly, it is the heart."
Agreed upon.
Both scholars recorded it through various chains with similar wordings.
"Clear"
meaning evident and manifest.
"Doubtful matters"
meaning ambiguous issues, because they resemble both the lawful and the unlawful.
"So whoever guards against doubtful matters"
meaning steers clear of ambiguities and takes precautions against them,
"clears his religion and his honor,"
meaning he safeguards his religion against deficiency
and his honor against defamation.
"The sanctuary (hima)"
refers to protected pastureland reserved by the ruler,
who warns against grazing within it.
"His prohibitions"
meaning the acts of disobedience that Allah has forbidden,
such as murder and theft.
"A lump of flesh (mudghah)"
meaning a small piece of flesh.
Among the lessons of the hadith:
Allah Almighty revealed the Book unto His servant,
clarifying within it for the Ummah all that it needs regarding the lawful and the unlawful,
and He entrusted the clarification of what is intricate in the revelation
to the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
By Allah, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not pass away
until he had left the path clear and manifest.
Allah and His Messenger left no lawful matter without making it clear,
nor any unlawful matter without making it clear.
However, some matters are more evident in their clarity than others;
thus, whatever is plainly manifest, widely known, and whose ruling is established,
leaves no one with an excuse of ignorance
in a land where Islam is prevalent.
There is an intermediate realm between the lawful and the unlawful
where the two become conflated,
and whoever guards against it has indeed attained salvation.
Doubtful matters that are not clearly known to be lawful
or unlawful to many people,
just as the Prophet (peace be upon him) informed us,
may become clear to some individuals as being either lawful or unlawful
due to the additional knowledge they possess.
Whoever finds a matter doubtful must leave it,
because one who indulges in doubtful matters despite their ambiguity
was described by the Prophet, peace be upon him,
as having fallen into the unlawful.
The driving force behind safeguarding one's religion and honor,
or falling into doubtful matters,
is the rectitude or corruption of the heart's inner state.
For if the heart's state is sound,
the actions of the limbs will be sound,
and the servant will avoid prohibitions and guard against doubtful matters.
A servant ought to safeguard
the matters of his religion, uphold nobility of character,
and shun whatever undermines it;
for whoever enters places of ill repute
will be suspected. Falling into clear prohibitions
does not happen all at once, but rather gradually;
for whoever excessively indulges in disliked and doubtful matters
develops the audacity to commit
what is fundamentally prohibited, becoming addicted to it.
A servant should take precautions for his religion,
thus leaving that which is harmless
out of caution against falling into that which is harmful.
Knowledge is a light through which the servant perceives
the true realities of things that remain hidden
from many people.
Inward righteousness leads to outward righteousness,
and vice versa.
[Riyad al-Salihin]