78 - Chapter: Walking in Sandals Between Graves

3230 - Sahl ibn Bakkar narrated to us, al-Aswad ibn Shayban narrated to us, from Khalid ibn Sumayr al-Sadusi, from Bashir ibn Nahik, from Bashir, the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace — his name in the pre-Islamic period was Zahm ibn Ma'bad. He migrated to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said: "What is your name?" He said: "Zahm." He said: "Rather, you are Bashir." He said: "While I was walking with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he passed by the graves of the polytheists, so he said: 'These people died with much good [that they had missed].' Then he passed by the graves of the Muslims, so he said: 'These people died with much good [that they attained].' Then he saw a man walking in his sandals between the graves, so he said: 'O wearer of the sandals, remove your sandals.'"

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Also transmitted by Muslim (972), and al-Tirmidhi (1071) and (1072) via the chain of Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jabir, from Busr ibn Ubaydullah, from Abu Idris al-Khawlani, from Wathilah ibn al-Asqa', from Abu Murshid al-Ghanawi. He added to the chain: Abu Idris al-Khawlani. Al-Tirmidhi said after mentioning the chain of al-Walid ibn Muslim, which does not include Abu Idris al-Khawlani: "This is the correct one." And he transmitted from al-Bukhari his statement: "The hadith of Ibn al-Mubarak is an error; Ibn al-Mubarak erred in it." We say: Likewise, Abu Hatim al-Razi said this, as his son transmitted from him in "al-'Ilal" 1/80. Al-Daraqutni said in "al-'Ilal" 7/43: "What is preserved is what al-Walid — meaning Ibn Muslim — and those who followed him said from Ibn Jabir, not mentioning Abu Idris in it."

It is also in "Musnad Ahmad" (17215), and "Sahih Ibn Hibban" (2320) and (2324).

Al-Nawawi said in "Sharh Muslim": In it is an explicit prohibition of praying toward a grave. Al-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "I disapprove of a created being being venerated to the extent that his grave is made into a mosque, out of fear of tribulation upon him and upon the people after him."

We say: Al-Shafi'i also said in "al-Umm" 1/278: "If one prays toward a grave, it is valid for him, though he has done wrong."

Al-Munawi said in "Fayd al-Qadir" 6/390: "In al-Bukhari, from Umar, there is what indicates that the prohibition of that does not entail the invalidity of the prayer." We say: Al-Bukhari mentioned it as a suspended narration in the Book of Prayer, Chapter: Are the Graves of the Polytheists of the Pre-Islamic Period Digged Up and Their Places Made into Mosques? He said: "Umar saw Anas ibn Malik praying at a grave, so he said: 'The grave, the grave!' and he did not command him to repeat [the prayer]." Abd al-Razzaq connected it (1581) from Ma'mar, from Thabit al-Bunani, from Anas ibn Malik, who said: "Umar ibn al-Khattab saw me praying at a grave and kept saying: 'The grave!' He said: I thought he was saying: 'The moon,' so I kept raising my head to the sky looking, and he said: 'I am only saying: the grave — do not pray toward it.'"