Visiting a gravesite

Just wondering - i thought i remembered reading somewhere, definitely from an Islamic source, that the spirit of the deceased person is always ‘aware’ of who visits her/his grave. Is this accurate? Just wondering. Does the person’s soul know WHO has visited the grave? If people are reciting Surah Fatiha over the person’s grave, does that person know that they have come to recite Surah Fatiha? Do they feel peace? And i thought i read in the same source that you shouldn’t cry at someone’s gravesite - according to the written source (which i can’t remember), the reason for this is because the person’s soul ko taqleef mahsoos hoti hai. i am just seeking to clarify the above from the perspective of Islam, no superstitions or folklore please. Would really love to read anything that is backed up with either ayats or something(s) from the hadith.

Muchas gracias amigos.

I have heard that the deceased person is well aware of his/her visitors, they could see you and thats why you should say salam to them as you stand before their grave. :flower1: I have no ayats nor hadith I can provide you.

ahhhhh…nice question…I just visited a gravesite yesterday and i was thinking of this same thing…Backed up ahadith will be appreciated…:flower1:

There is nothing in the Quran about the dead being aware of who visits their grave or not or whether crying for the departed hurts them. I'm sort of disturbed that Galaxy only asked for references from hadith and not the Quran at all.

Yes ive heard that the dead being is aware that
you visit his/her grave.
My dad died at June 26 2003.
And on Eid day we goes to his grave.
My family also told me if you cry and u stand by a grave
the died beinig ko takleef hota hai.

Nilu.

Hindus cremate the deads at public cremation grounds, and the particular place is not reserved, unless the dead is a top class leader.
In this case what can be the position of soul, hence at one place thousands, lacs are cremated.

Today graves are getting costlier day by day, especially in Europe and Latin America, and people prefer electric cremation.

Think of it as dimensions. Our soul apart from our body is an entity in itself. Once our soul leaves the body, the physical dimension is left behind. Our soul has transgressed onto the next plain but on the same level till judgement day in His divine plan.

I don't have any sources of the following questions but what I do know is that we are asked to be considerate of the deceased because they MAY be aware of us being there. If they still can feel, its harsh and selfish to cry and leave them ALONE.

I believe that they do feel and are aware since the judgement of the grave requires the soul to feel. Another reason why I do believe that they feel is that if one gives in their name of sadqa-e-jaria, they recieve the rewards till judgement day and gives their soul solace.

Another proof of a different plain is, deceased visiting us in our dreams.

A soul does have feeling, we call it a conscience, when alive and when dead, its just an explainable energy passed on to the next plain. What I gather from sources such as you've read is to be considerate and show respect to the deceased. Because thats us, NEXT. . .

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Nilu: *
Yes ive heard that the dead being is aware that
you visit his/her grave.
My dad died at June 26 2003.
And on Eid day we goes to his grave.
My family also told me if you cry and u stand by a grave
the died beinig ko takleef hota hai.

Nilu.
[/QUOTE]

well assuming that you are a girl....

Prophet Mohammamd PBUH have personally descirbed LANAT on women who visit graveyards..

I cannot phrase the exact words, but i ahve read that on a graveyard board here in our province.... It mentions that clearly...

and regarding question of NADIA, I need to ask some one in my office, who might be pretty helpfull I undrestand..

^^ I think the following article will give the right information. In think that women are not allowed at the time of burial.

The real and only reason for us to visit the graves is that we should realise that one day we too will put into our graves and the accounting of deeds will start. All the souls of the dead are in Alam e Barazakh. The good souls will shown what is in store for them and similarly the bad Souls will be shown what has been prepared for them.

Q710 :May I refer to an earlier answer by you when you suggested that women are allowed to visit graves. If the Hadith you have quoted is authentic, then it shall supersede earlier sayings by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), concerning the same subject. Could you please include the full text of the Hadith reported by Lady Aisha and comment further on the subject.

A710 : The relevant part of the Hadith which I have quoted mentions that Lady Aisha was questioned on her return from visiting the grave of her brother about the Prophet's prohibition on visiting graves. She answered: "Yes, he did prohibit that, but he later encouraged visiting them." Before mentioning the full text of the Hadith, let me mention two authentic Hadiths on this subject.

The first is reported by Buraidah, a companion of the Prophet, who quotes him as saying: "I had ordered you not to visit graves, now I say: Visit them; and I did prohibit you to keep sacrificial meat for more than three days, now I say: Keep what you wish; etc." (Related by Muslim). This Hadith is clear that an early prohibition has been abrogated. Scholars suggest that in the early years of Islam, the Prophet was keen to restrict every action which had even the slightest connotation of associating partners with Allah. Because people used to do various rituals at graveyards, the Prophet wanted them to get used to accepting death as a natural thing, determined by Allah, and which does not justify any wailing or the performance of any rituals. In the case of sacrificial meat, the early prohibition encouraged the distribution of meat at a time when the circumstances of the Muslims were hard and things scarce. When the Muslim state became richer, the Prophet allowed people to keep what they wished of the meat of animals they had sacrificed.

The second Hadith is that which encourages visiting graveyards. Abu-Hurairah reports that the Prophet "visited his mother's grave and wept until everyone around him was in tears. He then said: I sought my Lord's permission to pray Him to forgive her, but this permission was not given me. I also sought His permission to visit her grave, and He has permitted me. Visit graves, because such visits remind you of death." (Related by Muslim). Some of the scholars do maintain that women are not allowed to visit graves. In support of their view, they cite the Hadith which prevents women from following funerals and the one which quotes the Prophet as saying: "Allah curses the women who visit graves frequently and the ones who pray at them and put lanterns at them" (related by Abu-Dawood and An-Nassaie). Al-Qurtubi, a renowned scholar, explains that this curse is limited to those who carry the habit of visiting graves to excess.

This is clearly indicated by the way the Arabic text of this Hadith is phrased. He suggests that the reasons for such a curse may be that such frequent visits may lead a woman to abandon her duties, or cause her to dress improperly or she may often wail at the grave, etc. If she visits graves and does not do any of these things, then that is appropriate because both men and women need to remember death. A larger number of scholars, however, are of the view that visiting graves is permitted for women. In support of their view, they cite the Hadith of Lady Aisha, which is related by Al-Hakim on the authority of Abdullah ibn Maulaikah, who saw her coming back from visit to the grave of her brother, Abdurrahman. He asked her : "Had not the Prophet prohibited this?" She said: "Yes, he had prohibited it, but he later encouraged visiting them (graves)."

There is nothing in this Hadith to suggest that this permission applies to men only. Indeed, we have an authentic Hadith which may be quoted in support of this view. Anas ibn Malik, a companion of the Prophet, reports: "The Prophet (peace be upon him) passed by a woman crying at a grave. He said to her: Fear Allah and be patient. She said: Leave me alone, for you have not had a calamity like mine and you have not known him. She was subsequently told that she was talking to the Prophet. She went to him at his place where she found no door-keepers. She said: I did not know you. He said: Real patience is that shown at the first shock" (related by Al-Bukhari). The evidence in this Hadith is that the Prophet saw a woman visiting a grave and he did not prohibit her from doing so. Nor did he suggest to his companions who were with him that her action was wrong. Indeed, he approved of it. Such approval is sufficient to consider the action of the women, i.e. visiting the grave of a close relative, permissible.

From - Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News - Jeddah )

Nilu, i am so sorry. i pray your father’s soul is at rest Insha’Allah and he is in a better place now. Ameen.

All the posts above were extremely informative. Thank you everyone.

i think the hadith posted by Ibn Sadique in detail, should put to rest for once and for all this issue of women visiting graves. Until and unless i read something contradictory from a reputable source, i shall continue to believe in the validity of what has been posted above.

One of the few ‘conditions’ attached, according to Ibn Sadique’s post above, are that women shouldn’t visit graves in excess; obviously, performing any sort of ritual at the gravesite would be completely erroneous and wrong.

The reason i was asking is because i visited my Nana’s grave in Pakistan, for the first time, over a year ago… very close to my birthday last year. Obviously since i live in Canada, there’s no question of me visiting the gravesite an ‘excess’ number of times.

CocoNut, Your response makes sense to me. :flower1:
What if, say, the person who is visiting the grave wasn’t personally known to the deceased during the deceased’s lifetime? Does the soul still know that this is ‘falaan falaan’ visiting my grave? Do you know what i mean - put yourself in these shoes: what if you chose to visit the gravesite of someone who didn’t know you while you were alive; would that soul still know who you are when you come to pay your respects at the grave? Okay, so it’s a very dumb question but it’s important to me.

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by aahmed: *
There is nothing in the Quran about the dead being aware of who visits their grave or not or whether crying for the departed hurts them. I'm sort of disturbed that Galaxy only asked for references from hadith and not the Quran at all.
[/QUOTE]

the reason i didn't ask any supportive ayahs for this particular subject is that i already know that there are no ayahs in Quran regarding visiting graves and deeased knowing the one who is visiting.

The soul feels, thats as much as I can elaborate on it. I don’t know what it feels or who it feels or recognizes at a particular time but I do know that it feels both positive and negative emotions. Your question dwells into the mystically unknown.

Ok, I’ll try to put myself in the deceased’s shoes instead of the visitor. Now lets say, I had ties and networks of co-workers in an organization. That co-workers knew me through word of mouth and thats how word travelled to you that I’m in the very company in some department. Now there is a connection between you and me, although I don’t know you but you know me. Do I feel your presence? Yes and No. Yes, because if you have done a particular task through the network of co-workers and it has passed along to me. I will know that someone did it. And No, because I didn’t have the chance to meet you but all I know is that you are someone who did a deed for me.

In the same respect, when you come and visit my grave. I will know that someone is there but not particulary who it is if I don’t know who they are, atleast thats what my theory is to best answer your question.

p.s. Only by the will of Allah

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Galaxy: *
the reason i didn't ask any supportive ayahs for this particular subject is that i already know that there are no ayahs in Quran regarding visiting graves and deeased knowing the one who is visiting.
[/QUOTE]

well there's certainly something to the effect of dead being different from live people and the Prophet's teaching having no effect on them.

[35:22] Neither are the living and the dead alike. Surely Allah makes whom He pleases hear, and you cannot make those hear who are in the graves

PakistaniAbroad: Appears to me superstitions of the person still being able to hear and understand what goes around their own grave are just borrowed from cultures in which Islam flourished.

I was wathcing 60 mins yesterdaya dn they had a program on DNA testing and identifying the dead from Saddams pograms. One Iraqi doctor said that it is very important for a muslim to be able to visit the grave because according to Islam, the dead can see you through the grave. So is this true?

well it must be true for that genteleman then.. .isn't it all a matter of faith anyway? . and then comes varying opinions and then a majority consensus.. so anything is true and then nothing could be..

per the verses i found in the Holy Book for Muslims, it couldn't be true.. but some Muslims give little importance to their Book these days.. Cultures overpower Religions.

^ and aint that a beautiful thing.

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Nadia_H: *
What if, say, the person who is visiting the grave wasn't personally known to the deceased during the deceased's lifetime? Does the soul still know that this is 'falaan falaan' visiting my grave? Do you know what i mean - put yourself in these shoes: what if **you
* chose to visit the gravesite of someone who didn't know you while you were alive; would that soul still know who you are when you come to pay your respects at the grave? Okay, so it's a very dumb question but it's important to me.
[/QUOTE]
Adding to what CocoNut said, I think the connection extends beyond the scenario given. What if you visit the grave of an ancestor, or a politician/artist/whatever who lived long ago? I don't think there needs to be a direct connection. What is important is that you show respect for the deceased. If you show respect it is like declaring to the deceased that you are a friend, a sort of on the spot personal introduction. If the deceased can understand that you are well-intentioned your condolences and prayers will most likely be greeted warmly, just as if you were a friend in life.

Very interesting topic. I always say the kalma while passing a muslim cemetary. I was always told that the dead can hear you praying for their souls.

interesting

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by PakistaniAbroad: *

well there's certainly something to the effect of dead being different from live people and the Prophet's teaching having no effect on them.

[35:22] Neither are the living and the dead alike. Surely Allah makes whom He pleases hear, and you cannot make those hear who are in the graves

PakistaniAbroad: Appears to me superstitions of the person still being able to hear and understand what goes around their own grave are just borrowed from cultures in which Islam flourished.
[/QUOTE]

I wasn't aware of this one. Thanks for this reference and this answers my question but Nadia's question still remains unanswered. I understand PakistaniAbroad's response and although it does answer it but can there be a detailed answer to the very first post of this thread?

Regards,
Galaxy