Question:
Is it permissible to plaster grave and to place an inscribed headstone? If not, then what is the ruling of the plastered graves and mausoleums built on the graves of the Righteous and Awliyaa of Allah? Some of them even have Quranic verses inscribed on them.
Answer:
The Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم prohibited from plastering graves.[1] Therefore this is not permissible at all. Only a plain rock may be placed as a means of distinguishing (a grave from the absence of one). It is reprehensible to place an inscribed headstone.[2] Those mausoleums which are built on the graves of the Righteous are all against Shariah. These righteous people, themselves, never liked it.
(Hazrat Mufti Maulana) Khalid Saifullah Rahmani (May Allah preserve him)
Kitabul Fatawa Vol.3 Pg.231
Footnotes from the Editor of Kitabul Fatawa:
[1] Mishkat Sharif Pg.148
وفي الجامع الصغير للسيوطي : نهى أن يقعد على القبر و أن يجصص أو يبنى عليه (2:687) ولا نرى ان يزاد على ما خرج منه ونكره ان يجصص او يطين, ان النبي نهى عن تربيع القبور وتجصيصها. (كتاب الاثار للامام محمد ص 96
Maulana Ahmed Radha Khan Fadhil Barelvi writes in his book ‘Zubdatuz Zakiyah’ Pg.65, “To do any masonry work on graves, sit on them or face them in Salah are all prohibited.”
[2] نهى أن يكتب على القبر شيئا. رواه ابن ماجه و الحاكم في المستدرك كلاهما عن جابر. حديث صحيح. (الجامع الصغير للسيوطي 2:687)
