#659: Ruling on taking Shoes Off at the Grave Yard

QUESTION:

“Assalaamu alaykum warahmatullāh .Please admin my question is, are we to pull off our shoe while entering a graveyard?”

ANSWER:

Wa ‘Alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh.

Know, may Allāh be merciful on us altogether that the majority of the Ulamā have permitted the entering of the grave with the shoes.

This was the position favoured by the Hanafis, the Mālikis and the Shāfi’īs.

It is also narrated from Al-Hasan Al-Basrī and Ibn Sīrīn among the Tābi’īn.

This position was also shared by Imām Abū Muhammad bn Hazm Al-Andalusī – rahimahullāh – as established in the Muhallā.

Except that Ibn Hazm Al-Andalusī made an exemption and excluded the Shoes made from Sabtiyyatayn (Tanned Hide).

This is because of the Sahih Hadith recorded by Abū Dāwud from Bashir Ibn Ma’abad that the Rasūl – salallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam – commanded someone walking the graveyard with the Sabtiyyatayn (Leather Shoes made from Tanned Hides) to pull them off.

Al-Qādī Abū Ya’ala – rahimahullāh – shared this position with Ibn Hazm.

The Hanbalī Schools differed with this position and held that it was Makrūh (A Legal Dislike) altogether.

And Imām Ahmad – rahimahullāh – considered the Hadīth of Bashir Ibn Ma’abad to be the deciding factor on this matter.

Then, Imām Ash-Shawkānī – rahimahullāh – held a Stern position that it was Harām to wear shoes in the graveyard altogether. This he established in his illustrious book Naylu Al-Awtār

This altogether gives four distinct positions:

The position of the majority: that it is permissible to enter the graveyard with shoes.

The position of the Hanbalis: that it is Makrūh.

The position of Ibn Hazm and Abū Ya’ala: that it is the Sabtiyyah that is Harām

The position of Ash-Shawakāni: that it is Harām.

What is strong, and Allāh knows best is that it is recommended to take off the shoes and it is Sunnah.

Except when it is feared that thorns and filth may harm the feet.

Ibn Qudāmah Al-Maqdisī – rahimahullāh – said in Al-Mughnī:

“And he takes off the shoes whenever he enters the graveyard. This is recommended…”

Shaykh Muhammad Sālih Al-‘Uthaymīn – rahimahullāh – said:

“To walk in the graveyard with shoes is opposed to the Sunnah. And what is better for a person is to take off his shoes when he walks in the graveyard unless there is a need…”

This puts the Hanbalī position as the stronger, and Allāh knows best.

Bārakallāhu Fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran.

📚IslamNode