Women visiting the graveyard
Q: What is the Shar'ee ruling regarding women going to the graveyard to visit the graves of their deceased relatives?
A: It is best for women to refrain from going to the cemetery and public places, especially in such times of corruption and fitnah.
In today's circumstances, it is not at all easy to control and restrict the fitnah. The freedom in people’s behaviour and dressing is quite evident. When this is not going to be restricted and controlled, then unimaginable fitnah will begin to escalate.
The Qur’aan and Hadeeth encourages women to remain within the confines of their homes. The obligations of Janaazah, burial, etc, are all quite easily and comfortably carried out by the men folk.
The reason for not allowing females to visit the graveyard nowadays is because of the corrupt environment we live in, where there are overwhelming forces of vice and evil and women do not adhere to the laws of the Shari'ah, and hence strange men are attracted towards them. Furthermore, graveyards are generally found in desolate areas where even men are not safe from being held up, mugged, etc.
Also, the number of sexual abuse and rape incidents in society at present is not a hidden fact. Additionally, the laws of the Shari'ah governing women, should they need to leave their homes, are so openly flouted that it is almost unimaginable that they can be safe from the evil and vice that has infested society.
The Hadeeth commands women that should they have to leave the home for some need, then they should do so in unattractive clothing, un-perfumed, avoiding the attention of men. Furthermore, they are commanded not to intermingle with men but to rather keep to the sides of the roads/paths.
In the light of the above and many other evils which are beyond our wisdom and comprehension, our Ulama have discouraged women from leaving their homes in order to remove the causes of these problems from the very root.
Therefore, it is important for females not to visit the graveyards, just as they are discouraged nowadays from attending the congregational prayer in the masaajid.
قوله ( وقيل تحرم على النساء ) وسئل القاضي عن جواز خروج النساء إلى المقابر فقال لا تسأل عن الجواز والفساد في مثل هذا وإنما تسأل عن مقدار ما يلحقها من اللعن فيه واعلم بأنها كلما قصدت الخروج كانت في لعنة الله وملائكته وإذا خرجت تحفها الشياطين من كل جانب وإذا أتت القبور تلعنها روح الميت وإذا رجعت كانت في لعنة الله كذا في الشرح عن التاتارخانية قال البدر العيني في شرح البخاري وحاصل الكلام أنها تكره للنساء بل تحرم في هذا الزمان لا سيما نساء مصر لأن خروجهن على وجه فيه فساد وفتنة ا هـ وفي السراج وأما النساء إذا أردن زيارة القبور إن كان ذلك لتجديد الحزن والبكاء والندب كما جرت به عادتهن فلا تجوز لهن الزيارة وعليه يحمل الحديث الصحيح لعن الله زائرات القبور وإن كان للاعتبار والترحم والتبرك بزيارة قبور الصالحين من غير ما يخالف الشرع فلا بأس به إذا كن عجائز وكره ذلك للشابات كحضورهن في المساجد للجماعات (حاشيه الطحطاوي على مراقي الفلاح ص620)
وحيث أبحنا لها الخروج فإنما يباح بشرط عدم الزينة وتغير الهيئة إلى ما يكون داعية لنظر الرجال والاستمالة قال الله تعالى ولا تبرجن تبرج الجاهلية الأولى (رد المحتار 3/604)
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