240. Women Visiting The Graves

By Asma Bint Shameem

There’s a difference of opinion among the scholars about women visiting graves. 

According to some of the ulama it's allowed for women to visit the graveyard because of the general meaning of the hadeeth in which the Prophet Sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa Sallam  said:

 "I had forbid you from visiting the graveyards. As for now, visit them, for they remind you of death." (Muslim)

But some ulama forbade the women from going to graveyards because there's another hadeeth that says: 

"Allaah has cursed the Zawaaraat (Visitors-Feminine) of the graveyards, and those that build mosques and place lamps on them" (at-Tirmidhi and others)

And so in the opinion of the second group, it’s haraam for women to go to graves, no matter who the deceased might be. 

The first group consider the word Zawaaraat as something done repetitively on a regular basis. 

Therefore, in their opinion the prohibition for women ONLY applies IF they keep visiting the graves AGAIN and AGAIN and make it a habit that's done FREQUENTLY. 

So there are certain conditions that women have to keep in mind, if they want to follow the opinion that they can visit the graves. 

Those conditions are:

1. They are dressed Islaamically and covered properly 

2. No screaming, wailing and going hysterical 

3. They don't make it a frequent repetitive thing. 

If however someone wants to take the safest opinion then it's best to avoid going there. 

And Allaah knows best