Is It Permissible for Women to Visit Graveyards? Can One Donate Reward to the Deceased?

Answered by Sidi Salman Younas

Question

[1] Is it permissible under the Hanafi madhab for women to visit the graveyard?

[2] Every year on my mothers death anniversary my dad makes some sweet food and he distributes it at our local mosque for people to eat and enjoy and to make dua for my mother. Is this ok? It’s not in any way a celebration but to remember my mother and make and receive duas.

Answer

I pray you are well.

[1] It is permitted for women to visit a graveyard, provided there is (a) no fear of fitna and (b) no wailing or excessive lamenting. [Ibn `Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

[2] There is nothing wrong with the practice you described. Rather, it is recommended by the vast majority of scholars to donate reward to the deceased as long as there are no blameworthy or prohibited aspects within the gathering itself.  [Ibn Humam, Fath al-Qadir; ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Wasalam
[Ustadh] Salman
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani 

Born and raised in New York, Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studied Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. He is now in his final year of his PhD at Oxford University, looking at the early evolution of the Hanafi madhab.
His teachers include: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, Shaykh Salah Abu’l Hajj, Shaykh Ashraf Muneeb, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Shaykh Ahmad Snobar, Shaykh Ali Hani, Shaykh Hamza Bakri, Ustadh Rajab Harun and others.
Ustadh Salman’s personal interests include research into the fields of law/legal methodology, hadith, theology, as well as political theory, government, media, and ethics. He is also an avid traveler and book collector. He currently resides in the UK with his wife.