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Ruling on Constructing Concrete Pavements in a Graveyard

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Darul Iftaa Jordan
Is it permissible to construct concrete pavements in an endowed graveyard to avoid getting people`s feet muddy during the rainy season?

Answer:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

The ruling on constructing pavements in a graveyard varies in accordance with the nature of the graveyard itself. If it is a private graveyard, then it is permissible to construct such pavements as the owner sees fit, and this isn`t considered disliked. As for the public graveyard, that is for general use: if the pavements will narrow the space of that graveyard and hinder the people from benefitting from it, then it is considered prohibited. However, if it doesn`t affect the nature of the area endowed as a graveyard and changes nothing in it, then constructing them is permissible.

Imam Zakaria Al-Ansari (May Allah have mercy on him) says, "An-Nawawi said in Al-Majmou` that it is prohibited to build any structure in a public graveyard………"{Asna Al-Matalib, 1/328}.

In conclusion, if the aforementioned pavements don`t narrow the space of that graveyard, don`t hinder the benefit received from it, and are useful, then constructing them is permissible. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

This answer was collected from the official government Iftaa Department of Jordan.

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