Thursday 29/January/2026 – 09:27 PM
Sheikh Muhammad Kamal, Secretary of Fatwa at the Egyptian Fatwa House, answered a citizen’s question about the ruling on traveling to the country of his deceased father to visit his grave and read Al-Fatihah to him, a year after his death, wondering whether this act is permissible or forbidden, especially with the presence of those who issue fatwas that it is not permissible.
What is the ruling on traveling to visit one’s father’s grave and recite Al-Fatihah?
Sheikh Muhammad Kamal explained, during television statements, that traveling in order to visit the grave of one’s father is permissible and there is nothing wrong with it, and that visiting graves is permissible according to the text of the Sunnah of the Prophet, citing the words of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family, “I had forbidden you from visiting graves, so visit them,” pointing out that the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, visited his mother’s grave, which indicates the legitimacy of the visit because of the admonition, reminder, and supplication it contains.
The Fatwa Secretary added that reading the Holy Qur’an, including Surah Al-Fatihah, brings its reward to the dead according to the majority of scholars, explaining that the scholars have proven this with authentic hadiths, including the hadith of Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with them both, in the story of the newspaper that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, placed on the two graves, and his saying, “Perhaps it will lighten for them as long as they do not wither,” which is an agreed-upon hadith, pointing out that Imam Al-Nawawi, may God have mercy on him, decided that reading the Qur’an is better than just lightening it. Tasbih Al-Jareed.
Sheikh Muhammad Kamal referred to the statements of a number of prominent scholars on this issue, including Imam Al-Qurtubi, who cited the same hadith as evidence for the desirability of reciting the Qur’an at the graves, and clarified that reading is considered a gift from the living to the dead. He also referred to a hadith narrated by Al-Tabarani and Al-Bayhaqi on the authority of Ibn Omar, may God be pleased with them, regarding reciting the opening of the book and the end of Al-Baqarah at the grave, and clarified that this action was carried out by Muslims generation after generation without any objection, and this is what Ibn Qudamah mentioned in his book “Al-Mughni.” Confirming the consensus of Muslims on dedicating the reward of reading to their dead.
The Fatwa Secretary confirmed that visiting graves is desirable to be accompanied by greeting the people of the graves, praying for them, and reading whatever is available from the Holy Qur’an, which is what was stated by Imam al-Nawawi and Imam al-Shafi’i, may God be pleased with them, explaining that reading the Qur’an, whether at home or at the grave, brings its reward to the dead, and all of that is permissible according to Islamic law and there is nothing wrong with it.
