Endowment: Using a Graveyard Facility When Endowment Status Is Unclear

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Endowment: Using a Graveyard Facility When Endowment Status Is Unclear

English:

Question #2039:

A piece of land has been used for many years now as a public graveyard. The dead body of one of the descendants of the Imams (a.s.) is buried there. Some 30 years ago a bathroom was built to be used for performing ghusl for the dead bodies. It is not known whether the land is held in trust as a public graveyard or a private one — for the tomb of the descendant of the Imam. Nor is it known whether the building of the bathroom was shar‘ī? Is it permissible to use the bathroom for performing ghusl to the dead?

Answer #2039:

It is permissible to wash the Muslim dead in that bathroom, as they have been doing all this time. It is also permissible to lay the dead to rest in that land that constitutes part of the precinct of the mausoleum unless one is sure that it is against the purpose of the endowment.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Endowments