Rules Concerning Graveyards: Building on Land Adjacent to a Cemetery with Uncertain Burial History

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Rules Concerning Graveyards: Building on Land Adjacent to a Cemetery with Uncertain Burial History

English:

Question #2091:

We have planned to build a medical centre on a piece of derelict land situated on the periphery of the cemetery. However, we could not absolutely conclude that the land was not used, sometime in the past, as a burial ground. This is borne out by the fact that the residents disagree among themselves one way or the other. What they seem to agree on is that there are dead bodies buried around the piece of land intended for building the medical centre. What should we do?

Answer #2091:

There is no objection to it unless it is [a] proved that the land is held in trust for the purpose of burying the Muslim dead as an endowment, [b] the land is a designated public place for the residents to hold ceremonies on it, or [c] building the medical centre would lead to exhuming the bodies of the believers or subject their graves to an act of desecration. Otherwise, it is not permissible.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Rules Concerning Graveyards