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What is the ruling on exhuming bones from graves and placing them in a cemetery to make use of the land?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is not permissible to remove bones or build on land that contains graves, because it is the property of the deceased and is considered part of the cemetery. If there are graves, the land must be left untouched and not excavated. However, if there is an extreme necessity to widen a public road that serves Muslims, it is permissible to transfer the remains after consulting the ruler. But taking a part of the cemetery to expand houses is not permissible.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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