Is what befell the family a punishment for demolishing the cemetery and building upon it? And is allocating an alternative plot of land as a cemetery sufficient for repentance, or must the house be vacated and the cemetery restored to its original state?
What happened to the family may be due to the desecration of graves and the dishonoring of corpses, which is a forbidden act, as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Breaking the bone of a dead person is like breaking it when he was alive." The perpetrator must repent, and the one benefiting from the land must vacate and return it, for the grave is an endowment for whoever is buried in it. This land has the ruling of usurped land. It is not permissible to dig up a grave and remove the deceased from it. As for allocating alternative land or assessing the family's living conditions, this should be referred to the Sharia court and the Department of Endowments.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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