The Status of the Great Figures’ Graves in Jewish Tradition Based on Biblical Sources and Islamic Narrations

Graves cannot serve as mosques according to Shia and Sunni narrations, which view this as a Jewish tradition. These narrations appear to be at odds not just with Surah Al-Kahf verse 21 but also with the verses that speak of the persecution and murdering of the prophets by the Jews. In this article, we are going to ascertain the status of the great figures’ tombs in Jewish culture from a trans-Islamic perspective and in a descriptive-analytical manner. According to biblical sources,  pilgrimage, prayer, and even prostration before the great figures’ graves were among Jewish “popular traditions” (minhag ha'am). Some Jewish jurists attempted to restrict these traditions, concerned that they might turn into polytheistic practices. Islamic narrations suggest that during the Prophet’s lifetime, the Hijaz and its surroundings underwent a polytheistic transformation of these Jewish traditions. Then, these prohibitions started to appear in the Islamic narrations as a result of the worry that such practices would affect Muslims.