عن أبي الهياج الأسدي قال: قال لي علي رضي الله عنه : «ألا أَبْعَثُك على ما بَعَثَني عليه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ؟ أن لا تَدْعَ صُورَةً إلا طَمَسْتَها، ولا قَبْرًا مُشْرِفًا إلا سَوَّيْتَه».
[صحيح] - [رواه مسلم]
المزيــد ...

Abu al-Hayyāj al-Asadi said: "‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me: 'Shall I not send you with the same instructions as the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) sent me? Do not leave any image without blotting it out, nor any raised or built-up grave without leveling it.'"
Sahih/Authentic. - [Muslim]

Explanation

Islam is keen to cut off whatever may lead to polytheism, whether hidden or apparent. In this Hadīth, ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) explains that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) sent him on a mission and commanded him to erase and blot out every image that he would encounter because they represent contention with Allah, the Almighty, in terms of creation. Also, the people may glorify such images and end up as idolaters. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) also commanded him to level all built-up graves and any grave raised above the height approved by the Shariah. Raising graves may tempt people into glorifying the dead buried inside them and regarding them as associates with Allah, the Almighty. This keenness aims to guard the pure creed of Muslims, because making images and building over graves leads to overestimation, glorification, and sanctification of such things, as well as granting them rights that are exclusively limited to Allah, the Almighty.

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Benefits from the Hadith

  1. Prohibition of producing images and the obligation to remove and obliterate images with all their types.
  2. It urges mutual enjoining of the truth, commanding what is good, forbidding what is evil, and conveying knowledge.
  3. Prohibition of elevating the graves by building structures over them or whatever, since this constitutes a means to polytheism.
  4. It indicates the obligation to destroy domes built over graves.
  5. Making of images is a means to Shirk just like building over the graves is.
  6. Elevation of graves also includes fixing large flags or colorful decorated ones on the grave, which people call 'Nasā’il' or 'Nasā’ib'.
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