Question:

SA,
The hadiths say Jews and Christians are cursed for taking the graves as masaajid. A hadith also specifically refers to the Church of Ethiopia after which the Prophet(pbuh) describes that they used to “build masajid over their graves” and draw pictures. What is being meant by the word “masaajid” here ? Is it referring to building idols over graves and worship of it? Is it referring to using area besides graves as places of prayer ? Is it referring to sajdah to graves or taking graves as qiblah ? Is there any evidence outside the hadiths that Jews and Christians did actually have this practice that requires them being cursed ?

This issue is confusing as these curses against Jews and Christians did not prevent the sahabah and salaf from having the grave of Prophet(pbuh) within the room of Aisha(ra) and having the mosque connected with the masjid.

Answer:

Masajid means places of worship. It enough illustration of this mass-transmitted hadith that (i) Babylon as the center of Judaism evolved around the purported tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel (as did Omani Judaism around the tomb of Job), and (ii) the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem where Jesus was supposedly buried has been the main destination of Christian pilgrims since at least the 4th century, and the other two most important pilgrimage sites in later Christendom evolved around similar claimed burial sites: the Basilica of Saint Peter, built by Emperor Constantine in the 4th century on the purported site of Simon Peter’s grave, and Santiago de Compostela, built on the supposed remains of James son of Zebedee in the 9th century, both Simon and James identified as apostles of Jesus. Saint Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury (capital of English Christendom) houses the remains of all the archbishops of England and the most important cathedral of French Christendom, Saint Denis Basilica — founded in the 7th century by Dagobert I on the burial place of Saint Denis, a patron saint of France — houses the remains of the kings and queens of France and is a main pilgrimage destination in that country.
Santiago de Compostela.

Hajj Gibril Haddad