Assalaamu alaykum. I am from South India. In my neighborhood mosque, the walls of the northern and southern sides are decorated with pictures of various tombs of graves of certain well-known persons called 'valiullahs'. To what extent is this new trend justifiable? I personally objected it. Kindly guide us in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah. May Allaah reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

This action is impermissible for two reasons:

First, although the pictures of the graves of the pious are not images of living beings, drawing such pictures inside the mosques resembles the practice of the Christians regarding the pious among them. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, dispraised such an action; they used to draw the pictures of their pious people on the walls of their churches.

‘Aa'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated that when the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, became ill, some of his wives talked about a church which they had seen in Abyssinia and which was called Maariyah. Umm Salamah and Umm Habeebah, may Allah be pleased with them, were among the migrants to Abyssinia. They described the church's beauty and the pictures inside it, so he (the Prophet) raised his head and said, "Those are people who, if a righteous man dies amongst them, they build a place of worship on his grave and place that picture in it. They are the worst creatures in the sight of Allah." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

Ibn Rajab wrote:

"This hadith indicates that it is prohibited to build mosques on the graves of the pious people or draw their pictures inside them like the Christians do. There is no doubt that each of these actions is prohibited by itself ... The pictures inside the church regarding which Umm Habeebah and Umm Salamah mentioned that they had seen them in Abyssinia were on the walls and the like, and they had no shadow (they were not three-dimensional). Umm Habeebah and Umm Salamah had migrated to Abyssinia. Drawing pictures of the likeness of the Prophets and the pious to seek blessings and intercession through them is prohibited in Islam and falls into the category of idol-worshiping. The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, thus stated that such people would be the worst of creatures on the Day of Judgment in the sight of Allah."

Second, the drawings are considered adornment of the mosque, which is disliked according to the majority of scholars.

The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Fiqh reads:

"The majority of the scholars of Fiqh held that it is disliked to decorate the mosque with gold or silver or engraving or writing (calligraphy) or other than that which distracts the worshiper from his prayer, because the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, forbade it. Ibn ‘Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "I have not been ordered to build lofty, plastered mosques." [Ibn Hibbaan] Ibn ‘Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Verily, you will adorn them (mosques) just as the Christians and Jews did." Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "The Hour will not come to pass until people would vie in boasting with each other in building mosques." ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, ordered the building of a mosque and said, "Protect people from the rain, and beware of red or yellow (i.e. colored paint) lest it distracts people." [Al-Bukhaari] Abu Ad-Dardaa’, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "If you adorn your Mus-hafs (i.e. the written copies of the Quran) and embellish your mosques, then destruction will be your lot." Moreover, this distracts the worshiper during the prayer by looking at such decorations and thus undermines his Khushoo' (state of humble submission). It is also one of the signs of the Hour. The scholars of Fiqh agreed in a consensus that it is not permissible to decorate the mosque or engrave it with endowment money, and whoever does so is responsible for the expenses and has to pay the value of it, as decorating the mosque is forbidden and there is no benefit in it, and it is not considered part of the construction."

Allah knows best.