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Fatwa CenterBurying the dead in a place that does not belong to him/her
Question
Recently one young woman dies in our neighbourhood; 1) Her funeral prayer was offered in one neighbours house; it was Friday just after half an hour Friday prayer would start and many people would attend funeral prayers but relatives were of opinion that it is better to bury the dead early not to wait till after Friday prayers were finished? 3) She was buried in portion of graveyard which didn't belong to her because of misidentification; please comment correct and incorrect?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
It is desirable to hasten in burying the dead especially if it is feared to be contaminated. The Prophet 
said: "You should hurry in burying the corpse; if it is a righteous person's corpse, then you hasten it for something good, and if it is otherwise, it is an evil that you take off your shoulders." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] Ibn Qudaamah
said: 'It is desirable to hasten to prepare the funeral of a dead person when his death is confirmed, as this is better for him and in order to prevent the corpse from any change (i.e. being contaminated)'.
If it is not feared that the corpse of the dead will be contaminated, it is better to delay its burial so that a great number of people would attend his funeral prayer. Ibn 'Abbaas 
narrated: "I heard the Prophet saying: "There is no Muslim man who dies on whom forty man who do not associate anything with Allaah pray except that Allaah will make them intercede for him [i.e. accept their supplications for him]." [Muslim] Furthermore, in the narration of 'Aa'ishah 
he said: "There is no dead person on whom a nation [a great number of] Muslims, who reach one hundred in number, pray on him and all of whom seek intercession for him (i.e. pray for his forgiveness) except that Allaah would accept their intercession." [Muslim]
Therefore, it was more appropriate for the family of the deceased to delay the funeral prayer for a short period if it is not feared to be contaminated so that a great number of people would have prayed on her.
As regards burying her in a place that is not hers, there are two probabilities for this.
1) The land where the woman was buried belongs to a specific person.
2) The land where the woman was buried is not a property of a given person but the grave was dug for another dead person.
With regard to the first probability, the owner of the land has the right to ask to dig the grave and exhume the buried woman or to ask for a compensation for the place where the woman was buried.
However, if the land is not a property of a specific person and someone dug a grave where this woman was buried, then the person who dug the grave is obliged to leave the buried woman but he is permitted to ask for some money for the work he did.
However, if the owner of the grave did not refuse or that the grave is not owned at all by any party, then the dead is not affected by this and those who put her there by mistake are not required to do anything.
Allaah Knows best.
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