All the praises is for Allah the Lord of the Worlds and peace and blessings be upon His Chosen Messenger Muhammad and upon his family and his companions all of them.
By the Student of Knowledge, Shaykh Abdurrahman Murad هداه الله
Dear brothers/sisters…may Allah bless you all and grant you success in this life and in the next. Ameen.
The issue of women following burial processions and the visitation of graves has come up of late and I thought it would be best to address both in a post. In general, these two issues are confused as one issue.
Starting with the first…is it lawful for a woman to follow a burial procession and witness the body as it is buried?
This has been clarified to us in the narration of Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim, on the authority of Umm Atiyah, may Allah be pleased with her. She said: “We were prohibited from following burial processions.” (نهينا عن اتباع الجنائز).
In another narration, the Prophet, may Allah praise him, was attending a Jinazah and Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, saw a woman who had attended. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, raised his voice to address the wrong that he saw, but the Prophet, may Allah praise him, saw that she was in tears and was very emotional, so he told Umar, ‘Let her be, O Umar! Her eyes are full of tears, she has suffered a loss and the calamity is still very near.’ From this it can be concluded that the deceased was very close to her…a husband, son or father.
Based on these two narrations…we can see that women should NOT attend the burial procession, as this is the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet, may Allah praise him. If a sister wishes to attend, she should refrain and instead be patient, Inshallah she shall be granted the full reward for her intention and her patience.
In relation to the second issue, general visitation of graves for women, there is great variance among scholars. I am not going to go into the full detail of the Khilaaf (difference of opinion), but what I will say is that after looking at the evidence, I personally believe that it is lawful for a woman to visit the graves in general as long as these visits are not frequent and she is able to observe a few other conditions. The proof that indicates this is in the words of the Prophet, may Allah praise him:
1. May Allah curse those women who frequently visit the graves. (لعن الله زوارات القبور) this narration is authentic and found in the books of Sunan.
2. The words of the Prophet, may Allah praise him:
I forbade you from visiting the graves, but now visit them, for they remind you of the Hereafter.
(نهيتكم عن زيارة القبور, الآن فزوروها فإنها تذكركم الآخرة)
this narration is authentic and found in the collection of Imam at-Tabarani and other sources.
These two narrations indicate that in general, it is lawful for a woman to visit the graves.
Although this is the case, I must repeat here that these narrations do not imply that she can follow the burial procession.
May Allah bless us all. Ameen
Works of Abul Baraa Muhamad Amreeki 
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