Question:
What is the ruling of sprinkling rose water on graves?
Answer:
Alhamdulillah, praise and thanks to Allah for the many countless blessings He has blessed us all with. Blessings and salutations to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, his family, companions and all those that follow his teachings to the day of judgement.
Originally, it is only obligated to bury the dead without sprinkling any water on the grave. However, when we study the history of salafus soleh including the life of the Prophet PBUH himself, we found that it is practised. Thus, scholars discussed this issue in detail, because there is a narration that reported the Prophet PBUH sprinkled water on the grave of his son Abraham. See Musnad Imam al-Syafie (1/215).
Generally, most scholars of madhhab Syafie ruled it permissible while some of them even states that it is sunnah in accordance with the actions of the Prophet PBUH. However, the usage of rose water is undesirable (makruh), for there are elements of wasting money (the need to buy rose water).
We include the statement from the book I’anah al-Talibin (2/135-136): “And (it is sunnah) to sprinkle water on graves to prevent particles of dust from being blown by the wind. Furthermore, the Prophet PBUH himself did so on the grave of his son Saidina Abraham as narrated by Imam Syafie and the grave of Saad bin Majah as narrated by Imam Ibn Majah. The Prophet PBUH also asked (to sprinkle water) on the grave of Saidina Uthman bin Mazh’un as narrated by Imam al-Tirmizi. It is sunnah to use pure cold water (mutlak water) as tafa’ul, hoping that Allah SWT would cool the grave of the deceased. And it is undesirable (makruh) to sprinkle rose water or the likes of it, for it is a waste of money.”
Hence, it is permissible for those who wish to do so. However, the best course of action would be to supplicate for the deceased. Waalahua’lam.