Assalamu alaykum, Please explain the permissibility/impermissibility of women visiting graves? I am told there is a difference of opinion. But is there a difference between actually following the janaza (funeral procession) and random visiting? Are these both forbidden for women?

All praise is due to Allah. To proceed: The more preferable of the two scholarly opinions is that it is permissible for a woman to visit graves as long as she maintains the proper Islamic behavior (i.e., no slapping the cheeks, wailing or impatience and discontent with Allah's Decree), and as long as she wears proper Islamic attire. That is because the Prophet (saws) taught the Mother of the Believers, Aishah, the supplication to say when she visits the cemetery and Aishah visited the grave of her brother, Abdur-Rahman. As for the ahadith about the women who visit graves being cursed, their chains of transmission are weak and, even if they are authentic, they refer to the curse on the woman who visits graves and wails, slaps or expresses impatience. In regards to a woman following the funeral procession (janazah), this has come in the hadith of Um `Atiyah (may Allah be pleased with her) that "he prohibited us from following funeral processions, but he did not strictly enforce [that]." And this is the meaning of a prohibition (nahy) that is disliked (makrooh), but not strictly forbidden (haram).

Fatwa scholar: Dr. Walid Al-Manisi