A Comparison between the Opinions of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ahl-e Sunnah on Visitation of Graves by Women

The permissibility of women visiting graves originates in prophetic traditions as well as in the normative conduct of the Prophet's companions with Sunni scholars permitting women to visit graves.  Ibn Taymiyyah, however, has forbidden the visitation of graves by women taking recourse to narrations which apparently curse female visitors. Although these narrations are poor in terms of the chain of transmission, Ibn Taymiyyah defends the chain of the transmission against such claims. He also objects to the purport of the narrations which signify permissibility of women visiting graves. These objections have been critically assessed in this study.
Unlike Ibn Taymiyyah, Sunni scholars have reconciled between these two sets of narrations and have, finally, permitted visitation of graves by women. When presenting their arguments, they have taken recourse  to certain arguments such as the seerah (conduct) of Lady Fatima Zahra (SA) who visited Hamza's grave as well as to narrations narrated from Aisha about the permissibility of women visiting graves and a tradition from the Prophet (S) with regards to teaching the etiquette and manner of visiting the graves.