Are women allowed to go to the graveyard for the purpose of visiting their dead relatives. I have read in a hadīth that women have been forbidden to go to the graveyard. Another thing I have heard many people say, though I have not read it anywhere, is that when women go to the graveyard the spirits of the dead tend to see them without their clothes. How true is this?

In the days of the Prophet (sws), women were initially stopped from visiting the graves because they used to vociferously wail and cry -- a practice which was rampant among women in Arabia at the advent of Islam. Once the women had learned to restrain themselves at such places, they were allowed to visit the graveyards. This directive, it must be understood, is not part of the Sharī`ah. It was a directive given by the Prophet (sws) to deal with a particular situation and was withdrawn once the required end was achieved.

Women today can visit the graves of their dead relatives. They should try not to create a scene there. Of course! this does not mean that they cannot cry; it only means that they should not exceed the limit in this regard.

Spirits of the dead seeing women without their clothes has no basis.