What is the ruling on building graves from red bricks and cement, casting them with reinforced concrete and fitting them with iron doors?

Graves should be constructed with building materials that suit the nature of the soil. They should also fulfill the objectives of burial such as concealing the body of the deceased, protecting it from any encroachment, covering it, and containing any odor. If all of these prerequisites are met with red bricks, reinforced steel, and iron doors, then their use is permissible in Islamic law as they would fulfill the intended objective of Islamic law. Accordingly, jurists have permitted such construction where necessity dictates.

Imam al-Sarkhasy, the Hanafi scholar, noted in Al-Mabsut, “Al-Ajur — artificial bricks — is disliked because it is used in construction for decoration or reinforcement, when the grave is a place of decomposition; therefore, it is not used. Imam Abu Bakr Mohammed Ibn al-Fadl, may Allah have mercy on him, used to say, ‘There is no harm in using it in our lands due to the friability of the soil. It was also permissible to use wooden planks and to place the deceased in a coffin to the extent that it was said that an iron coffin would not be objectionable in these lands” (2: 62). 

Based on the above, it is permissible to construct graves with red bricks and reinforced concrete and to install an iron door when necessary.

And Allah Almighty knows best.