Do those who are travelling to mosques and staying there for the purpose of calling people to Allah come under the heading of travelling for the purpose of visiting those mosques?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

If
jihad is a communal obligation (fard kifaayah), then it is obligatory
for a person to seek his parents’ permission to go out for jihad. If they
give him permission, he may go out, otherwise it is not permissible for him
to do so.

This applies if jihad has not become an individual obligation for him; if it
has become an individual obligation in his case, then he must go out even if
they refuse and do not give him permission.

Please see the answer to question no. 9506

Secondly:

The Jamaa‘at at-Tableegh (Tableeghi Jamaat) is a da‘wah organisation that is
striving to spread Islam and call people to it. It has played a good role in
calling sinners and those who have deviated from Islam, putting in a great
deal of time and money, and putting up with the difficulties of travelling,
visiting people, and so on.

In
light of what has been transmitted from a number of the shaykhs and founders
of this group of some mistaken ideas and objectionable beliefs, a number of
scholars have issued fatwas stating that no one should go out with them
except people of knowledge, who go out with them with the aim of teaching
and guiding them.

This group is the one which the brothers whom you have met belong and have
adopted their methodology, and whom you mentioned here.

Please see also the answers to questions no. 39349,
8674 and 14037.

What we advise you to do is focus your da‘wah efforts on the place where you
live, so call your family, your relatives and those who are around you of
your friends and acquaintances, and other people whom you meet; call all of
these people to Islam, and to obey Allah, according to what you have of
Islamic knowledge, even if that is by very simple means. “Convey from me,
even if it is just one verse.”

There is nothing wrong with there being some kind of cooperation with these
brothers for that purpose, within the boundaries of the place where you are
living first of all, and so that you do not become a full member of that
group; rather your principle should be to cooperate in doing good deeds with
anyone who does them and encourages others to do them.

Thirdly:

Although we do not agree with the idea of travelling to mosques in this
manner as required by Jamaa‘at at-Tableegh and the timeframe they stipulate,
it does not come under the heading of travelling to mosques that is
prohibited in the hadith in which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) said: “No
journey should be undertaken to visit any mosque but three: this mosque of
mine, al-Masjid al-Haraam and Masjid al-Aqsa.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1189) and Muslim (1397). That is because the
purpose in travelling to these mosques is to call people to Allah, not to
visit those specific mosques for their own sake, to worship there and to
draw nearer to Allah by doing so; the latter is not permissible except in
the case of three mosques. This is the reason for the prohibition.

The scholars of the Standing Committee said:

What this hadith means is: it is not permissible to travel to a place with
the aim of worshipping Allah there, by praying or offering supplication (du‘aa’)
or reading Qur’an, except these three places, namely: al-Masjid al-Haraam (Makkah),
al-Masjid an-Nabawi (Madinah) and al-Masjid al-Aqsa (Jerusalem).

End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (2/285)

Based on that, if a person sets out to visit any mosque, or travels to it in
a country or city other than his own, but it is not his aim to worship Allah
by setting out on that journey or to do acts of worship in that other
mosque, rather he has some legitimate and valid purpose, such as listening
to a lecture or seeking beneficial knowledge or calling people to Allah, or
other similar aims, then there is no blame on him and this is not included
in the prohibition.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:

In
our city there is an excellent reciter whose performance of the prayer is
very focused and deliberate and people come to him from distant cities. What
is the ruling on these people’s coming? Is it true that they are included in
the prohibition mentioned in the hadith,
“No journey should be undertaken to visit any mosque but
three: al-Masjid al-Haraam, the mosque of the Messenger (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him), and al-Masjid al-Aqsa”?

He
replied:

We
do not think there is anything wrong with that; rather it comes under the
heading of travelling to seek knowledge or to learn the meanings of the Holy
Qur’an, or to listen to one who recites beautifully. Travelling for such
purposes does not come under the heading of travel that is prohibited.

End quote from Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz (3/352)

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:

In
our town there is a mosque in which Jumu‘ah prayers are held, but some
brothers prefer to go to a mosque in another town, that is approximately 30
km away, and some other brothers objected to them by saying,
“No journey should be undertaken to visit
any mosque but three, ” as is well-known. We hope that you can explain in
detail, may Allah reward you.

He
replied:

We
say that this group that goes to a mosque outside the town are not seeking
to travel to that mosque itself; rather they are seeking what they can
attain of knowledge, benefit and exhortation from the khutbah of that
khateeb who preaches in the mosque to which they go. This does not come
under the heading of undertaking journeys to visit mosques other than the
three mosques. Rather it comes under the heading of undertaking a journey in
pursuit of knowledge, and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) said: “Whoever follows a path seeking knowledge thereby, Allah will
make easy for him a path to Paradise.” So their going to that khateeb so
that they may benefit from his khutbah and exhortation and his explanation
of Islamic rulings does not come under the heading of undertaking journeys
to a mosque, because what is meant by undertaking a journey to a mosque is
when a person seeks to travel to that mosque and to that place itself. The
difference between the two must be understood.

End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (8/2)

For more information, please see the answers to questions no.
8674 and 50591

And Allah knows best.