Going to visit places and mosques in which the Prophet prayed

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Travelling to visit al-Masjid al-Nabawi is an action which is
prescribed in sharee’ah as indicated by the hadeeth of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “No journey should be made
to visit mosques except forthree:
this mosque of mine [in Madeenah], al-Masjid al-Haraam [in Makkah] and
al-Masjid al-Aqsa [in al-Quds/Jerusalem]. (Narrated
by al-Bukhaari and Muslim; this version narrated by Muslim). Prayer
in (al-Masjid al-Nabawi) is better than a thousand prayers anywhere else,
apart from al-Masjid al-Haraam.

Other places which it is prescribed to visit without
travelling expressly for that purpose are the grave of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), the graves of his two
companions [Abu Bakr and ‘Umar], the graves of the people of al-Baqee’
[the cemetery of Madeenah], the graves of the martyrs of Uhud, and
finally, the mosque of Quba’.

With regard to visiting those graves, this is implied in
the general meaning of the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him): “I used to forbid you to visit graves
but now visit them.”

Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said: “It is also mustahabb (recommended) to visit the graves of
the people of al-Baqee’ and the martyrs of Uhud, to pray for them and
ask for forgiveness for them, because the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to do this, but this is prescribed
for all the Muslim graves.” (Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 17/470)

The evidence for visiting the Mosque of Quba’ is the
hadeeth narrated in al-Saheehayn
from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: “The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to come to Quba’
riding and walking.” According to another report: “and he would pray
two rak’ahs there.” (narrated
by al-Bukhaari and Muslim).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also said,
“Whoever purifies himself in his house then comes to the mosque of
Quba’ and prays there, he will have a reward like that for ‘Umrah.” (Narrated
by Ahmad, al-Nasaa’i, Ibn Maajah and al-Haakim. Al-Haakim classed it as
saheeh and al-Dhahabi agreed with him. Also classed as saheeh by
al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’,
6154)

With
regard to visiting other mosques and historical sites and claiming that
they are “places which a person should visit”, there is no basis for
doing this, and they should not be visited for the following reasons:

1-There is no shar’i evidence to suggest that these mosques should
be singled out for visits, as there is in the case of Masjid Quba’. As
is well known, acts of worship should be based on following (the Sunnah),
not on innovations.

2-The Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) were the most keen
of all people to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). None of them are known to have visited
those mosques and historical sites. If this were a good thing they would
have been the first ones to do it.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said: “Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmaan, ‘Ali and all
the predecessors of the Muhaajiroon and Ansaar used to travel from
Madeenah to Makkah to perform Hajj and ‘Umrah, or for other purposes,
and none of them said that he was keen to pray in the places where the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had prayed. It is
known that if this had been mustahabb in their view, they would have been
the first ones to do it, for they had more knowledge of the Sunnah and
followed it more closely than anyone else.” (Iqtidaa’
al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem, 2/748).

3-Visits to these places should be disallowed as a
preventative measure. This is indicated by the actions of the righteous
salaf, above all the rightly-guided khaleefah ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may
Allaah be pleased with him). It was narrated that al-Ma’roor ibn Suwayd
(may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “We went out with ‘Umar ibn
al-Khattaab and we came across a mosque on our route. The people rushed to
pray in that mosque, and ‘Umar said, ‘What is the matter with them?’
They said, ‘This is a mosque in which the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prayed.’ ‘Umar said: ‘O
people, those who came before you were destroyed because they followed
such (practices) until they made them places of worship. Whoever happens
to be there at the time of prayer, let him pray there, and whoever is not
there at the time of prayer, let him continue his journey.’” (Narrated
by Ibn Waddah in his book al-Bida’
wa’l-Nahiy ‘anhaa; classed as saheeh by Ibn Taymiyah in al-Majmoo’,
1/281).

Shaykh al-Islam (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said, commenting on this story, “The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) had not singled out that place for
prayer; he prayed there only because he happened to be staying there.
Hence ‘Umar thought that imitating him outwardly without having the same
reason for doing so did not count as following the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). Singling out that place for prayer was
like the innovations of the People of the Book which had led to their
doom, so he forbade the Muslims to imitate them in this manner. The one
who did that was imitating the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) in outward appearances, but he was imitating the Jews and
Christians in his intention, which is the action of the heart. The action
of the heart is what counts, because following in one’s intention is
more serious than following in outward appearances.” (Majmoo’
al-Fataawa, 1/281)

In another example, it is narrated that
‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him) heard that some
people were visiting the tree under which the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) had accepted the bay’ah of people, so
he commanded that it should be cut down.” (Narrated
by Ibn Waddaah in his book al-Bida’
wa’l-Nahiy ‘anhaa, and by Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf,
2/375. Its isnaad was classed as saheeh by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Baari, 7/448.Al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said: the men of its isnaad are thiqaat).

Ibn Waddaah al-Qurtubi (may Allaah have
mercy on him) said: “Maalik ibn Anas and other scholars of Madeenah
regarded it as makrooh to go to those mosques and historical sites
connected to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him),
apart from Quba’ and Uhud.” (al-Bida’
wa’l-Nahiy ‘anhaa, p. 43). What is meant by Uhud is
visiting the graves of the martyrs of Uhud.

Shaykh al-Islam (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said: “Hence the scholars of the salaf among the people of Madeenah
and elsewhere did not regard it as mustahabb to set out to visit any
places in and around Madeenah after the Mosque of the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), apart from the mosque of Quba’,
because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did
not specify any mosque to be visited apart from that.” (Majmoo’
al-Fataawa, 17/469).

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may
Allaah have mercy on him) said, after mentioning the places which it is
prescribed to visit in Madeenah: “With regard to the seven mosques,
Masjid al-Qiblatayn (the Mosque of the Two Qiblahs), and other places
which some authors who wrote about the rituals of Hajj include among the
places to be visited, there is no basis for doing that, and there is no
evidence for doing so. What is prescribed for the believer at all times is
to follow [the Sunnah], not to innovate.” (Fataawa
Islamiyyah, 2/313)

The prominent scholar Shaykh Muhammad ibn
‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah preserve him) said: “There are no places in
Madeenah to be visited apart from these: al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the grave of
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), al-Baqee’,
the martyrs of Uhud, and the Mosque of Quba’. As for other sites, there
is no basis for visiting them.” (Fiqh
al-‘Ibaadaat, p. 405)

Some
may think that as long as one does not believe that these places hold any
special virtue, that justifies visiting them or other historical places.
This idea is unacceptable, for the following reasons:

Firstly: the righteous salaf (may Allaah have mercy on
them) forbade going to these places in absolute terms, without going into
detail.

Secondly: going to these places and singling them out to visit
because they are in the vicinity of Madeenah which witnessed the dawn of
the Islamic call or because some battles happened there, proves that one
believes in their virtue. If one did not hold such a belief, there would
be no motive for visiting these places.

Thirdly: if we accept, for the sake of argument, that a person does
not believe in their virtue, visiting them is still a means that may lead
to that and to doing things that are not prescribed. Taking preventative
measures is one of the things prescribed by sharee’ah, as is well known.
Al-‘Allaamah Ibn al-Qayyim – may Allaah have mercy on him – gave
ninety-nine examples illustrating this principle, and after giving the
ninety-ninth example he said: “Taking preventative means is one-quarter
of responsibility, for there are commands and prohibitions. The commands
are of two types, one of which is the end in itself and the other is the
means to that end. And prohibitions are of two types, the thing that is
prohibited because it is evil in and of itself, and the means that lead to
that evil. So preventing the means that lead to that which is haraam is
one quarter of the religion.” (I’laam al-Muwaqqi’een, 3/143)

Fourthly:
It gives wrong ideas to ignorant people; when they see many people
visiting those mosques and historical sites, they will think that this is
an action which is prescribed in Islam.

Fifthly: Going to extremes in that matter and calling for visits to
historical sites such as Mount Uhud and Jabal al-Noor for leisure purposes
is one of the means that lead to shirk. The Standing Committee for Issuing
Fatwas issued a fatwa (No. 5303) stating that it is not allowed to climb
up to the Cave of Hiraa’ for that reason. And Allaah is the One Whose
help we seek.