Shaykh Abū Muḥammad al-Juwaynī stated explicitly in his works that travelling for the purpose of visiting graves is forbidden, and this (1) is the view adopted by the judge and Imām ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā ibn ʿIyāḍ in his Ikmāl (2). He is the foremost of the later scholars of our school (3).

The Mudawwana (4) reads: “Whoever says, ‘It is binding upon me to walk to Medina or to Jerusalem,’ should not go to either of them at all—unless he intends to pray in their two mosques; in that case, let him go to them.”

Hence, a vow to visit the Prophet’s grave was not deemed an act of devotion that must be fulfilled, even though one of our fundamental principles is that whoever vows an act of obedience is obliged to honour it, whether the act belongs to a category already made obligatory by the Sacred Law—as Abū Ḥanīfa holds—or not.

Judge Abū Isḥāq Ismāʿīl ibn Isḥāq, commenting on this point, said: “Were it not for the prayer performed in them, he would not be required to go to either of the two cities; and had the vow concerned a devotional visit, that would not have obligated him (5).”

This was likewise mentioned by the Qayrawānī in his Taqrīb and by Shaykh Ibn Bashīr (6) in