Thus, these three mosques are the ones that become specifically binding when one vows to pray in them, though further detail on this will follow.

The evidence that al-Masjid al-Haram is the best of them is the Prophet’s ﷺ authentic statement: “A prayer in this mosque of mine is better than a thousand prayers offered elsewhere, except for the Mosque of the Ka‘bah.” (1) In another hadith: “except for al-Masjid al-Haram.” (2)

Issue: The multiplication of reward in the three mosques:

A prayer in al-Masjid al-Haram is equivalent in merit to one hundred thousand prayers. Thus, if a person performs one obligatory prayer there, it is better than one who performs one hundred thousand obligatory prayers elsewhere; and one Friday prayer there is better than one hundred thousand Friday prayers.

In the Prophet’s Mosque, a prayer is better than a thousand prayers offered elsewhere.

As for al-Aqsa Mosque: “A prayer in it is equivalent to five hundred prayers.” (3) This, then, is the order of excellence among the three mosques. If someone were to ask: Does this superiority apply to both obligatory and voluntary prayers?

The answer is that the matter requires further detail: nothing is excluded from the obligatory prayers,