al-Maqdis free of major sins is met with a hundred mercies, any one of which, if divided among all creation, would encompass them all. Whoever prays two rak‘ahs in Jerusalem emerges free of his sins as on the day his mother bore him, and receives a good deed for every hair on his body. Whoever prays four rak‘ahs in Jerusalem will cross the Bridge over Hell like a flash of lightning and be granted safety from the greatest terror on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever prays six rak‘ahs in Jerusalem will be granted a hundred answered supplications, the least of which is deliverance from the Fire, and Paradise will be assured for him. Whoever prays eight rak‘ahs in Jerusalem will be the companion of Abraham, Allah’s intimate friend—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Whoever asks forgiveness for the believing men and women three times in Jerusalem will receive the equivalent of their good deeds, and every believing man and woman will receive seventy acts of forgiveness encompassing all their sins.”

Muhammad ibn Abī Shu‘ayb reported: I said to ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Atā’ al-Khurāsānī, “What do you say about Jerusalem?” He replied, “There is merit in it, for David laid its foundations and Solomon—peace be upon them both—built it, incorporating gold into its construction: one brick of gold and one of silver. There is not a handspan in it where an angel or prophet has not prostrated, so perhaps one’s forehead may touch the place where an angel’s or a prophet’s forehead has touched.”

It is reported that a man asked Sufyān al-Thawrī in Mecca, “Abū ‘Abd Allāh, what do you say about prayer in this city?” He replied, “It is worth a hundred thousand prayers.” The man asked, “And in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace?” He replied, “It is worth fifty thousand prayers.”