Fāṭimah was having supper. He said to me, “Come and join us for the evening meal.” I replied, “I do not wish to eat.” He asked, “Why did I see you at the grave?” I answered, “I went to greet the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” He said:
“Whenever you enter the mosque, offer greetings.”
Then he added, “The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
‘Do not turn my grave into a festival, and do not make your homes into graveyards. Allah has cursed the Jews who took the graves of their prophets as places of worship. Send blessings upon me, for your blessings reach me wherever you may be.’
You here are no different from those who are in al-Andalus.”
For this reason the leading imams—Aḥmad and others among the disciples of Mālik and beyond—have stated that after one greets the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and recites what is appropriate, if he then wishes to supplicate he should face the qiblah with the Prophet’s chamber on his left.
(1) She is Fatimah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah. A brief biography appears below on p. 434.
(2) Imam Ismail ibn Ishaq al-Qadi records this report with the same chain in Fadl al-salah ‘ala al-Nabi, no. 30; that version does not contain the clause, “and you and those in al-Andalus are equal.” He also transmits it with a different chain under no. 20, with minor wording variations that I noted in the margin to the previous hadith. The phrase, “you and those in al-Andalus are equal,” is attributable to al-Hasan, not to the Prophet—Allah knows best.
Al-Bazzar likewise narrates it in his Musnad from Ali ibn Abi Talib: “Do not turn my grave into an ‘eid (recurring festival) and do not turn your houses into graves; rather, invoke blessings and peace upon me, for your prayers reach me.” Al-Bazzar remarks: “This report is sound; the wording ‘Do not turn my grave into an ‘eid and your houses into graves’ is transmitted through several routes.” See: Kashf al-Astar 1:339–40, no. 707; and the author’s al-Tawassul wa-l-Wasilah, p. 73.
(3) See: I‘anat al-Talibin 2:143, by Sayyid al-Bakri.