He used to visit al-Baqīʿ and the graves of the martyrs so as to pray for them and seek forgiveness; this purpose is confined to Muslims (1) and does not apply to the disbelievers. Thus, the visitation established by the Sunnah—whether to remember the Hereafter or to greet the deceased and supplicate for them—is the one described above.
Our scholars and others have differed over whether it is permissible to undertake a journey solely to visit such graves. Two opinions are reported:
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It is not permissible. Whoever travels for that purpose is committing a sin, and he may not shorten the prayer on that journey. This is the view of Ibn Batta, Ibn ʿAqīl, and others, because such travel is an innovation unknown in the time of the early generations and contains elements of the prohibitions that will be mentioned. They also cite the ḥadīth recorded in both Ṣaḥīḥs in which the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:
“Mounts are not to be saddled except to three mosques: the Sacred Mosque, the Aqṣā Mosque, and this mosque of mine” (2).
They argue that this prohibition covers travel to all mosques, shrines, and every specific place to which one journeys for devotional purposes (3). Proof of this is the report that Busrah ibn Abī Busrah al-Ghifārī (4), upon seeing Abū Hurayrah returning from Mount Ṭūr, where Allah spoke to Moses (5), said, “Had I seen you before you went there, you would not have gone, for the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, ‘Mounts are not to be saddled except to three mosques’” (6).