The scholars affirm that the dwelling of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—in which his grave rests was the apartment of ʿĀʾishah, the one she herself had inhabited. The room was square, constructed of black stones and mortar. Its southern wall, the one facing the qiblah, was the longest; the eastern and western walls were equal in length, while the northern wall was the shortest. The door opened on the northern (Syrian) side, but it was later sealed with the same black stones and mortar.

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz subsequently erected the external structure that now surrounds that room, angling it so that people would not face it as a distinct qiblah for prayer apart from the Prophet’s Mosque. He did so because the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said, as related to me by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad from Shurayk ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Namr, from Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān:

“May Allah curse the Jews; they turned the graves of their prophets into places of worship.”

Mālik ibn Anas also narrated to me, from Zayd ibn Aslam, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“O Allah, do not allow my grave to become an idol that is worshipped. The wrath of Allah is most intense against a people who turned the graves of their prophets into places of worship.”