Scholars have differed over the following question: if the Prophet ﷺ performed a permissible act for a specific reason, and we imitate him in that act even though the original reason is absent, is such imitation recommended? Some jurists say yes, others say no. This is precisely how Ibn ʿUmar’s practice should be understood: the Prophet ﷺ prayed in those roadside spots simply because they were where he happened to camp; he did not single them out because the ground itself possessed any special merit.

An equivalent case today would be a traveler praying in the place where he spends the night; that is Sunnah. What is not Sunnah is to make a point of praying in those exact locations where the Prophet ﷺ prayed only incidentally. No Companion besides Ibn ʿUmar ever did this. Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, and the rest of the earliest forerunners from the Emigrants and the Helpers all traveled from Madinah to Mecca for Hajj, ʿUmrah, and other journeys, yet there is no report that any one of them deliberately sought out the Prophet’s former prayer sites. Had they regarded such a practice as recommended, they would have been the first to perform it, for they were more knowledgeable of his Sunnah and more devoted to it than anyone who came after them.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs after me. Cling to it with your molar teeth, and beware of newly invented matters, for every innovation is a bidʿah, and every bidʿah is misguidance.”