or he sets out for other places—mountainous or otherwise—about which people claim, “Here are the stations of the Prophets,” or of other revered figures; or to a shrine erected over some relic of a Prophet, such as the one that was once built over his sandal (1). The same applies to what is found on Mount Qasiyun (2), Mount al-Fath (3), Mount Ṭur Zaytā (4) in Jerusalem, and similar sites.
Anyone familiar with the life of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and with the conduct of his Companions after him knows that they never set out with the intention of visiting any of these places. Even Mount Ḥirāʾ, the highest peak in Mecca—which Quraysh used to frequent before Islam for acts of devotion—they did not purposefully seek out. It is to this practice of the pre-Islamic Quraysh that Abū Ṭālib alluded in his poetry:
“Enraptured, he would ascend Ḥirāʾ and then descend.” (5)
(1) Yaqut says in Muʿjam al-Buldan, s.v. “Naʿl”: “It is a tract of land in Tihama and Yemen; others say it is a fortress on Mount Shatab” (5:293). It is more likely, however, that the intended reference is to the Prophet’s sandal, as the author will indicate below, p. 337 of this volume.
(2) MS B reads: “concerning Mount Qasiyun,” the mountain that overlooks Damascus; see Muʿjam al-Buldan, 4:295.
(3) It appears to be a mountain located in greater Syria (al-Sham).
(4) MSS B, J, D and the printed edition read: “and Mount Tur Sinai.” The reading preserved in MS AT—“and Mount Tur Zayta”—is preferable, for Tur Zayta lies in Jerusalem close to al-Masjid al-Aqsa and is said to contain the graves of many prophets, whereas Tur Sinai is not near Jerusalem. See Yaqut, Muʿjam al-Buldan, 4:47-48.
(5) This passage occurs in a long ode in which the poet defends the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, implores his tribe to shield him, and vows never to forsake him until he dies in his defense. It begins:
Wa-lamma raʾaytu al-qawma la wudda fihim …
wa-qad qaṭaʿu kulla al-ʿurā wa-l-wasāʾil
and later says:
Wa-Thawr wa-man arsā Thabīran makānahu …
wa-rāqin li-yarqā fī Ḥirāʾin wa-nāzil
The complete poem is reproduced in Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah, 1:176-180, ed. Muḥammad Muḥy al-Din, Cairo, 1383/1963.