and the Christians; they turned the graves of their prophets into places of worship.’ He was warning against what they had done. Had this fear not existed, his own grave would have been left in the open, but he was apprehensive that it too might be taken as a mosque.

That, then, is the very reason he ﷺ was buried in ʿĀʾishah’s chamber: to safeguard pure monotheism and to protect his grave from being made into a mosque. It was not—as the devotees of superstition imagine—so that it might lie next to the mosque or that people might seek blessing from its nearness. Indeed, he ﷺ consistently warned against turning graves into mosques, seeking blessing from them, or building mosques over them, for such practices are pathways to polytheism. His burial in his own house was meant to block these avenues altogether.

Second: Making a lawful visit to his grave is not forbidden; on the contrary, it is recommended, just as visiting any other grave is recommended—provided one does not embark on a journey solely for that purpose and the intent is to offer him greetings of peace and supplication.

Third: He says that, had the aim been to prevent people from visiting the grave, the Prophet ﷺ would have been buried somewhere distant from the mosque, such as al-Baqīʿ. What this really means, in his view, is that the Prophet was buried in ʿĀʾishah’s chamber so that people might visit the grave and seek blessing from it. Yet this understanding runs counter to the sound hadith already cited, which states that he was buried in his house specifically to keep his grave from being taken as a mosque. Besides, burial in al-Baqīʿ would actually have made visitation and the search for blessing easier, not harder—exactly the opposite of what Abū Zahrah claims. If his objective were truly sanctioned, the Prophet would more suitably have been buried in al-Baqīʿ to facilitate the purposes Abū Zahrah has in mind.

(w) He further says: ‘We are astonished that he condemns visiting the rawḍah for blessing and seeking solace, while at the same time citing reports that the leading Imams would send salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ whenever they passed by his noble grave, and that they used to go to him whenever they set out on a journey or returned from one.’