is done in all other mosques;(1) there is nothing in them to be rubbed for blessing, nothing to be kissed, and nothing to be circumambulated.(2) All of those practices(3) are confined exclusively to the Sacred Mosque.
Visiting the Rock is not recommended; rather, what is recommended is to pray in the qibli (southern) section of al-Masjid al-Aqsa that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb built for the Muslims.
No one should set out on a journey to stand(4) at any place other than ʿArafat,(5) nor should one travel(6) to stand in al-Masjid al-Aqsa, nor to stand at the grave of anyone—whether a prophet, a shaykh, or anyone else—by the unanimous agreement of the Muslims.(7)
Indeed, the stronger of the two scholarly opinions is that no one undertakes a journey for the sake of visiting any grave,(8) but that graves are visited only by the ordinary local visitation.
(1) In manuscript G: “and not.”
(2) In manuscript B: “circumambulates.”
(3) Added in manuscripts G and D: “for anyone.”
(4) In manuscript B: “stands.”
(5) The phrase “other than Arafat” appears in manuscripts A and B as “at Arafat.”
(6) In manuscript D: “not.”
(7) Omitted in manuscripts A and B.
(8) Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyyah], Al-Radd ala al-Ikhnaʾi, p. 23: “As for travelling merely to visit graves, I have never encountered a Muslim scholar who deemed it recommended; the only discussion is whether it is forbidden or merely permissible. This consensus and debate do not concern what the scholars meant when they said that visiting the grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is recommended, nor do they entail an unrestricted claim that travelling to visit his grave is recommended, as is found in much of their wording. They usually mention the pilgrimage and say: ‘It is recommended for the pilgrim to visit the grave of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.’ And it is well known that —"