—by those who are nearby or who happen to pass by—just as Qubāʾ Mosque is visited(1) from within Madinah. Yet no one may undertake a special journey to it, because the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—prohibited fastening the mounts for travel except to the three mosques.(2)
The religion is built upon two fundamentals: that none is worshipped but Allah alone with no partner, and that He is not worshipped(3) except in the way He has legislated;(4) we do not worship Him through innovations. The Exalted said:
“Whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him act righteously and associate none in the worship of his Lord.” (al-Kahf 18:110)
For this reason ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, used to supplicate:
“O Allah, make all of my deeds righteous, and make them purely for Your Face…”
…this is only conceivable in the context of travel: they were not speaking of visiting something nearby, but of undertaking a journey to a distant place. Hence, when they said that travelling to visit his grave is recommended, what they actually meant was travelling to his mosque.
He adds in al-Sarim al-Munki, p. 18: “Shaykh al-Islam addressed only the question of sadd al-rihal wa-i'mal al-mati (setting out with mounts) for the sole purpose of visiting graves. Concerning this he cited two positions held by both earlier and later scholars:
1. Permissibility, a view attributed to some followers of al-Shafii and Ahmad.
2. Prohibition, as explicitly stated by the Imam of the Abode of Hijra, Malik b. Anas; no contrary opinion is reported from any of the other three Imams, and a group of Shafii and Hanbali scholars adopt the same view.”
(1) The phrase “yuzar” (is visited) appears in manuscript B as “la yuzar illa” (is only to be visited).
(2) The source for this has already been documented on p. 135.
(3) Manuscripts A, B and C read “wala”.
(4) Manuscript A reads “ya'budahu” (worships Him).