This merit belonged to it even before the chamber was brought inside; one must not imagine that its excellence increased because the chamber was incorporated. They never intended to insert the chamber itself; their only aim was to enlarge the Mosque by adding the rooms of the Prophet’s wives. The chamber therefore ended up inside it out of necessity, despite the dislike of some among the early generations who objected to that. (1)

He then said (1/55–2):

“Whoever believes that the Mosque had no virtue before the grave was within it—although the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed there along with the Emigrants and the Helpers—and that its merit began only in the caliphate of al-Walid ibn ʿAbd al-Malik when the chamber was incorporated into it, such a view can come only from someone sunk in extreme ignorance or from a disbeliever. He is denying what has been transmitted from the Prophet and is liable to be killed. The Companions used to supplicate in his Mosque just as they had supplicated during his lifetime; no new law was introduced to them other than the law he had taught them in…"