I say this while admitting that I never saw anyone actually go to that spot to pray, thanks to the vigilant supervision of the guards assigned to prevent anything contrary to the Sacred Law at the noble grave. For this, the Saudi state deserves gratitude. Yet such vigilance, important as it is, remains neither sufficient nor fully satisfactory. Three years ago I wrote in my book Ahkām al-Janāʾiz wa-Bidaʿuhā (p. 208 of the original edition):

“It is obligatory to restore the Prophet’s Mosque to its former state by separating it from the Prophet’s grave with a wall running from north to south, so that anyone entering the mosque will see nothing therein that would displease its Founder, peace and blessings be upon him. I believe this duty rests upon the Saudi state—the very state that was truly established upon monotheism. We have heard that it has ordered a new expansion of the mosque; perhaps it will adopt this proposal of ours, adding the extra space on the western side and elsewhere, thereby compensating for the loss of area that will result if the suggestion is carried out. I pray that Allah brings this about through its hands—for who is more entitled to do so than they?”