Muhammad ibn Abī Bakr al-Maqdamī narrated to us, saying: Fudayl ibn Sulaymān related to us; he said: Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah related:

“I saw Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh choosing particular spots along the road in order to pray in them. He would report that his father used to pray in those very places, and that he had seen the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—pray in them as well.”

Nāfiʿ also narrated to me from Ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—that he would pray in those same places. I questioned Sālim and found him, in every instance, agreeing with Nāfiʿ about the locations—save only that they differed concerning a mosque at Sharaf al-Rauḥā’.

He likewise said: Ibrāhīm ibn al-Munḏir narrated to us; Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ narrated to us; Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah narrated, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, that ʿAbd Allāh informed him:

“The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—used to stop at Dhū’l-Ḥulayfah whenever he performed ʿumrah, and during his ḥajj as well, resting beneath a samurah tree at the site where the mosque of Dhū’l-Ḥulayfah now stands. Whenever he returned by that route from a military expedition, or from ḥajj or ʿumrah, he would descend into a valley; when he had crossed its floor he would tether his mount on the gravel plain along the eastern bank, encamp there for the night, and remain until daybreak. That place was neither at the stone-built mosque nor on the mound on which that mosque stands. There used to be a small channel there, beside which ʿAbd Allāh would pray upon a sandy rise—precisely where the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had prayed. Later a flood swept gravel over it and buried the spot where ʿAbd Allāh used to pray.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar also related that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—prayed at the site of the small mosque situated below the mosque at Sharaf al-Rauḥā’. ʿAbd Allāh would point out the exact place where the Prophet had prayed, saying, “It is there—on your right when you stand in the mosque to pray.” That mosque lies on the right-hand verge of the road as one heads toward Mecca, and between it and the larger mosque is only the distance of a stone’s throw, or thereabouts.

Ibn ʿUmar likewise used to pray at the ridge (ʿirq) that is located at the turning of al-Rauḥā’. The far end of that ridge reaches the edge of the road, short of the mosque that stands between it and the turning as you proceed toward Mecca. A mosque has since been built there, but—