It has also been reported that one prayer offered in the Prophet’s Mosque equals fifty thousand prayers elsewhere; this report, however, is unauthentic, as will be shown at the end of the discussion on the Mosque of Qubāʾ.

Benefit: It is established that the Prophet’s Mosque has been enlarged many times since his lifetime. At first its length equalled its width—100 cubits by 100, although another view puts it at 70 by 60. ʿUthmān then expanded it so that it measured 160 cubits in length and 150 in width. Al-Walīd b. ʿAbd al-Malik enlarged it again, making it 200 cubits long, with the width at the front 200 and at the rear 180. Al-Mahdī later added another 100 cubits on the northern (Shāmī) side only, leaving the other three sides unchanged, and after him no further additions were made. All of this is recorded by al-Suyūṭī in Shadd al-Athwāb fī Sadd al-Abwāb (pp. 167–175) within his al-Ḥāwī li-l-Fatāwī (vol. 2).

With this background, and in light of the great merit attached to praying in the Prophet’s Mosque as stated in the previous hadiths, one may ask: does that merit extend to the many later additions, which now make the current structure almost twice the size of the original mosque?

Al-Nawawī answered in the negative. In his commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim he wrote: “Know that this distinction applies exclusively to the very mosque that existed in the Prophet’s time, not to the sections added afterwards; therefore the worshipper should strive to pray there and be mindful of what I have mentioned.”

He added in al-Majmūʿ, after citing this point (8/277): “However, if one is praying in congregation, advancing to the first row, and then to the row that follows, is preferable—so let the worshipper take note of this.”