—but it may be that the supposedly general wording here is in fact intended for a specific place, namely the mosque, as will be shown later.

I say: This is weak; the first opinion is the correct one, as we shall explain. He then said:

“In this ḥadīth lies the virtue of these three mosques and their superiority over all others, for they are the mosques of the prophets. The first is the qiblah of all people and the site of their pilgrimage; the second was the qiblah of past nations; and the third was founded upon piety.

Scholars have differed about travelling to places other than these—such as going to visit the righteous, whether living or dead, or to blessed sites in order to seek blessing from them or to pray there. Shaykh Abū Muḥammad al-Juwaynī said, ‘It is forbidden to saddle mounts for any place other than these three, acting upon the outward purport of the ḥadīth.’

Qāḍī Ḥusayn indicated that this was his chosen view, and it was also adopted by Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ and a group of scholars. Supporting their position is what the compilers of the Sunan have related: Abū Basra al-Ghifārī reproached Abū Hurayrah for travelling to Mount Sinai, saying to him, ‘Had I met you before you set out, you would not have gone,’ and he cited this ḥadīth as proof. This shows that he understood the report in its unrestricted, general sense—and Abū Hurayrah agreed with him.

The sounder view according to Imām al-Ḥaramayn and other Shāfiʿis is that such travel is not forbidden. They answered the ḥadīth with several explanations, one of which is that full excellence is reserved for saddling mounts to these three mosques, whereas travelling to other places is permissible, though without the same degree of merit. This is supported by a wording recorded by Aḥmad, to be mentioned later: ‘The riding beasts should not be burdened,’ a phrase that clearly stops short of declaring the act unlawful.