For that reason the meticulous al-Sanʿānī remarked in Subul al-Salām (2/251):

“The majority hold that this is not prohibited, yet the proofs they cite cannot support their case, and they force the hadiths of the chapter into far-fetched interpretations. Such interpretations are inadmissible unless sound evidence arises that truly warrants them.”

Abū al-Ṭayyib Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān added in Fath al-ʿAllām (1/310):

“There is, in fact, no proof. The reports that encourage the Prophetic visitation and extol its virtue contain no command to saddle the mounts for it; moreover, every one of those reports is either weak or fabricated, unfit to serve as evidence. Most people have not noticed the difference between the issue of visitation itself and the issue of travelling for that visitation, so they diverted the hadith of this chapter from its plain wording without any proof to justify doing so.”

I say: Visiting the Prophet’s grave ﷺ has no need of the weak reports just mentioned, for the material already found in this chapter suffices. Even if the only texts available were the general hadiths that encourage visiting graves, they would be enough to establish the legitimacy of visiting his grave ﷺ—a fortiori, as is obvious. God willing, this will be clarified in its proper place.

In conclusion: the position adopted by Abū Muḥammad al-Juwaynī, and by those who agree with him, that it is forbidden to set out on a journey to any revered site other than the three mosques, is the view that must be followed. This ruling does not apply to travel undertaken for commerce, the pursuit of knowledge, and the like—one may travel wherever such needs require. The same holds for travelling to visit a brother for Allah’s sake: the purpose is to see the brother himself, wherever he may be.