and one should not supplicate there while facing the chamber, for all of this is forbidden by agreement of the imams. Mālik was among the imams most strongly opposed to it. The account claiming that he instructed al-Mansūr to face the chamber when supplicating is falsely attributed to Mālik.

One should not stand at the grave to supplicate for oneself, for this is an innovation. None of the Companions would stand there supplicating for themselves; rather, they would face the qiblah and supplicate in his mosque. For he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“O Allah, do not make my grave an idol that is worshipped.”

He also said:

“Do not make my grave a place of festivity, and do not turn your homes into graves. Invoke blessings upon me wherever you are, for your blessings reach me.”

He also said:

“Invoke blessings upon me abundantly on Friday and the night preceding it, for your blessings are presented to me.”

They asked: “How will our blessings be presented to you when you have decayed?”—meaning, when your body has decomposed. He replied:

“Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the prophets.”

He thus stated that he hears blessings and greetings of peace from those nearby, and that these reach him from those far away.

He also said:

“May Allah curse the Jews and Christians; they took the graves of their prophets as places of worship.”

He was warning against what they had done. ‘Ā’ishah said: “Were it not for that, his grave would have been left exposed, but he disliked its being made a place of worship.” This was recorded in both Sahīh collections.

The Companions therefore buried him where he had died, in ‘Ā’ishah’s chamber. Her chamber and all the other chambers were outside the mosque, on its southern and eastern sides. However, during the reign of al-Walīd ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, this mosque and others were renovated. His governor in Medina was ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, and he ordered that the chambers be purchased and that an extension be made