As for travelling to a place other than the three mosques, no scholar has held that someone who vows to make such a journey is obliged to do so. Indeed, the scholars explicitly stated that one should not travel to the Mosque of Qubā’, since it is not one of the three mosques—even though visiting it is recommended for those in Medina, because this does not involve undertaking a journey. As stated in the authentic hadith:

“Whoever purifies himself at home, then comes to the Mosque of Qubā’ intending only to pray there, will receive the reward of an ‘umrah.”

They also argued that travelling to visit the graves of the prophets and the righteous is an innovation that none of the Companions or Successors practised, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, never commanded, and that none of the imams of the Muslims deemed recommended. Whoever believes this to be an act of worship and undertakes it therefore contravenes the Sunnah and the consensus of the imams. This is among the innovations contrary to the Sunnah and scholarly consensus that Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Battah mentioned in al-Ibānah al-Sughrā.

This makes clear the invalidity of Abū Muhammad al-Maqdisī’s argument: the Prophet’s visits to the Mosque of Qubā’, peace and blessings be upon him, did not involve undertaking a journey, and al-Maqdisī concedes their point that a vow to travel there does not make that journey obligatory.

His statement that the hadith whose purport is “No journey should be undertaken” is to be understood as denying that such travel is recommended can be answered in two ways: