and striking them; nor does he regard the prohibition against urinating in still water and then bathing in it as prohibiting pouring urine into it and then bathing in it. The majority of scholars consider such reasoning a deficiency in intellect and understanding, and a form of “sophistry” that denies the speaker’s intended meaning, as explained at length elsewhere.

If we consider the cave of Hirā’, the people of Mecca used to climb up to it to worship, and it is said that ‘Abd al-Muttalib instituted this practice among them. Before his prophethood, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to devote himself to worship there, and it was there that revelation first came to him. Yet once revelation had come to him, he never climbed up to it again or approached it—neither he nor his Companions. He remained in Mecca for ten-odd years after becoming a prophet without visiting it or climbing up to it, and the believers with him in Mecca did likewise. After the Hijrah, he came to Mecca several times: for the ‘umrah of al-Hudaybiyah; in the year of the conquest, when he stayed there for nearly twenty days; and for the ‘umrah of al-Ji‘rānah. Yet he neither went to the cave of Hirā’ nor visited it.

If, then, this cave is not to be travelled to or visited, there is all the more reason not to visit other caves, such as the Cave of Blood and the like. For, since the Messenger’s mission began, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, acts of worship such as prayer, remembrance of Allah, and supplication have been prescribed in every place: “The whole earth has been made a place of prayer and a means of purification for him and his community.”

The places possessing special merit are the mosques, which are the places most beloved to Allah, as authentically reported from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is in them that devotional retreat is observed.