The point here is that the excellence of the Messenger’s Mosque and other mosques lies in their being houses of Allah, built for His worship. Allah Most High says:

“The mosques belong to Allah, so do not invoke anyone alongside Allah.”

And He says:

“Say, ‘My Lord has commanded justice. Direct your faces toward Him at every place of prayer.’”

And He says:

“It is not for the polytheists to maintain Allah’s mosques while bearing witness against themselves to disbelief”—up to His words—“Only those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish prayer, give zakat, and fear none but Allah maintain Allah’s mosques. It is they who may be among the rightly guided.”

And He says:

“In houses which Allah has ordained to be raised and His name remembered, He is glorified morning and evening by men whom neither trade nor sale distracts from remembering Allah, establishing prayer, and giving zakat. They fear a Day when hearts and eyes will be overturned, so that Allah may reward them according to the best of what they did and grant them still more out of His bounty. Allah provides for whomever He wills without measure.”

The three mosques possess an excellence above all others, for prophets built them and called people to travel to them. Abraham, Allah’s intimate friend, called people to the Sacred Mosque; Solomon called them to the mosque in Jerusalem; and our Prophet called them to all three: his own mosque and the other two. However, he made travel to the Sacred Mosque obligatory and travel to the other two voluntary. Abraham and Solomon did not make any of this obligatory, nor did Allah’s intimate friend make Hajj obligatory. Thus, the Children of Israel did not perform Hajj, although Moses, Jonah, and others did. For this reason, it was not