offered outside the chamber and in every place, it is like greeting him with peace during prayer, and is akin to invoking blessings upon him. Allah bestows ten blessings upon whoever invokes blessings upon him once, and sends peace ten times upon whoever greets him with peace once. This is what Muslims have been commanded to do specifically for the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Greeting him with peace at his grave, by contrast, is something he shares with all believers: every believer may be greeted with peace at his grave, just as he is greeted when met during his lifetime.

As for invoking blessings and peace in every place, and singling out a particular individual for invocations of blessing, this has been commanded only with regard to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is upon him that people have been commanded to invoke blessings and abundant peace. May Allah bless him and his family and grant them abundant peace.

His wives’ chambers were outside the mosque, on its eastern side and on the side facing the direction of prayer. Thus he—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“Between my house and my pulpit is a garden from the gardens of Paradise.”

This is the wording of the two Sahīh collections. The wording “my grave” is not found in the Sahīh, for there was no grave at that time. His mosque was granted its distinction only because of him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for he was the one who built it and founded it upon piety. It is established in the two Sahīh collections that he said:

“One prayer in this mosque of mine is better than a thousand prayers in any other mosque, except the Sacred Mosque.”

The majority of scholars hold that the Sacred Mosque is the most excellent of mosques, and that a prayer in it is equivalent to one hundred thousand prayers. This was narrated by Ahmad, al-Nasā’ī, and others