with a good chain of transmission. The Sacred Mosque owes its distinction to him and to Abraham, the intimate friend of Allah. Abraham built the House and, at Allah’s command, called people to perform pilgrimage to it, but did not make this obligatory upon them. Thus, Hajj was not obligatory in the early days of Islam; it was prescribed only later. The correct view is that it became obligatory in the year when the surah Āl ‘Imrān was revealed, when the delegation from Najrān arrived, in 9 or 10 AH.

Those who say it became obligatory in 6 AH base their argument solely on Allah’s words:

“Complete the Hajj and ‘umrah for Allah.”

Everyone agrees that this verse was revealed in the year of al-Hudaybiyah. However, it commands the completion of pilgrimage once begun; it does not impose an obligation to undertake it in the first place.

The Sacred House already possessed the distinction of having been built by Abraham, the intimate friend of Allah, who called people to perform pilgrimage to it. It then acquired a second distinction: Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—rescued it from the hands of the polytheists and kept it from their control. He was also the one who made pilgrimage to it obligatory upon everyone able to undertake it. People have come on pilgrimage to it from east and west. Through Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—Allah has thus been worshipped there by many times more people than before, and with greater worship, for Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—is the foremost of Adam’s descendants.

When he died, he was buried in ‘Ā’ishah’s chamber. She said: “During his final illness, the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

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

He was warning against what they had done. ‘Ā’ishah—may Allah be pleased with her—said: “Were it not for that, his grave would have been left exposed, but he disliked its being made a place of worship.” And in the Sahīh of