and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah.” He also invokes blessings upon him, thus supplicating for him before supplicating for himself. As for anyone else, there is no mosque associated with him to which travel is recommended as it is to the Prophet’s mosque. Rather, visiting his grave is prescribed in the same manner as visiting graves generally. The Prophet himself—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—prescribed travelling to his mosque and forbade anything that might give the impression that the journey was to somewhere other than the three mosques.

A distinction must be made between the prescribed visitation instituted by the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the innovated visitation which he did not prescribe but rather forbade, such as taking the graves of prophets and righteous people as places of worship, praying towards a grave, and making it an idol.

It is authentically reported from him in the two Sahīh collections that he said:

“Journeys are not to be undertaken except to three mosques: the Sacred Mosque, this mosque of mine, and al-Aqsā Mosque.”

Indeed, when Abū Hurayrah travelled to Mount Sinai, where Allah spoke to Moses son of ‘Imrān—peace be upon him—Basrah ibn Abī Basrah al-Ghifārī said to him:

“Had I reached you before you set out, you would not have gone. I heard the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—say: ‘Mounts are not to be ridden on journeys except to three mosques: the Sacred Mosque, this mosque of mine, and the mosque of Jerusalem.’”

Travel to these mosques has therefore been prescribed for worshipping Allah in them through prayer, Quran recitation, remembrance, supplication, and devotional retreat. Circumambulation is exclusive to the Sacred Mosque; it is not performed at any other mosque. As for other mosques, if a person goes to them and prays in them without undertaking a journey,