, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or worship by doing what he has forbidden. Likewise, prayer is not permissible at sunrise or sunset, nor is fasting permissible on either Eid, even though prayer and fasting are among the finest acts of worship. If someone did this before learning the Sunnah, however, he would incur no sin.

The various schools therefore agree that it is not recommended. I know of no leading Muslim scholar who has said that travelling to graves is recommended. Some of their followers may have said so, but none of the leading scholars qualified to exercise independent juristic judgment has said this. Were such a view advanced, it would constitute a third opinion on the matter. Its proponent should then be shown that this view is mistaken and contrary to the Sunnah and the consensus of the Companions. For none of the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them all—travelled to the grave of a prophet or a righteous man during the caliphates of Abū Bakr al-Siddīq, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmān and ‘Alī, or under their successors until the generation of the Companions had passed away.

None of the Companions travelled to “the grave of Abraham, Allah’s intimate friend, peace be upon him,” in Syria. They would visit Jerusalem and pray there, but would not go to the grave of Abraham, Allah’s intimate friend, peace be upon him. It was not visible; rather, it lay within the building erected by Solomon son of David, peace be upon them both.

Nor was “the grave of Joseph the truthful” known. It was only brought to light more than three hundred years after the Hijrah. For this reason, it became a matter of dispute: many scholars deny its identification, and this position has been transmitted from Mālik and others, because the Companions did not visit it so that it might become known. And when control was seized