“Peace be upon you, inhabitants of these abodes, believers and Muslims.”

Offering salutations of peace upon him during prayer is better than doing so at his grave. It is something particular to him and has been commanded. Allah bestows peace upon the one who offers him salutations, just as He blesses the one who invokes blessings upon him: whoever invokes blessings upon him once, Allah blesses him ten times, and whoever offers him a salutation of peace once, Allah bestows peace upon him ten times.

Their purpose and his purpose in offering him salutations and invoking blessings upon him have thus been fulfilled, whether in his mosque or elsewhere. Going to the grave therefore affords no further benefit to them or to him. This differs from going to the mosque of Qubā, which they would visit every Saturday to pray there, following his example, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for prayer there is equivalent to an umrah. They would combine this with praying in his mosque on Friday, since neither could take the place of the other; rather, this brought an additional reward.

Likewise, it is good for a person to go out to al-Baqī‘ and those buried at Uhud to supplicate for them, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to do. This brings benefit without harm. They do not supplicate for those people in every prayer, such that one could say, “This makes that unnecessary.” Nevertheless, Mālik is reported to have disapproved of treating this as an established sunnah. In this matter, he did not follow Ibn ‘Umar’s practice, just as he did not follow his practice of rubbing the place where the Prophet sat on the pulpit, nor his view that it was recommended to seek out the places where the Prophet had prayed simply because the time for prayer had overtaken him there. Ibn ‘Umar considered it recommended to seek out those places and pray there, whereas the majority of the Companions did not. Rather, they favoured what he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, himself favoured