to fulfil his vow; rather, he would be prohibited from doing so.

If, however, someone vowed to travel to his mosque or to al-Aqsā Mosque to pray, al-Shāfiʿī has two opinions on the matter. The more firmly established opinion attributed to him is that fulfilling the vow is obligatory; this is also the position of Mālik and Ahmad. The second is that it is not obligatory; this is also the position of Abū Hanīfa, whose governing principle is that a vow makes binding only what is obligatory under Islamic law. Since going to these two mosques is not obligatory under Islamic law, it does not become obligatory through a vow according to him.

The majority, however, maintain that this is an act of obedience to Allah. It is authentically established in Sahīh al-Bukhārī that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever vows to obey Allah, let him obey Him; and whoever vows to disobey Allah, let him not disobey Him.”

As for travelling to visit the graves of prophets and righteous people, none of these imams holds that it becomes obligatory through a vow, because it is not an act of obedience. How, then, could someone who does this be equal to one of his Companions?

Indeed, Mālik disapproved of someone saying, “I visited the grave of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,” and regarded it as a grave matter. It has been suggested that this was akin to his disapproval of visiting graves; another explanation offered is that the visitor is superior to the one visited. Both explanations are considered weak by Mālik’s followers.

The correct explanation is that the expression “visiting the grave” is ambiguous: it includes the religiously innovated form of visitation that is of the nature of polytheism. Visiting the graves of prophets and all other believers takes two forms, as previously mentioned: