human sight. This happens only to some people in certain circumstances: sometimes as a miraculous favor bestowed upon them, and sometimes through magic and the work of devils. A detailed discussion of the distinction between the two belongs elsewhere.

The point here is that the Companions and those who followed them in righteousness never built a mosque over the grave of a prophet or a righteous man, nor made it a shrine or a place of visitation. Nor did they build mosques at sites associated with the prophets, such as a place where a prophet had stopped, prayed, or done something of that kind. They did not deliberately build mosques on account of places associated with the prophets and the righteous.

The majority of them did not deliberately seek to pray at a place that the Messenger had not specifically chosen for prayer, but where he had merely stopped or happened to pray. Indeed, their leading figures, such as ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb and others, forbade deliberately seeking to pray at a place where the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had prayed incidentally, without specifically choosing it.

It is reported only of Ibn ‘Umar that he would take care to travel where the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had travelled, stop where he had stopped, and pray where he had prayed, even when the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had not specifically chosen that spot for that action, but had merely happened to do it there. Ibn ‘Umar—may Allah be pleased with him and his father—was a righteous man, deeply committed to following the Prophet, and he regarded this as part of following him. His father and the other Companions—the Rightly Guided Caliphs ‘Uthmān and ‘Alī, the remaining members of the Ten, and others such as Ibn Mas‘ūd, Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal, and Ubayy ibn Ka‘b—did not do what Ibn ‘Umar did. The majority’s view is more correct.