supplicating for him and for the Muslims, as one does in the funeral prayer. Visiting a believer’s grave is akin to offering his funeral prayer: the actions performed in each are of the same nature, and the supplications serve the same purpose.

A similar example is the Helpers’ pledge of allegiance to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—on the night of al-‘Aqabah, in the valley behind Jamrat al-‘Aqabah. This was a low-lying place near Minā that concealed those within it. The seventy Helpers had come on pilgrimage with their polytheist people; people had continued to make the pilgrimage to Mecca both before and after Islam. They therefore came with their people to Minā for the pilgrimage, then went to that place at night because it was nearby and offered concealment, not because it possessed any special merit. They did not seek it out for any virtue particular to that spot.

For this reason, when the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and his Companions performed the pilgrimage, they neither went there nor visited it. A mosque has been built there, but it is a later construction. Every mosque in Mecca and its surroundings other than the Sacred Mosque is likewise a later construction. Even Minā itself had no purpose-built mosque during the time of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Rather, he said:

“Minā is a camping ground for whoever arrives first.”

The Muslims thus camped there, and he would lead them in prayer both in Minā and elsewhere, as did his successors after him. The pilgrims gather in greater numbers at Minā than elsewhere, since they stay there for four days. The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—Abū Bakr, and ‘Umar would lead the people in prayer in Minā and elsewhere, and they would shorten