Shariq Khan Blog: Etiquettes to Follow

Yearning for the Prophet's Mosque: Etiquettes to Follow
By Muhammad Sayyed Ahmad Al-MusayyarProfessor of Islamic creed and philosophy at Al-Azhar University

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Every pilgrim and person visiting Madinah harbors deep yearning for visiting the Prophet's Mosque and offering greetings unto him when standing at his grave.
So it is indispensable for the visitors of the Prophet's Mosque to know the etiquettes of such a special visit.
A believer cannot help but be moved and utter from the bottom of the heart, "O Allah, send Your peace upon Muhammad and the household of Muhammad as You sent it upon Ibrahim and the household of Ibrahim, and bless Muhammad and the household of Muhammad as You blessed Ibrahim and the household of Ibrahim. Truly, You are All-Praiseworthy, All-Glorious."
To visit the noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) means to go to Madinah, pray at his mosque, and have the honor of greeting him, the best of all humankind.
As for Madinah, it has a significantly great virtue and high status in Islam. It is the place where the Immigrants (Muhajirun) and the Muslim residents of Madinah (Ansar) met. It is where the Islamic state was established. From Madinah, the armies of the Prophet went out to spread the light of Allah everywhere.
The Prophet was reported as saying:
Plague and Al-Maseeh Ad-Dajjal [antichrist] cannot enter Madinah. (Al-Bukhari)
It [Madinah] turns out evil people as bellows remove the impurities of iron. (Al-Bukhari)
Madinah is the best place for people, if they only know. (Muslim)
According t Imam Malik, when `Umar ibn `Abdul-`Aziz left Madinah, he turned his face to it in tears and asked the person who accompanied him, "O Muzahim, do you fear that you may be one of those whom Madinah has turned out?"
The Prophet's Mosque is the best mosque after Allah's Sacred Mosque. It is one of the three mosques in which the reward of praying is multiplied and to which people are allowed to travel long distances for a visit. Allah's Messenger was reported to have said,
Journeys are not to be made [to mosques] except for three mosques: this mosque of mine [in Madinah], the Sacred Mosque [in Makkah], and Al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem]. (Muslim)
The Prophet also said,
A prayer performed in this mosque of mine is better than a thousand prayers in any other mosque save Allah's Sacred Mosque. (Al-Bukhari)
Besides, the Prophet's Mosque contains what is known as Ar-Rawdah Ash-Sharifah (a garden from Paradise). About the virtue of Ar-Rawdah, the following hadith was reported:
Between my house and my pulpit, there is a garden from the gardens of Paradise. (Al-Bukhari)
The grave encompassing the Prophet's honorable body was originally the chamber of the Prophet's wife `A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her). Because the tradition of burying the prophets was that they were usually buried where they had died, Prophet Muhammad was buried in `A'ishah's chamber. He died there as he leaned on her chest. She listened to him saying, "O Allah, forgive me, bestow mercy upon me, and let me join Ar-Rafiq Al-A`la [supreme company of Almighty Allah, the company of the Prophets and angels, or Paradise itself]."
It was also narrated that `A'ishah said, "I had a vision that three moons fell into my room, and I related my vision to Abu Bakr As-Siddiq." Then, when the Messenger of Allah died (peace and blessings be upon him) and was later buried in her room, Abu Bakr told her, "This is one of your moons, and he is the best of them."
Etiquettes of the Visit
It is most appropriate for a Muslim visiting the Prophet's Mosque to begin with praying two rak`ahs, preferably in Ar-Rawdah Ash-Sharifah, to greet the mosque. Then the visitor may walk to the blessed grave from the direction of the qiblah in a polite, calm, and humble manner, face the grave, and then say, "O Allah's Prophet, may the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you."
The visitor may also praise the Prophet's character by mentioning some of his attributes upon greeting him. Then, the visitor may move rightwards by an arm's length to face Abu Bakr's grave and greet him and then proceed by the same distance to stand before `Umar's grave and greet him, too.
Then, if any visitor wants to pray for themselves, then they are required to face the qiblah, not the grave, while doing so.
It was reported in some narrations that when the mosque was free of worshippers the Companions of the Prophet would sit by the rummanahof the pulpit (a spherical shape in the Prophet's Pulpit where he would rest his hand while delivering speech) with the grave to their right and then face the qiblah to supplicate Almighty Allah. Ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) would visit the Prophet's grave and say, "Peace be upon the Prophet, peace be upon Abu Bakr, and peace be upon my father." Then he would leave.
Some scholars made a distinction between the dwellers of Madinah and its visitors with regard to the desirability of standing at the Prophet's grave. Imam Malik said,
It is not highly desirable for a resident of Madinah to stand at the [Prophet's] grave when entering the Prophet's Mosque. This is, however, highly desirable for the visitors of Madinah.
Imam Malik was also reported as saying, "It is, however, permissible for a resident of Madinah who has just turned back from a journey outside Madinah or who is setting out for a journey outside it to stand at the grave of the Prophet and invoke Allah's peace and blessings upon him, Abu Bakr, and `Umar."
This distinction between the inhabitants of Madinah and its visitors as to standing at the Prophet's grave is followed by another distinction pertaining to the desirability of performing supererogatory prayer at the Prophet's mosque.
Generally speaking, the jurists of Islam, based on an authentic hadith of the Prophet, agree that a man's supererogatory prayer is best performed at home. The prescribed prayers are, however, best performed in congregation at the mosque for men. But Imam Malik said, "In my viewpoint, for the visitors of Madinah, offering supererogatory prayers is more recommended at the Prophet's Mosque than at home."
Here we find it necessary to recall the hadith in which Allah's Messenger said,
O Allah, do not make my grave a worshipped idol. Almighty Allah has intensely cursed the people who took the graves of their prophets as places of worship. (Authenticated by Al-Albani)
We do love the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in his highly commendable character, and we fully comply with his Sunnah and guidance.
Sa`id ibn Mansur reported that `Abdullah ibn Hassan ibn Hassan ibn `Ali noticed that a man would frequently visit the Prophet's grave. Ibn `Ali said to this man, "O you, Allah's Messenger said, 'Do not take my grave as a place of worship and send Allah's peace and blessings upon me wherever you are and your greetings will reach me.' So, you and a man in Andalusia are equal with regard to offering greetings unto the Prophet."