No one should travel for the purpose of visiting (any mosque) except three.
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Assalamalaikum,
I want
to know is it permisible to travel to visit my friend who is in dubai from
riyadh to see him as I came across a hadeeth “No one should travel for the
purpose of visiting (any mosque) except three: al-Masjid al-Haraam (in Makkah),
this mosque of mine (in Madeenah) and al-Masjid al-Aqsaa (in al-Quds/Jerusalem).”
Agreed upon).
Please
explain me in the light of Quran and Authentic Ahadeeth.
Wasallam
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Travel to visit friend
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Saeed bin Al-Musayyib reported from Abu
Hurairah that the Prophet (saws) said, "You should not undertake a special
journey to visit any place (of worship) other than the three Mosques: the
Sacred Mosque of Makkah, this mosque of mine (in Madinah), and Al-Aqsa Mosque (in
Related by Bukhari and Muslim.
Beloved brother, the Messenger of Allah (saws) forbade the
believers from undertaking a special journey for the sole purpose of visiting
any place of worship, except the three Holy Masjids of Makkah, Madinah, and
But if one wishes to undertake a journey for any other
lawful purpose whatsoever, like visiting one’s loved ones, or for business, or for
anything else….there is absolutely no harm and no prohibition in Shariah
whatsoever. The prohibition is
restricted to undertaking a journey specially to visit a place of worship, except
the three Holy Masjids.
The basic wisdom underlying the command and guidance of
the Messenger of Allah (saws) is that other than the three Holy Mosques, there
is no other place, or masjid, or (Allah forbid) shrines, or tombs, or graves,
etc., the visiting of which has any merit or special rewards from Allah
Subhanah!
In their utter ignorance some misguided people have built
dedicated places of worship over the graves and tombs of some deceased pious
slaves of Allah (eg. Saleem Chishti and
Abu Hurairah reported: "The Prophet (saws)
said: 'May Allah destroy the Jews,
because they used the graves of their prophets as places of worship (shrines).'' (Bukhari and Muslim)
Aishah reported: "Umm Habibah and Umm
Salamah mentioned to Allah's Messenger (saws) a church in which they saw drawings
while in Abyssinia, whereupon he (saws) said: 'Those people used to build a
place of worship (shrine, tomb, etc.) over the grave of a righteous man among
them when he died, and make such
drawings in it. These will be the worst
of people in the Sight of Allah on the Day of Resurrection.'' (Bukhari and
Muslim)
If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and
commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws),
one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any other
guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured
of being led astray.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister