What You Need To Know About The Prophet’s Mosque In Madinah

Madinah, one of the holiest cities in Saudi Arabia, is located 405.5 km from Jeddah or about 4-5 hours by road. Thenabawi_w640 Prophet Muhammad (SAW) mentioned:

“O Allah! Make Al Madinah beloved to us as we love Makkah – or more. (hadith narrated by Bukhari and  Muslim).

The Prophet’s Mosque or Masjid Nabawi, located in the city of Madinah, is described as follows.

As mentioned in the Quran

Al-Tawbah 9: 108:

“Verily, the mosque whose foundation was laid from the first day on piety is more worthy that you stand therein (to pray). In it are men who love to clean and to purify themselves. And Allah loves those who make themselves clean and pure.” 

As-Samhudi said that the above applies to the mosque of Al-Madinah (the Prophet’s Mosque) and Quba Mosque which were built during the early emigration of the Prophet (SAW).

The reward

Prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque is said to be 1,000 times better than at other mosques, and praying in the Prophet’s Mosque is like 6 months of praying in another mosque (except Masjid Al Haram in Makkah). Ibn Umar (RA) stated that the Prophet (SAW) said:

Prayer in this Mosque of mine is better than a thousand prayers in any mosque, except the Sacred Mosque.” (hadith narrated by Bukhari-Muslims).

Tombs of the Prophet (SAW), Abu Bakr (RA), and Umar (RA) are located there

Inside of the mosque there are tombs of the Prophet (SAW) and two khalifah (Abu Bakar and Umar, RA). However, pilgrimage to the tomb of the Prophet (SAW) is not mandatory, nor is it a condition for the Hajj, but it is recommended when we are visiting the Holy Mosque or when we are near to the location of the mosque. For those who are away from Madinah, he/she does not need to travel to specifically visit the tomb of the Prophet (SAW). According to a hadith, the Prophet (SAW) said:

“Do not saddle up your riding beasts except to go to three mosques: My Mosque, the Sacred Mosque, and Al-Aqsa mosque” (hadith narrated by Bukhari-Muslim).

Therefore, according to Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz in the Al-Hajj wal Umrah waz-Ziarah (p.68-69), the following hadith are NOT from the Prophet (SAW):

Firstly, “Whoever performs the Hajj and does not visit me has shunned me.”
Secondly, “Whoever visited me after my death, it will be as if he visited me during my life.”
Third, “Whoever visited me and visited my father, Abraham in the same year, Allah will guarantee him Paradise.”
Fourth, “Whoever visited my grave, must receive my intercession.”

The prayer recited when visiting the grave of the Prophet is:
“Assalamu ‘alaika ya Rasulullahi wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.”
(May the Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you, O Messenger of Allah)

Finally, women are allowed to visit the tomb of the Prophet (SAW) as said in the hadith by Aishah (RA) in hadith Muslim, but when visiting the tomb, we are not allowed to wipe our hands on the tomb, to kiss it, or to circumambulate it, as this belongs to an innovation (bid’ah).

Wallahu A’lam

 

Source: History of Madinah Munawwaroh, group of scholars, supervised by Shaikh Safiur-Rahman Mubarakpuri

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