Thankyou sister Jawaaher for taking the time to ask us agian. It shows how much you care about your knowledge. I hope every Muslim is active in seeking the right knowledge like you. :cool:
Also lots of thanks and barak allahu feek brother As-Sunni for your proof bound reply. Yes be sure Jawaaher that in this forum what ever we say about religion is backed by proof from the Quran, hadith and consensus.
To answer your question about the meaning of the hadith, let me first say that what you heard is wrong. so plz keep an open mind as i try to discuss this issue with you in detail and prove to you that visiting the prophet at his grave is a deed done by the salaf.
Firstly the hadith is better written like this in english: Your eagerness to travel to a mosque should be aimed only at these three; the mosque of al-Aqsa, the holy mosque (of Makka) and my mosque (the mosque of Al-Madina). Dear Jawaaher to get straight to the point, the wahabies are the sect who these days render visiting the prophet at the grave as haram. They are extremists and follow the teachings of Ibn Taymiah in may of his deviations, not just in this one.
Being the fundamental extremists that they are, these groups refuse to acknowledge that this hadith is referring merely to the most rewarding of mosques and does not imply that intending a journey to any other holly place is a sin. Its important to mention that this hadith is advising the Muslim to favor these mosques over other mosques, because Allah the Exalted has given them a special status. Let me tell you why these mosques are favoured and how we know this.
Through the teachings of prophet Muhammad we know that, the reward of one prayer performed in the mosque of Al-Aqsa is multiplied by 500 times over his prayer in any other mosque. The same prayer performed in the mosque of prophet Muhammad -in Madinah-is multiplied by 1000 times over the 500, and the one prayer performed at the Holly mosque of Makkah is multiplied by a further 100 000 times over the previous total. So Jawaaher, the aim of the prophets saying (which i stated to you by meaning), is merely to point out that if you are ambitious to travel to a mosque for the purpose of gaining the best rewards, these three special mosques are those to which you should travel. None of the companions or the scholars of the salaf understood from this hadith that it is haram to visit the grave of our prophet (which of course is in the mosque in Madina).
Another thing Jawaaher, and i'm sure that A-Sunni will agree with me on this too; the correct understanding of the hadith is also derived from another hadith of the prophet which is related by the scholar Imam Ahmad, through a route leading to one of the companions. In this hadith the prophet
says to the meaning of: It is not desirable for a worshipper who is seeking to perform a prayer in a most rewarding mosque to travel to other than the Holly mosque of Makkah, the Mosque of Al-Aqsa and my mosque--meaning the mosque of Al-Madina.
So Jawaaher you can clearly see that this hadith defines the meaning and intention of the hadith you are asking about. Jawaaher let me also say this important point. The knowledge of Islam is profoundly consistent throughout the Islamic scriptures. Never shall a flaw or a contradiction between Quranic verses and/or true sayings of the prophet be found. The principal used by true Islamic scholars in deriving the correct interpretation from the Islamic scripture is to look upon a script as part of a whole. This simply means that to interpret a saying of the prophet we must not look at it with isolation, instead we must look at it with consideration to the other sayings on the same topic. This also tells you that all the verses of the Qr'an and sayings of the prophet support one another. Jawaaher be sure that this is the Islamic principal conducted by the noble and trustworthy Islamic scholars Dont listen to people like the wahabies who come up with their own meanings by looking at the verses and sayings seperatley. This is very dangerous and neither the companions, the salaf nor the scholars of the Khalaf interpreted the Islamic references in that way.
. And remeber it is to such men of piety and loyalty that we entrust to attain our knowledge of Islam from and not from the fundamental extremists like Ibin Taymia. Let me just tell you one last incredible detail and true Islamic proof that you can throw as evidence in the face any one who says that visiting the prophet at his grave is haram.......You'll like this one
Prophet Issa himself will visit prophet Muhammad at his grave when he descendt to earth again....How's that?
In fact it was related by Al-Hakim in his book named Al-mustadrak, from the saying of the companion Abi-hurayra, that the prophet said to the meaning of: "^Issa the son of Mariam will descend to earth. He will be a just ruler. He will make his way to perform either Al-haj or Al-^Umra and attend my grave to greet me with peace, to which I shall reply".
SO Jawaaher next time you come across such misguiders that are fast to try to mislead you, tell them that you want to do what prophet Issa will do when he comes down to earth. What answer will they have to that?? Will they dare to say Prophet Issa, one of the 5 Ullil^azm (the best of the prophets) will commit a sin to do that?
? Subhan Allah.
May Allah guide such people to the truth and keep you and us steadfast in learning the thruth knowledge. Ameen
Pleas keep asking. Im sure our brohter As-sunni is as glad as i am to answer you.
