Advice for the Muslim

ibn ’Umar committed an act not permitted by Islam. The Wahhâbî
author praises the as-Sahâbat al-kirâm highly when it suits his
interests, but he shamelessly commits such filthy slanders when it
does not suit him. If it had not been permitted to visit the Prophet’s
shrine and to say salât and salâm, ’Abdullâh ibn ’Umar would not
have done so, or the Sahâbîs who saw him would have told him
that it was prohibited. His behaviour and the silence of those who
saw him show that it is permitted and meritorious. Imâm Nâfi’
said, “I have seen more than a hundred times ’Abdullah ibn ’Umar
say, ‘As-salâma ’alaika yâ Rasûl-Allâh!’ ‘As-salâmu ’alaika yâ Abâ
Bakr!’ and ‘As-salâmu ’alaika yâ Abî (father)!’ during his visits to
Rasûlullâh’s shrine.”
One day, Hadrat ’Alî (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) entered Masjid
ash-Sharîf and wept long in front of Fâtimâ’s (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhâ) room. Then he entered the Hujrat as-Sa’âda and said, “Assalâmu
’alaika yâ Rasûl-Allâh.” And he wept again. Then, saying,
“ ’Alaikuma ’s-salâm yâ akhawayya wa rahmat-Allâh,” he greeted
Hadrat Abu Bakr and Hadrat ’Umar and went out.
It was for this reason that our scholars of fiqh (rahimahum-
Allâhu ta’âlâ) came to Medina and performed salât in Masjid ash-
Sharîf after pilgrimage. Then they visited and received blessings by
seeing the Rawdat al-Mutahhara, the Minbar al-Munîr and the
Qabr ash-Sharîf, which is superior to the ’Arsh al-a’lâ; the places
where the Prophet sat, walked and leaned; the pole he leaned
against when the wahî came and the places where as-Sahâbat alkirâm
and the Tâbi’ûn (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în), who
worked when the Masjid was being built and repaired or who had
the honour of giving financial help, walked. Those scholars and
sulahâ’ who came later would come to Medina after hajj and do as
our ’ulamâ’ of fiqh did. It is for this reason that pilgrims have been
visiting al-Madînat al-Munawwara.
The ’ulamâ’ have given different answers to the question
whether one [a pilgrim] should first go to Medina or visit the
Prophet’s shrine after hajj. ’Alqama, Aswad and ’Amr ibn
Maimûn, three superiors among the Tâbi’ûn (rahimahum-Allâhu
ta’âlâ) said that one should first go to Medina. Al-Imâm al-A’zam
Abu Hanîfa (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), the sun of Islamic scholars,
said that it would be better to perform hajj and then leave Mecca
for Medina. So it was written in the fatwâ of Abu ’l-Laith Nasr as-
Samarqandî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), who passed away in
373/985.
During the sultanate of ’Abdulhamîd Khan II, it became a
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