Chapter Six

Visiting
the Messenger of Allah

(May Allah bless him and
grant him peace)

The Farewell Tawâf
[Pilgrims’ last circumambulation of the Ka‘bah directly before
leaving Mecca; it is also called Tawâf Al-Sadr] must be the last
act you perform in Mecca, before departing to your country or to Al-Madinah
Al-Munawarah [Medina, The Lightened City]. This Tawâf must not be
left out except in exceptional circumstances, for it must be performed by
everyone, except for the menstruating woman, as it is not asked from her to
wait a week till she performs the Farewell Tawâf. But as for the Ifâdah
Tawâf [Pilgrims’ circumambulation of the Ka‘bah upon their return
from Muzdalifah] she
must wait till she performs it, as it is one of the cornerstones of the Hajj.

The Farewell Tawâf
raised controversies among Imams, whether it is an act of Sunnah
[The way of life prescribed as normative in Islam, based on the teachings and
practices of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and
on exegesis of the Noble Qur’an] or
not?

The Mâliki [founded
by Imam Mâlik bin Anas 93-189 A.H.] and the Hanafi [founded
by Imam Abu Hanifah Al-Nu‘mân 80-150 A.H.] Juristic Schools judged that it is a Sunnah, while Imam Ahmad
and Ash-Shâfi’y, judged that it is an enjoined duty, but what is the
difference between the enjoined duty and the obligation? The enjoined duty is
proven by certain undoubted evidence, but as for the obligation it is proven by
hypothetical evidence. Only the followers of Imam Abu Hanifah
differentiate between the duty and the obligation, but for others duty is like
obligation.

 

Why then do not we adopt
the more reliable course? Why do not we fully and perfectly perform our
rituals, in a way that leaves no doubt? For the one who does not perform the Farewell
Tawâf must slaughter a sacrifice; he is obliged to offer a ransom, the
ransom of Farewell Tawâf.

To have the Tawâf
raised and accepted by Allah, it must be the last ritual you perform before
leaving Mecca. Do not perform the Tawâf and then stay in Mecca to do
some shopping, or sit in a hotel, or try to rearrange your plans and see the
gifts you will bring to your relatives and friends. Rather perform the Tawâf
and then get instantly into the car that will transport you outside Mecca, for
there is nothing on the face of the universe higher than the House of Allah.

To all people the Hajj
journey is never spiritually complete except by visiting the Messenger of Allah
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in the Lightened City (Medina). Those
who arrive a while before the Hajj time, usually go to Medina first, assume the
state of Ihrâm [The sacred state of practicing great
self-denial into which a Muslim must enter before performing Hajj or ‘Umrah,
during which certain actions are forbidden (like having conjugal relations,
shaving, cutting one’s nails, and several other actions) nor commit sin, nor
dispute unjustly. In this sacred state the dress of Muslim pilgrims consists of
two lengths of white cotton, one wrapped around the loins, the other thrown
over the left shoulder. Ihrâm clothes for women should fully cover the body
except the face, hands and feet] and then set off to Mecca to perform the Hajj rituals.
As for those who only arrive days before the Hajj time, they first perform the
Hajj rituals and then go to visit the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace) in Medina.

 

Some people say that the
Hajj made without visiting the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) is judged as if it were not performed, which is an opinion
that represents a psychological import and not a legalistic judgment. For the
soul that dearly loves the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) does not accept going to Hajj without visiting the beloved Prophet
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in Medina. It is a logical matter;
the believers love the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) and Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, says (what means):

“Say (O Muhammad SAW to
mankind): ‘If you (really) love Allâh then follow me (i.e. accept Islâmic
Monotheism, follow the Qur'ân and the Sunnah), Allâh will love you and forgive
you of your sins. And Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful’”  (Âl-‘Imrân, 3:31)

The
visit is not a cornerstone, but…

The faith of a Muslim is
not real true till the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) becomes dearer to the Muslim than his own soul between his two sides of
body. This visit though not a cornerstone of the Hajj, constitutes a matter of
heart and soul. Allah, Whose Majesty reigns supreme, willed that the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) resides in Medina, and he
used to tell its inhabitants, “I will live with you and will die with you,” a prophecy that he would live in Medina and would die
there, which Almighty Allah had revealed to him, in order not to contradict the
Qur’anic verse in which The Most Exalted says (what means):

“And no soul knows in what land it will
die”(Luqmân, 31:34)

It happened at the time
when the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
distributed the booty after the Battle of Hunain, that he gave the people
but did not give the Ansâr (the Supporters). The Ansâr
felt hurt that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
deprived them from their share in the booty. Thus, the youth among them said, ‘May
Allah forgive the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, he gives
the Quraish and leaves us, although our swords are dribbling with their blood.’ Upon hearing this, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) summoned them in his tent and told them, ‘Would it
not please you that people go away with sheep and camels while you go with the
Messenger of Allah?’ They
answered, ‘Yes.’
Upon which the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
said, ‘If people pursued a valley and the Ansâr pursued a mountain
pass, I would pursue the mountain pass of the Ansâr.’ Thus, the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) foretold the Ansâr that his death would be in Medina.

If someone wondered saying,
‘How could this happen when only Allah knows the Unseen.’ We answer by saying
that it is true that none save Allah knows the Unseen, but Allah reveals it to
whomever He wills. Furthermore, Allah ordered His Messenger in the Noble Qur’an
to say (what means):

“Nor (that) I know the unseen; nor I tell
you that I am an angel.” (Al-An‘âm, 6:50)

Thus, visiting the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in Medina is not
one of the Hajj rituals, but rather one of the properties of Islam.

Allah, all praise and glory
be to Him, has chosen for His Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
to die in Medina as a sign of veneration and an exaltation of his rank, so that
his visit would not be secondary to visiting the Sacred House of Allah, but
would rather be an independent visit specially paid to him. People thus come to
perform Hajj, and after finishing its rituals, they ride in their cars crossing
a distance of 500 kilometers through mountains and deserts to visit the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in Medina. They
pay the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) a special visit, out
of their deep love to him. A visit not made along with another but constitutes
the sole purpose, crossing long miles for its sake.

Medina
is a Sanctuary

 

Upon reaching the Lightened
City, we also find that the Masjid of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace), or the Sanctuary of Medina, has its restrictions same
as the Meccan Sanctuary. In the Sanctuary of Medina no contraventions are
committed, no hunting of birds, or driving games out of the boundaries of
Medina to hunt them. It is also prohibited to cut trees, even if thorny. The
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Verily, Ibrâhîm (Abraham, peace be upon him) made Mecca a
sanctuary, and I made Medina a sanctuary.”

The Messenger of Allah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) does not speak of his own desire. He alone
among all the Prophets was sanctioned to legislate for people. Allah, The Most Exalted,
says (what means):

“And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad
SAW) gives you, take it, and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it).”
(Al-Hashr, 59, 7)

Allah, all praise and glory
be to Him, has entrusted His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) with the duty of legislating for people.

The Sanctuary in Medina
lies between two of its dark stony grounds (i.e., two mountains) that serve to
define its boundaries. One of the two is located near the Mîqat [The
place where pilgrims declare their intentions to perform Hajj or ‘Umrah and
assume the state of Ihrâm] at Abar
‘Ali, and the next at the other side. Whoever is present between these two
signs, is inside the Sanctuary of Medina, and must guard the same discipline
observed in the Meccan Sanctuary.

The greeting you give when
you enter the Sacred Masjid in Mecca is to perform Tawâf around the Ka’bah.
In the Masjid of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the
greeting is expressed in offering the two-rak’ah prayer of saluting a
Masjid [A two-rak’ah prayer offered as a salutation upon entering a
Masjid. A rak‘ah is a set of actions that begins with recitation and ends with
prostration. It consists of one Bowing and two prostrations with a Sitting in
between]. After the salutation one
begins his visit to the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace); a
visit full of respect and reverence, where you recall the greatness of the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and his highly
esteemed place to his Lord. Then, you head towards the compartment, which is
the place where the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) is buried. There you stand and salute him saying, ‘Peace be
upon you, O Messenger of Allah,’
then you salute his two Companions Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (may Allah
be pleased with them), who are buried beside the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace).

We are commanded to salute
all who died. On passing by the cemetery we should say, ‘Peace
be upon you abodes of believing people. You preceded and we surely by the Will
of Allah shall follow you.’

If the salutation that the
dead receive does not excite an emotional reaction, it would be vain. If this
were the case with normal human beings, then how would it be with the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)?

The Messenger of Allah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) called upon those killed from amongst the
disbelievers in the first battle of faith fought in Badr. He stood, peace be
upon him, calling on the disbelievers by their names, asking whether they found
true what Allah has promised them. Upon which the Companions asked, ‘O
Messenger of Allah! Do you talk to them when they have rotted?’ He answered, ‘By Allah you are not better hearers
(of the words I say) than them, but they do not speak.’

Some people think that
hearing is only with ears, and seeing is only with eyes, which is true in case
of the living. But as for the dead it is a different case; for every phase of
life has its laws. The worldly life has its own laws, and the Barzakh [The
grave as the barrier or the intermediate realm that separates between this
world and the other world from the time of death till the time of Resurrection] life has its own laws too. Also the afterlife has its
laws. Man lives by the two laws: that of wakefulness and sleeping. But the law
of the sleeping is more transparent than that of wakefulness.

During sleep one can see
the dead and talk to them, and see things strange to the world we are living
in. How did you see while your eyes are closed? There must be other faculties
that can see other than the eyes. If this happens in the law
of sleep, then the law governing death is more transparent than the law of
sleep, and Resurrection is the most transparent of all laws.

One should understand that
the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is never
pleased when you raise him to a status higher than his. So never exaggerate as
the Christians did with the Prophet ‘Îesâ (Jesus, peace be upon him), son of
Maryam (Mary, may Allah be pleased with her) [when they deified him]. Just say,
‘Peace,
mercy and blessings be upon you, O Messenger of Allah. O seal (the last) of all
Messengers and the Mercy of Allah to the world. We testify that you have
delivered the Message, conveyed the Trust, and advised the nation.’ All this should be said in a low voice with no
agitation or raising the tone. Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, says
(what means):

“O you who believe! Raise not your voices
above the voice of the Prophet (SAW), nor speak aloud to him in talk as you
speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds may be rendered fruitless while you
perceive not”(Al-Hujurât, 49:2)

In this place it is
demanded that the voice be low, submissive, and mannerly, and there should be
no crowding, pushing, fighting, or jostling. You have to recall that you are in
the presence of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace), the noblest among all the Creation of Allah, and the closest to Him.
Greeting him is a great honor to you, and by testifying to him, you thus earn
his intercession on the Day of Judgment, which is a testimony of truth that he
has delivered the Message, conveyed the trust, and advised the nation.

   

Afterwards, you step
towards our master Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), the first Caliph
(successor) of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
and greet him. Then, you step towards our master ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased
with him), the second Caliph, and greet him. After that you can pray Allah
while standing near the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) as you wish, or as Allah blesses you to say. If someone entrusted you to
send his greeting to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) you must fulfill it by saying, ‘Peace be upon you, O my master, O
Messenger of Allah sent on my behalf and on behalf of (and you name the
person),’ and then you can pray for whatever you wish.

When standing before the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and greeting him,
you should not arrange what you should say, or deliver a speech as the
preachers do. For this situation renders the most eloquent speechless, finding
nothing to say, but why is that? Because in such a standing you feel that your
word power is poorly limited, and you find yourself unable to express the
amount of love you bear towards the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace). Whatever you say, it still will not be enough to pay him due
obeisance. Just say, ‘Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah, upon your
family and your companions, and upon the Prophets of Allah and His Messengers.’

You have crossed thousands
miles to stand before the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) and greet him, so let the greeting you give be full of longing and rich
with deep love. Always remember the Qur’anic verse in which Allah, praise and
gory be to Him, says (what means):

“If they had only, when they had been
unjust to themselves, come to you (Muhammad SAW) and begged Allâh's
Forgiveness, and the Messenger had begged forgiveness for them: indeed, they
would have found Allâh All-Forgiving (One Who accepts repentance), Most
Merciful” (An-Nisâ’, 4: 64)

When standing before the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) you should ask him
to beg Allah’s forgiveness for you, for this is a gate of forgiveness, and ask
him that Allah pardons you, for this is a gate of penitence. If you have
wronged yourself, you are now standing before the shrine of the Messenger of
Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

In such imposing and
awe-inspiring situations one does not help but feel submissive, and turn to
Allah heart and soul begging Him to put on his tongue what pleases Him and His
Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and draws him closer to
Them. He begs Allah to grant him continuous success by the grace of continuing
to perform Hajj and ‘Umrah, and to teach him the display of good manners in the
presence of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
and in his entire blessed City.

The following is the
supplication of a worshipper, who said it before the Messenger of Allah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace), which is considered an ideal example to
the way supplication should be:

“My Lord, in
the name of Muhammad’s honorable place and rank to You, Your Love to him, his love
to You and the secret between You and him I beg that you bestow your Blessings
and Peace upon Your Messenger and his family. O Allah! Make us love him the
more, inform us of his right, guide us to follow him, adopt his manners and
Sunnah and grant us the joy of enjoying his presence and the delight of talking
to him. Remove all the barriers, mediators, and veils. Please our ears with
hearing his pleasant kind words. Make us deserving to receive from him and
follow him. Make our prayers for the bestowal of peace upon him a streaming
light that blows out all darkness and injustice, all doubts and atheism, all
falsehood and negligence. Make it the means to rise to the highest ranks of
monotheism, leaving no trace within us of worshipping a god but You, for us to
deserve standing in Your Presence and Your special Favor, while holding fast to
the Prophet’s model behavior, blessings and peace be upon him, and to the
strong Robe (of Allah, i.e. the Noble Qur’ân). And to obtain from You, O Lord,
and from your Patronage the success in worldly and religious affairs.”   

In Medina you must care to
stay as much as you can in the Masjid of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), and to occupy yourself only with worshipping. When you finish
praying, start glorifying Allah (by saying Subhân Allah i.e., glorified
be Allah), then you can start supplicating blessings on the Messenger of Allah,
then pray for yourself and whomever you like.

Beware not to occupy
yourself with anything other than worship, and devote all your thoughts to
Allah and His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and never
enter into any worldly discussions, or else you would commit a grave sin.

Those who discuss worldly
matters inside the Masjid of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) are to be afflicted with painful torment, and will lose their
whole world. If you are bound for the Masjid of the Prophet (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace) it should be for offering prayers.

After ending your prayers
start reciting the Noble Qur’an, recite as much as you can, for reciting the
Noble Qur’an in the presence of the one to whom it was revealed inspires
feelings of submission, reverence, and awe only experienced by those who sit
reciting the Noble Qur’an in the Masjid of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace).

In
the Holy Garden

Do not miss the chance of
sitting in the Holy Rawdah (garden), for the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) said about it, “Between my tomb and
pulpit is a garden from the gardens of Paradise.”

You can easily know its
place inside the Masjid of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), for it is distinctly marked. But you have to arrive early,
because everyone is so keen to sit in the Holy Rawdah. If you succeeded to sit
in the Rawdah, offer prayers, recite the Noble Qur’an and celebrate the Praises
of Allah, for as long as you are in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) you must dedicate yourself to worship.

Always engage yourself with
the hereafter, with the everlasting coming life. Before stepping inside the
Masjid divest yourself of worldly life and concerns, exactly as you take off
your shoes, and do not let any of them accompany you inside. For in this
blessed place the worship is accepted and it is doubly rewarded, and
supplications are answered, as the gates of heavens are always wide-open. Thus,
do not waste your time with anything that may distract you away from Allah and
His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

The more you sit in the
Masjid of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), the more you
fill your soul with the whiffs of faith, that you may not understand but rather
sense.

The more time you spend
there, the closer you step towards Allah and His Messenger (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace), and indeed the further you move away from sins. After
your sojourn comes to an end, and you want to bid farewell, as you performed
the Farewell Tawâf [Pilgrims’ last circumambulation of the
ka‘bah directly before leaving Mecca] in
Mecca, go inside and greet the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace), and make it the last thing you do in Medina.

Our Imam ‘Ali (may Allah be
pleased with him) taught us, from the proprieties of taking leave, what to say
when bidding farewell to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace):

“Peace be
upon you, O my master, O Messenger of Allah, sent on my behalf and on behalf of
your daughter residing in your proximity, quick to join you. Peace be upon you
both, a farewell bid neither by a non-loving nor a weary person. Sincerely, we
leave not because of boredom and we depart not mistrusting the Promise Allah
has made to his patient servants.”   

Or utter any other
supplication conveying the same meaning and ask to return time and again to pay
a visit to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) as
long as Allah keeps you alive.

Here the
Noble Qur’an was revealed

In the Masjid of the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) there are many
blessed places. Among them are the place that witnessed the descent of the Divine
Inspiration on the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace), and the place that witnessed the faith gatherings between the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and Angel Jibrîl (Gabriel,
peace be upon him).

Visit this place, which is
pinpointed, and offer a two-rak‘ah prayer there, then sit for a while, and
contemplate the incidents that this place had witnessed, where the law of
Heaven descended to earth. Think how difficult it was for a human to meet an angel,
to the extent that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) used to hear clattering like the sound of bells, or like the buzzing of
bees. He used to drip with sweat during the coldest days and say, ‘Wrap me
up, wrap me up.’ When the
Prophet’s noble leg touched that of any of the Companions during the descent of
the Divine Inspiration, the man felt as if it were a mountain due to its
heaviness. And when the Divine Inspiration came to the Messenger of Allah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) while riding his camel, it became unable
to walk, or even to stand on its legs, but only to kneel on the ground.

You will see yourself the
place of the descent of the Divine Inspiration inside the Masjid of the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and you can sit
in it contemplating the blessings that used to occur in this place, and the
Book (the Noble Qur’an) that was sent down to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) guidance and mercy to the whole world.

There stretch out your
hands and pray to Allah, for it is a place where supplications are answered,
then you can sit down as long as you wish at the place of the descent and
perform the five obligatory Prayers if you can.

Your visit to the Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) must not end here, but you
have to sense the greatness of Islam by visiting the scene that witnessed the
Battle of Badr, the battle by which Allah has freed truth from falsehood, and made
truth triumph over the leaders of disbelief.

You will find the place as
it is, and you can see where the soldiers of Islam used to stand, and the post
of the disbelievers, also the graves of the Muslims who were martyred in the
Battle of Badr.

This place will remind you
of an important event in the history of Islam, which is the first victory of
faith over disbelief, of freedom over slavery, and the Religion of Allah over
idolatry. This land was honored by the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace) and his Companions (may Allah be mercy to them), and was
honored by the blood of the Muslim martyrs.

We then move from Badr to Uhud,
the battle that took place at Uhud Mount, when the archers disobeyed the
command of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace),
and did not listen to his instructions to stay in their positions above Uhud,
but they abandoned their posts and descended to get their share from the
spoils, upon which the Muslims were defeated. For Allah would not grant them
victory when they disobeyed the command of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace). Recite the Qur’anic verse in which Allah, all
praise and glory be to Him, says (what means):

“(And remember) when you ran away
(dreadfully) without even casting a side glance at anyone, and the Messenger
(Muhammad SAW) was in your rear calling you back. There did Allâh give you one
distress after another by way of requital to teach you not to grieve for that
which had escaped you, nor for that which had befallen you. And Allâh is Well­Aware
of all that you do.”(Âl-‘Imrân, 3:152)

 

And there you will find the
grave of Hamzah, the master of the martyrs (may Allah be pleased with
him), where the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
stood and recited the following noble Qur’anic verse (saying what means):

“Among the believers are men who have been
true to their covenant with Allâh [i.e. they have gone out for Jihâd (holy
fighting), and showed not their backs to the disbelievers], of them some have
fulfilled their obligations (i.e. have been martyred), and some of them are
still waiting, but they have never changed [i.e. they never proved treacherous
to their covenant which they concluded with Allâh] in the least.”(Al-­Ahzâb,
33:23)

This is the vivid history
of Islam, alive in Medina; a history that stands a witness on every incident
that occurred, still present with its scenes and the haven of its martyrs. Even
the Masjid with the two Qiblahs [Direction faced in prayers], where the Muslims used to offer prayers with their
faces directed towards Jerusalem, and then a Divine Order was sent to turn the Qiblah
towards Mecca; all this is present in Medina, the alive history of Islam.
Almighty Allah decreed to keep that history bearing witness for Islam, the last
of all religions, before all generations. For Muhammad (may Allah bless him and
grant him peace) is the only Prophet whose place of burial is surely known, and
Islam is the only religion whose incidents are precisely recorded, an open book
to anyone who pursues truth.

We have to contemplate
these places and scenes to draw moral lessons and wisdoms, for it is the best
provision for this life and the hereafter.

We beg Allah, all praise and
glory be to Him, to destine for us performing Hajj and ‘Umrah several times,
and accept them from us. To forgive our sins, accept our repentance, and in our
hearts dwells the love of the House of Allah and His Messenger (may Allah bless
him and grant him peace). Indeed, Allah is the Best to answer prayers, and may
the Blessings and Peace of the Almighty be ever bestowed upon our master
Muhammad, his family and Companions.