12) To make the Intention to travel to our Prophet Muhammad's resting place


Whenever Muslims are fortunate enough to travel to Makka and Madina, i.e. for Hajj or 'Umra,after visiting the Ka'ba, they would then go towards Madina to visit our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) blessed resting place.

Some people argue that when they do go, they should not intend to see our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave, because it is not permissible. They argue that the people should only intend for salat in Masjid an-Nabawi (the green domed Mosque of the Prophet) and when they get there they can visit our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave as well.

The Ahl as-Sunna believe that it is permissible to make the intention to travel to visit our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave. We shall, with the help of Allah, provide proof that it is permissible to travel to our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave with intention to see his grave. Qadi Shawkani writes:

"Some of the highest scholars say that our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is alive in his grave" So then it would make it the same as travelling to see our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) when he was alive.

[Qadi Shawkani, Nayl al-Avtar, chapter on 'al-Hajj']

Proof from Qur'an
Allah Most High says in the Holy Qur'an:

"When they were unjust to themselves, they came unto thee and asked Allah'sforgiveness and the Messenger asked forgiveness for them they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning Most Merciful.

[Sura Al-Nisa verse 64]

From this we can say that it permissible to visit our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave.

Some people say that this aya was only applicable when our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was alive but not now. The answer to this doubt is that he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is still alive in his grave and thus, to visit him at his grave is same as visiting him when alive.

Proof from Hadith
Imam Muslim writes when Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) went on Mi'raj he saw Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) standing in his grave performing salat [Muslim, Chapter on 'Fada'il Musa']

The Prophet's Companions Used to Travel to His Grave
Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes:

" 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) after returning from a journey would visit the grave of Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)"

[Ibn Taymiyya, at-Tawassul and Iqtida Sirat al-Mustaqim, chapter on 'Zirah Qabar an-Nabi'; Imam Muhammad, Muwatta, chapter on 'Hajj']

Hafiz Ibn Kathir writes:

"Ka'ab [a Tabi'i] said to 'A'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) that 70,000 angels visit the grave of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) in the morning and in the evening, who recite durud on our Prophet"

[Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Sura al-Ahzab, under verse 56]

Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya has a statement, found in his book called ar-Rad al-akh-Nai, that it is not permitted to travel to visit the grave of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Ibn Taymiyya's proof is derived from the hadith about travelling: "You can travel to the three Mosques, i.e. Haramayn in Makka, Masjid an-Nabawi in Madina and Masjid Aqsa in Jerusalem."The real meaning of this hadith would be that no one can claim that prayer in one Mosque is more rewarded than another.The understanding of Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya is wrong about visiting our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave.

Imam Abu Hanifa writes that when a person attends the grave of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) the person should face the grave and make du'a' [Abu Hanifa, Musnad, chapter on 'Hajj']

Qadi Shawkani writes:

"After our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) passed away, Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) moved to Sham [Syria]. One night, in his dream our Prophet (may Allay bless him and grant him peace) said, 'Oh Bilal, what kind of friendship is this that you do not come to see me?' When Bilal woke up in the morning, he made his way towards our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). At that time his intention was to go to our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave. Quite a lot of the Sahaba were alive at that time but none of them said that this was haram. This event is from a sanad jayyid [it was true]. From this we learn that to have intention to visit our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave is permissible

[Qadi Shawkani, Nail lau tahri, chapter on 'Hajj'; Hafiz Ibn al-Athir also writes this event as well]

Allama Ibn Jawzi writes:

"Our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:'To come and see me whilst I am alive,is called hijra, and it is the same as to come to see me after I have passed away'

[Talbis-Iblis, page 200]

Muslims have been Travelling to Visit Our Prophet's Grave From the Beginning and Will Do So Till the End
When Muslims reach our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave they read their salams and make du'a through wasila of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) - and they also make du'a that help us on the Day of Judgement, and this is all permissible.

Hafiz Ibn Qayyim writes:

"Whenever you are present at our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave, cry as much as you can when you are making your du'as.This is because on the Day of Judgement your tears will be weighed on the Scales. To visit our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave is the best thing you can do to receive a very high reward - more than anything other"

[Ibn Qayyim, Qasida Nu-numia, page 180]

Shaykh al-'Alawi al-Maliki writes:

"Some people have wrongly interpreted what Imam Malik has stated. He said that, 'I do not like people saying that I have visited the Ka'ba, or that I have visited our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave.'The answer to this is that Imam Malik did not say, 'Do not visit our Prophet's grave.' He did not like the word 'ziyara' as Ibn Rusan al-Maliki said that the word ziyara [visit] is used when addressing ordinary deceased, so this is not suitable for our Prophet"

[al-'Alawi al-Maliki, Shifa al-Fawar, page 130]

Hafiz al-'Asqalani writes:

"The scholars have said, 'How can Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya say that it is haram to visit our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave?'.In this instance the scholars have really rebuked Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya. And on this saying of Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya it created a lot of disagreement between the Umma as all the scholars agree unanimously that it is permitted to travel to visit our Prophet's grave. The evidence Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya gave was of Imam Malik saying that he did not like people saying that he has visited our Prophet's grave. However, the Maliki scholars have cleared this by saying that Imam Malik did not like the word ziyara being used. He was not against the actual visiting of the grave. Imam Malik knew that visiting our Prophet's grave is the best sort of worship you can do to become closer to Allah Most High. And he also knew that the whole of the Umma is together on this issue"

[al-'Asqalani, Ibn Hajar., Fath al-Bari, chapter on 'al-Masajid']

Qadi Shawkani says:

"There are a lot of different fatwas on visiting our Prophet's grave.It is permitted by the majority of them. In the eyes of the Malikis and some of the others, it is wajib to visit; to the Hanafis it is very close to being wajib. And yet, Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya says it is not permitted to travel to visit the grave intentionally.Some of the Hanbali scholars have rebuked Ibn Taymiah on this"

[Qadi Shawkani, Nayl al-Awtar, chapter on 'Hajj']

From all this we can say it is permitted to travel with the intention to visit our Prophet's (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) grave.Only Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya and some people are against it, so we cannot follow Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya's saying, but to follow the great majority of the scholars of our Umma.

I pray that AllahMost High take all the Muslims to Makka and Madina, and that on the Day of Judgement they may get help and intercession from our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) .Amin.

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13) The excellency of the 15th night of Shabaan


Many Muslims in various countries pray on the 15th night of Sha'ban, and ask for forgiveness of their sins and on the following day proceed to fast. To do this is in no way against the Qur'an or theSunna. There are many narrations that support its validity.

There is one night in the year when Allah Most High gives the knowledge to the angels about what is going to happen in the following year. For example, who is going to die, who will be born, who will be ill and how much food people will have in the year, etc.

Position of the 'Ulema

The majority of the scholars of Islam say:

"That night is Laylat al-Qadr in the month of Ramadan but the other scholars like 'Ikrimah, student of 'Abdullah ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), say that the night is 15th of Sha'ban. There is a hadith which Imam at-Tabari writes: 'The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, 'From Sha'ban to Sha'ban there is a decision made of who is going to die and who is to be married. And some people get married but their names are written in the death program'"

[at-Tabari, Tafsir Tabari, under Sura ad-Dukhan, verse 1]

This narration is 'Ikrmah's and the other scholars' statements prove that the 15th night of Sha'ban is a holy night. Furthermore, there is no doubt that Allah Most High gives the full knowledge to the angels in the night of Laylat al-Qadr, which is in the month of Ramadan.

If we read all the narrations regarding Laylat al-Qadr and the 15th night of Sha'ban we can reach the conclusion that the yearly program started on the 15th night of Sha'ban and completed on Laylat al-Qadr. There might be a suspicion as to, 'Why does a year program take so long from Sha'ban to Ramadan?'The answer is that Allah knows best. No one can understand for sure the philosophy or wisdom behind Allah's work. He made the world in six days. Who knows why He took six days to make the world. To examine all of the above statements consult the following books: Tafsir Tabari, Fath al-Qadir, Tafsir al-Qurtubi, Tafsir al-Baghawi, Tafsir Mazhari, Tafsir Ma'ariful Qur'an, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Zia al-Qur'an - all under Sura ad-Dukhan, verses 1 to 5.

Excellency of 15th Sha'ban

There are some other narrations that inform us about the excellency of the 15th night of Sha'ban. Imam Ibn Majah states:

"It is narrated by Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stated, 'When it is the 15th night of Sha'ban, do qiyam[stand in prayer] in the night, and fast in the morning, and ask for forgiveness because on that night Allah calls:'Is there anyone who is asking for forgiveness so that I can forgive them, who is in distress that I may relieve his distress. Is there anyone who needs provision that I may give it to him.'And this continues till the morning'"

[Ibn Majah, chapter on 'Salat']

Imam at-Tirmidhi writes:

"'A'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: 'On this night the Prophet went to Jannat al-Baqi' to make du'a'; I followed him. The Prophet said to me: 'Allah puts His attention towards the first Heaven, and forgives the sins of the people, even if they were equivalent to the hairs of the goats of Bani Qalb [A tribe who at the time had a lot of goats]'"

[at-Tirmidhi, 'Kitab as-Siyam]

Imam al-Bukhari has objected upon one narrator but this is compensated by the fact that Ibn Majah has narrated it with different chains. Allama adh-adh-Dhahabi,and Hafiz Ibn Kathir quote from Hafiz Abu Zur'a that only 30 ahadith in Ibn Majah are weak [adh-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz; Ta'rikh Ibn Kathir, 'Biography of Ibn Majah']

Some other people have stated that more than 30 ahadith are da'if (weak) but the narrations we have are not amongst those 30, and that is why these ahadith can be used to support the validity of 15th Sha'ban night.

Even Imam at-Tirmidhi's narration is weak but this does not belittle the subject when it concerns its merits and excellence - since weak narrations are still acceptable. However, we would like to ask those people who are so against the observance of 15th of Sha'ban, whether they have even a weak hadith to disprove the prayers on the 15th of Sha'ban? In reality they have no narration against the 15th night of Sha'ban. If there are any they should produce it. Those who are against the 15th night of Sha'ban usually ask, 'Why do you celebrate the 15th night of Sha'ban?' An appropriate answer might be, 'Why do all of the Saudi Arabian scholars celebrate Laylat al-Qadr on the 27th night of Ramadan in Haramayn (Makka and Madina)? Did the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and his Companions celebrate the Laylat al-Qadr on the 27th night of Ramadan?' The answer is clearly, 'No, they did not.' So if this is permitted then the 15th night of Sha'ban is permitted as well.

Ruling regarding 15th of Sha'ban
The Ahl as-Sunna say that observing the 15th night od Sha'ban is a permissible act, but it is not a Sunna. There is enough proof that if the majority of the Muslims consider it to be good then it is sufficient.As the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stated: 'The thing that a group of a Muslims says is good, it is accepted by Allah[ Mishkat, chapter on 'Istihsan']

Two great followers of Ibn Taymiyya and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab an-Najdi, are Hafiz 'Abdullah Rawpari and Thana'ullah Amritsari, who both state that to worship on the 15th night of Sha'ban is not a bid'a and the person who worships on this night will obtain reward for it. The narrations concerning this night are weak but this does not matter since weak ahadith are acceptable for virtuous actions

[Hafiz Rawpari, Fatawa Ahl al-Hadith; Amritsari, T., Fatawa Thana'iya, chapter on 'Fasting']

Hafiz Ibn Taymiyya writes:

"The excellency regarding the 15th of Sha'ban is an area of dispute between the scholars; some of them say that there is no significance of this night, but Imam Ahmed recognises the excellency of this night, and our other Hanbali scholars also agree with Imam Ahmed.There are ahadith on this night being significant, some of them are from the Sunnan of at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and other books of ahadith as well"

[Ibn Taymiyya, Iqtida Sirat al-Mustaqim, page 203]

The people who reject the significance of this night argue that the Holy Qur'an was not revealed on this night so that is why there is no significance of this night. It is true that the Holy Qur'an was revealed in Ramadan, but the significance is due to the ahadith that tells us about the reward one will obtain if one worships on the 15th night of Sha'ban.