The places the Prophet ﷺ intended for worship
Seeking out a place for prayer or supplication is Sunnah only when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself intended that place for worship. True mutābaʿah (following precisely) is not mere outward resemblance. True mutābaʿah is to do what he did, in the way and for the reason he did it.
So when he singled out a place or time as an act of nearness to Allah, singling it out in the same way is from following him. This is why the places connected to legislated worship, such as ṭawāf around the Kaʿbah, touching the Black Stone, prayer behind the Maqām, the pillar in the masjid, Ṣafā, Marwah, ʿArafah, and Muzdalifah, are not like ordinary stopping places on a journey.
The report of Salamah ibn al Akwaʿ رضي الله عنه, who used to seek prayer near the pillar because he saw the Prophet ﷺ do so, belongs to this category, because the Prophet ﷺ deliberately chose that place, so intending it is recommended. Fixing oneself to one place in the masjid as a constant habit is another matter, and is prohibited, because that is habitual attachment, not occasional following of a legislated act. (Iqtiḍāʾ al Ṣirāṭ al Mustaqīm 2/276–279)
The places in which he prayed only because he stopped there
What happened by coincidence during travel is not given the ruling of what was intended as worship. If he stopped at a place and prayed there because it was his stopping place, not because he meant to single it out, then singling that place out afterwards for prayer or descent is not mutābaʿah (following precisely).
It is not enough to share the outward form while missing the original purpose. Prayer at one’s stopping place during travel is Sunnah, but deliberately going to a place only because the Prophet ﷺ once happened to pray there is a different matter. Here the original cause is absent, so the outward imitation alone does not turn the act into a Sunnah. (Majmūʿ al Fatāwā 1/280–282)
Ibn ʿUmar’s Practices
Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنه was known for severe care in following the Prophet ﷺ. He would seek the places where the Prophet ﷺ travelled, stop where he stopped, perform wudu where he saw him perform wuduʾ, and even pour leftover water on a tree where he had seen him pour it.
A group of ulama considered this desirable and treated it as mustaḥabb (recommended). But the majority did not hold that ruling, and the strongest proof against treating it as a Sunnah is that the major Ṣaḥābah did not do it.
Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Ibn Masʿūd, Muʿādh ibn Jabal, and the rest of the leading Muhajirun and Ansār رضي الله عنهم travelled the same routes for hajj, ʿumrah, and other journeys, yet no report shows that they sought out those places.
Had they regarded it as recommended, they would have been first to act upon it, because they knew the Sunnah better and followed it more completely. (Majmūʿ al Fatāwā 1/280–282)
So Ibn ʿUmar’s action is not placed among the legislated Sunnahs for the Ummah. It would be placed among matters in which a Companion exercised ijtihad, or matters in which no blame is directed to the doer because they fall within the scope of ijtihad. It may also be said that such acts are tolerated at times for a passing reason, so long as they are not taken as a fixed, regular practice. (It is very clear from the Shaykh’s fatwa that he did not believe Ibn Umar was an innovator, rather he said he was mistaken in his ijtihad)
Because of this, the imams of knowledge did not speak of such acts in one rigid way.
At times they disliked them, at times they allowed room for ijtihad, and at times they permitted them if they were not turned into an established Sunnah.
But “no scholar of the Sunnah” says that these are legislated Sunan for the Muslims. (Majmūʿ al Fatāwā 1/280–282)
Why ʿUmar forbade seeking out such places
ʿUmar رضي الله عنه saw people on a journey going to a place because the Prophet ﷺ had prayed there, and said: “The People of the Book were only destroyed because they followed the traces of their prophets and turned them into places of worship. Whoever’s prayer time comes upon him, let him pray, otherwise let him continue on.” (Musannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah 2/270)
This shows that when the Prophet ﷺ did not intend to single out a place for worship, making that place into a sought after site of prayer is not following him.
Rather, it resembles the path by which earlier communities fell into excess.
Outwardly it looks like imitation of the Prophet ﷺ, but inwardly the intention resembles the intention of the People of the Book when they began attaching worship to places merely because of their connection to prophets.
That is why ʿUmar forbade it. The danger is not only in the outward act, but in the intention of the heart that turns an incidental location into a religiously marked site. (Majmūʿ al Fatāwā 1/280–282)
This is also why seeking out such locations later was described as something introduced after the rightly guided Caliphs, not from their practice.
The principle of sadd al dharāʾiʿ (blocking the means) appears clearly here. If even prayer, which is legislated in origin, can be restricted at certain times and in certain places in order to block the means to shirk, then how could it be recommended to seek out places in which prayer only happened by circumstance, not by intended designation.
Once that door is opened, people begin seeking caves, mountains, trees, roads, and sites claimed for prophets or righteous people, then attaching acts of worship to them, until false claims, exaggeration, and finally shirk enter through that door. (Iqtiḍāʾ al Ṣirāṭ al Mustaqīm 2/276–279)
I have written a detailed article on this topic below
Is Tabrruk (Seeking Blessings From The Awliyah, Relics and Holy Sites) An Innovation?
Complete Quotations of The Fatawa
Iqtidāʾ al Sirāt al Mustaqīm
Following the Prophet ﷺ in Places of Worship
As for the places where the Prophet ﷺ used to intend to pray or make supplication, then intending to pray or supplicate in them is a Sunnah, following the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and taking him as an example. Just as if he would seek out prayer or supplication at a particular time, then intending prayer or supplication at that time is a Sunnah, like the rest of his acts of worship and all actions he performed as a means of drawing near to Allah.
Some authors assumed that this belongs to the category over which there is disagreement and made it the same as the first category, but this is not correct. Here, it is explicitly reported that the Prophet ﷺ used to deliberately choose that spot, so how can intending it not be recommended?
However, fixing oneself to a specific place in the masjid and not praying except in it is prohibited, as established in the Sunnah. This is called habitual attachment to a place, and it is not the same as occasionally choosing a place without becoming fixed to it.
It is therefore necessary to distinguish between following the Prophet ﷺ and taking him as an example in what he did, and between introducing an innovation that he did not prescribe merely because it is connected to him.
Acting Without the Original Cause
The scholars differed regarding a situation where the Prophet ﷺ performed an action from permissible matters for a specific reason, and others perform it merely to imitate him while that reason is no longer present. Some held that this is recommended, while others did not consider it recommended.
From this comes the action of Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما, who would pray in certain places along the road where the Prophet ﷺ had prayed. The Prophet ﷺ prayed in those places because they were stopping points during travel, not because of any special quality in the locations themselves.
The equivalent of this is that a traveller prays at his stopping place, and this is a Sunnah. But as for intentionally seeking out those locations specifically because the Prophet ﷺ happened to pray there, this was not reported from any of the Companions besides Ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما.
Rather, Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī رضي الله عنهم and the rest of the early Muhājirūn and Anṣār would travel from Madinah to Makkah for ḥajj, ʿumrah, and other journeys, and it has not been reported from any of them that they sought out the places where the Prophet ﷺ had prayed.
It is known that if this had been considered recommended by them, they would have been the first to do it, as they had greater knowledge of his Sunnah and followed it more closely than others.
In another wording: “Every innovation is misguidance.” (Sahih Muslim 867)
Seeking out such places was not from the practice of the rightly guided Caliphs, rather it is something introduced later.
The statement of a Companion, if opposed by another Companion, is not a binding proof, so how then if one Companion alone holds a view against the majority?
Blocking the Means to Shirk
Furthermore, deliberately seeking out such places can lead to turning them into places of worship and imitating the People of the Book, which we have been prohibited from resembling. This serves as a means leading to associating partners with Allah.
The Lawgiver has blocked this path by prohibiting prayer at sunrise and sunset, and by prohibiting taking graves as places of worship. If prayer, which is legislated, is prohibited at certain times and places as a means of prevention, then how can it be recommended to intend prayer and supplication at locations where they only happened to stand or pray without intending those places specifically?
If this were acceptable, then it would be recommended to seek out the Cave of Ḥirāʾ for prayer, or Mount Thawr, or places claimed to be where prophets stood, such as locations in Damascus said to be linked to Ibrāhīm عليه السلام or ʿĪsā عليه السلام, or places claimed to be connected to the story of Qābil, and similar sites found in the Ḥijāz, the Levant, and elsewhere.
This leads to the same فساد seen with graves, where it is claimed that a place belongs to a prophet or a righteous person based on unknown reports or dreams of uncertain truth. Then the place is turned into a site of worship until it becomes an object worshipped besides Allah.
This is shirk built upon falsehood. Allah links shirk with lying in His Book, just as He links truthfulness with sincerity.
Then he recited the saying of Allah:
فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثَانِ
“Stay away from the impurity of idols.” (Al Hajj: 30)
Iqtidāʾ al Ṣirāṭ al Mustaqīm li Mukhālafat Aṣḥāb al Jaḥīm by Taqī al Dīn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah (2/276–279)
Majmu Al Fatawa
Ibn ʿUmar used to carefully follow the places where the Prophet ﷺ travelled. He would stop where he stopped, perform ablution during travel where he saw him perform ablution, and pour the remaining water on a tree where he had poured it, and similar actions. A group of scholars considered this to be recommended and viewed it as something desirable.
However, the majority of scholars did not consider it recommended, just as the senior Companions did not consider it recommended nor act upon it, such as Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthman, ʿAli, Ibn Masʿud, Muʿadh ibn Jabal, and others. They did not do what Ibn ʿUmar did. If they had considered it recommended, they would have done it, just as they were careful to follow and emulate him.
That is because true following is to do what he did in the manner that he did it. If he performed an action as an act of worship, then it is legislated for us to perform it as an act of worship.
If he intended to specify a place or a time for worship, then we also specify it in that way, just as he intended to perform circumambulation around the Kaʿbah, to touch the Black Stone, to pray behind the station, to seek prayer at a particular pillar in the masjid of Madinah, to ascend Safa and Marwah, and to supplicate and remember Allah there, as well as at ʿArafah, Muzdalifah, and other places.
As for what he did by mere occurrence without intention, such as stopping at a place and praying there simply because it happened to be his stopping place, not intending to single it out for prayer or stopping, then if we intend to single out that place for prayer or stopping, we are not truly following him. Rather, this is from the innovations which ʿUmar ibn al Khattab used to forbid.
Since the Prophet ﷺ did not intend to single out that place for prayer, but only prayed there because it was where he stopped, ʿUmar saw that merely sharing the outward form of the action without agreeing with his intention is not true following. Rather, specifying that place for prayer is from the innovations of the People of the Book by which they were destroyed. He forbade the Muslims from resembling them in this. So the one who does this resembles the Prophet ﷺ in outward form, but resembles the Jews and Christians in intention, which is an action of the heart.
This is the fundamental principle. True following in the Sunnah is deeper than mere outward imitation of the action. For this reason, when many scholars were uncertain about the sitting posture of rest, whether he did it as something recommended or due to a temporary need, they differed about it. Likewise, his stopping at al Muḥaṣṣab when leaving Mina, whether he did it because it was easier for his departure or because it was a Sunnah, they differed regarding that as well.
From this is the action of Ibn ʿUmar placing his hand on the seat of the Prophet ﷺ, and the practice of Ibn ʿAbbas in Basrah and ʿAmr ibn Ḥurayth in Kufah.
Since these were not actions done by the rest of the Companions, and the Prophet ﷺ did not legislate them for his Ummah, it cannot be said that they are recommended Sunnah.
At most, it may be said that these are matters in which the Companions exercised ijtihād, or matters that are not criticised for the one who does them because they fall within the scope of ijtihād, not because they are a recommended Sunnah established by the Prophet ﷺ for his Ummah. Or it may be said regarding such practices that there is no harm in them occasionally due to a specific circumstance, as long as they are not taken as a regular Sunnah.
This is how the leading scholars speak regarding such matters. Sometimes they regard them as disliked, sometimes they allow ijtihād in them, and sometimes they permit them if they are not taken as a regular practice. No scholar of the Sunnah says that these are legislated Sunnahs for the Muslims.
That is because such a description is only applied to what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ legislated. No one besides him has the right to legislate or prescribe. Whatever his rightly guided successors established, they only did so by his command, so it is from his Sunnah.
Nothing in the religion is obligatory except what he made obligatory, nothing is forbidden except what he forbade, nothing is recommended except what he recommended, nothing is disliked except what he disliked, and nothing is permissible except what he permitted.
Majmu Al Fatawa (1/280–282)
