They knew more about their grandfather’s traditions and the...

They knew more about their grandfather’s traditions and the laws of their Lord than Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Abdul-Wahhab and their followers from among the Arabs of Najd. This is because they were the gate of the city of knowledge of Muhammad (s) and the inheritors of his knowledge from whom he ordered us to learn. On page 260, he recorded: A kind of beseeching the Prophet (s) is to turn towards his honoured tomb while praying.

This was common in the tradition of the Muslims for centuries, and for generations. Imam Malik had issued his fatwa about this matter and recommended it in his saying to al-Mansur, “Why do you turn your face away from him when he is your means and your father Adam’s means to Allah?

You should turn your face towards him and ask him to be your intercessor.’ The author of Khulasat ul-Kalam said: The scholars of the Islamic rites said that turning the face towards the Prophet’s honoured tomb while visiting and praying is better than turning it towards the Qiblah. Ibn Hajar said in al-Jawharul-Munazzam : What leads us to turn towards the Prophet’s tomb is that we all agree that the (s) is alive in his tomb and he knows his visitors.

If he (s) is alive, one cannot but turn the face towards him and turn his back to the Qiblah, therefore, it is the same to visit him in his tomb. He then quoted Malik’s saying to al-Mansur, which is mentioned above. He then said: Az-Zarqani said in his book Sharh ul-Mawahib that the books of the Malikis are full of traditions recommending praying near the tomb (of the Prophet) facing it and turning the back to the Qiblah.

He quoted from the doctrine of Abu Hanifa and that of ash-Shafi’i and from the generality of the schools of thought in Islam something similar. Then he said: Imam Ahmad is different from the others, but the scholars think that he turned towards the holy tomb like anybody else. Also, he said: As-Samhudi said: Many scholars within the four schools have mentioned in their books of Islamic rites concerning visiting the Prophet (s) .

(9) It was recommended for visitors to turn their faces towards the honoured tomb beseeching Allah to forgive them and to grant them what they ask for and to make the Prophet their intercessor. He said: Abu Hanifa mentioned in his Musnad that Ibn Umar said, “It is recommended that when you visit the Prophet’s tomb, you turn your back to the Qiblah facing the tomb and you greet him.’ (10) NOTES: ________________ 1. The Qur’an 5:35 2. p 252 3. vol. 2 p 422 4.