The Prophet (SAW) said:” You should not undertake a special journey to visit any place other than these three mosques: The Sacred Mosque of Makkah, this Mosque of mine (Madinah), and Al-Aqsa Mosque.” (Bukhari, Muslim, and Abu Dawud). And he said:” Whosoever visited my grave after my death, it is like he visited me during my life.”
Traveling to these three mosques is prescribed because of their special position in Islam. One prayer in the Mosque of Madinah is better than 1,000 prayers offered anywhere else except the Masjid al-Haram.
Madinah is a city in the Hijaz region of western Saudi Arabia and serves as the capital of Al-Madinah Province. Upon entering the city, one notices something special about the residents of Madinah. They are extremely hospitable, a trait that Allah allowed them to keep since the time of their ancestors from the Ansar.
Like Makkah, the city of Madinah only permits Muslims to enter, although the haram (area closed to non-Muslims) of Madinah is much smaller than that of Makkah, with the result that many facilities on the outskirts of Madinah are open to non-Muslims, whereas in Makkah the area closed to non-Muslims extends well beyond the limits of the built-up area. Both cities’ numerous mosques are the destination for large numbers of Muslims on their Umrah after Hajj. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims come to Madinah annually while performing Hajj. Al-Baqi’ is a significant cemetery in Madinah where several family members of the Prophet Muhammad, caliphs, and scholars are buried.
The Masjid al-Nabawi in Madinah is the second most revered place of worship for Muslims around the world. Millions of Muslims visit the Masjid each year to worship Allah, to visit the Prophet’s grave, and to see the city that gave birth to Islam. To visit the Prophet’s grave is not in any way to worship or revered him, but to commemorate his role as Allah’s Messenger and to remind Muslims of his mortality and humanity.
The Prophet’s Mosque was the first institution to be built following the Prophet Muhammad’s migration in 622 AD from Makkah to Madinah.
Under the first four Caliphs, Madinah and the Mosque where the Prophet was buried continued to be the seat of government, reinforcing the synthesis of religion and governance in the Islamic state. The first two Caliphs, Abu Bakr and Omar, were buried next to the Prophet in the place that had originally been the Prophet’s home, and which today is covered by the famous green dome of the Mosque.
Soon after the establishment of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud issued a royal decree ordering the expansion of the Prophet’s Mosque, a plan implemented by his son, King Saud, in 1950. The first Saudi expansion was the largest the Mosque had ever seen, and not only doubled its size but also brought about changes in the city of Madinah itself. In 1973 King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz ordered the construction of awnings on the west side of the Mosque as a temporary solution to protect visitors from the elements, and in 1981 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz began research into plans for further extensions that would ultimately result in a five-fold increase in the size of the Mosque. The Mosque today is one hundred times the size it was when the Prophet first established it and can accommodate at any one time, more than half a million worshippers. An indication that is now available is an underground parking garage designed to hold nearly 5,000 cars.
The first mosque built during Muhammad’s time is also located in Madinah and is known as the Quba Mosque. Masjid Al-Qiblatain is another mosque, also historically important to Muslims. It is where the command was sent to Muhammad to change the direction of prayer (qiblah) from Jerusalem to Makkah.
Prepared by Abdul Muhaemin Karim
