Question

A brother in the Path of Allah (Tabligh), after the bayan, narrated the virtues that praying in Masjidul Ḥaram has 100,000 times rewards and praying in Masjidun Nabawi has 50,000 times rewards, but the Sahabah still left Arabia to spread the Din.

In response, a brother raised the following question:

Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) migrated to Madinah, and even after conquering Makkah, returned to Madinah again. He also spent the rest of his life mostly in Madinah. We have to follow the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), so what should we do?

Please give us a brief explanation in light of the abovementioned facts.

 

Answer

Generally people who are stubborn will always come up with different sorts of baseless objections.

Unfortunately, this trend has spread considerably in recent times. In most cases, common sense proves them wrong!

The purpose of this objection could be one of the following:

1. To show that one should not go to other parts of the world to serve Dinul Islam, rather all should go to Madinah!

2. To prove that salah in Madinah is better than in Makkah, because Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) remained in Madinah, so that has to be better.

A simple rational counter argument to the first one would be:

Why didn’t all the Sahabah then “follow” by coming to Madinah?

Why did so many Sahabah leave Madinah for the service of Islam?

They went to all parts of the world (like the initial innocent brother stated, as in your query). This was done during the lifetime of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) as well as after him.

In fact, this brother (who is objecting) should be asked: “Why are you not in Madinah?!”

Response to the second possibility

a) Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) mentioned the above virtues (of salah in Makkah superseding salah in Madinah) while residing in Madinah. This illustrates to us, that it is as if He (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) is saying:

“Despite me residing in Madinah, salah in Makkah is still more virtuous.”

Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) has actually provided us the answer to this flimsy objection.

b) The Scholars mention that whatever Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) did, was always what was better and more rewarding for himself, even if it was not the ideal for the rest of us.

(Fathul Bari)

What was ideal for Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) doesn’t always apply to the rest of the ummah. In certain cases (like this particular one) what was done by Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was best for him, but for the Ummah, he clearly stated that salah in Makkah has more reward.

Lastly, this is just one of many examples of the layman merely using his own deficient, weak and shallow understanding of Islam to object on matters that are free of such objection!

One should take heed and avoid discussing matters that one isn’t qualified for. We are answerable to Allah for such deeds/discussions too, you know.

 

And Allah Ta’ala Knows best,

Answered by: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar

Checked by: Mawlana Haroon Abasoomar