Question:
Assalamu Alaykum wrbh,
Allah bless you. When we pray we face the Holy Kaaba, and when we say before saying salaam “assalamu alayka ya ayuhan nabi” do we face Sayyidina Rasulallah (s)? Also throughout the prayer do we face him (s)?
Answer:
Ibn Qunfudh (d. 810 H) says in his book Wasilat al-islam bi al-nabi `alayhi al-salat wa al-salam [The Means to Islam With the Prophet, Peace be upon him] (Beirut: Dar al-gharb al-islami, 1404/1984) p. 144-145:
Ibn Wahb relates from Imam Malik: “When one greets the Prophet, let him face the grave not the Qibla, and let him not touch the grave with his hand nor raise his voice.
Shaykh `Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani writes the following in the section on entering Madina at the end of the section on the Pilgrimage in his book al-Ghunya li talibi tariq al-Haqq `azza wa jall:
…Then let him come to the grave of the Prophet and stand in its proximity so that he will be between the grave and the Qibla, and let him stand so that the facade of the Qibla will be behind him and the grave in front of him exactly facing his face, and the minbar to his left..
Excerpted from ZIYARAT (VISITATION OF THE PROPHET IN MADINA).
Staff
