The ruling on tawaf as a greeting to the Sacred Mosque before the obligatory prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
You love Allah. Some of my relatives asked me about a situation where he is in Makkah and wants to pray the obligatory prayer in the Sacred Mosque, but it was not yet the time for the obligatory prayer. So I told him that he must perform the sunnah of the Sacred Mosque, which is tawaf. Is this correct?
Answer:
It is not mandatory. Tawaf is a sunnah; it is not obligatory, and it is not required that he perform tawaf. However, the best course of action, if he is arriving from a journey, is that he begins with tawaf; that is the best. As for if he is a resident in Makkah, then he prays the greeting of the mosque and sits. If he wishes to perform tawaf, he may do so. Yes. Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions.
You love Allah. Some of my relatives asked me about a situation where he is in Makkah and wants to pray the obligatory prayer in the Sacred Mosque, but it was not yet the time for the obligatory prayer. So I told him that he must perform the sunnah of the Sacred Mosque, which is tawaf. Is this correct?
Answer:
It is not mandatory. Tawaf is a sunnah; it is not obligatory, and it is not required that he perform tawaf. However, the best course of action, if he is arriving from a journey, is that he begins with tawaf; that is the best. As for if he is a resident in Makkah, then he prays the greeting of the mosque and sits. If he wishes to perform tawaf, he may do so. Yes. Allah the Exalted knows best, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 02 من 15 / شرح أصول الإيمان / سعة رحمة الله عز وجل/ صالح الفوزان / العقيدة/ كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:21:01)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.