The period between the construction of al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Masjid al-Aqsa
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Your Eminence the Shaykh (may Allah preserve you), in the hadith that passed before us a moment ago, it was mentioned that there are forty [years] between al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Aqsa.
The Shaykh:
This indicates that the best of places and the best of mosques is al-Masjid al-Haram, which is the first house established on earth, as the Exalted said:[Ali 'Imran 3:96] in [Ali 'Imran 3:96]. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan Ibn Majah 3109Hasan (Darussalam). After that came the mosque of Ilyas al-Quds; there were forty [years] between the construction of this [house] by Ibrahim and the construction of al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
Then, wherever your prayer takes you, but after this, the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque became the best of the mosques after al-Masjid al-Haram, followed by al-Masjid al-Aqsa. So, these three mosques are preferred over one another: first is al-Masjid al-Haram, then the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque follows it in virtue, and then al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
The questioner:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, does the intended forty years refer to the duration or the distance?
The Shaykh:
Four years or a year between them. Between them.
The questioner:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
Between the construction of this one and that one. Yes.
Your Eminence the Shaykh (may Allah preserve you), in the hadith that passed before us a moment ago, it was mentioned that there are forty [years] between al-Masjid al-Haram and al-Aqsa.
The Shaykh:
This indicates that the best of places and the best of mosques is al-Masjid al-Haram, which is the first house established on earth, as the Exalted said:
Indeed, the first House
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَfor mankind was that at Makkah
لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَAllah made Makkah sacred the day He created the heavens and the earth
إِنَّ اللَّهَ حَرَّمَ مَكَّةَ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَThen, wherever your prayer takes you, but after this, the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque became the best of the mosques after al-Masjid al-Haram, followed by al-Masjid al-Aqsa. So, these three mosques are preferred over one another: first is al-Masjid al-Haram, then the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) mosque follows it in virtue, and then al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
The questioner:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, does the intended forty years refer to the duration or the distance?
The Shaykh:
Four years or a year between them. Between them.
The questioner:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
Between the construction of this one and that one. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم [ برنامج إذاعي ]، بداية من باب حمل المحدث والمستجمر في الصلاة وثياب الصغار وما شُكَّ في نجاسته — islamhouse.com (21:17)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.