What is the authenticity of the hadith that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to seek blessing from the traces of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, the Shaykh (may Allah preserve you), what is the authenticity of the hadith that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to seek blessing from the remnants of the ablution of the Muslims?
The Shaykh : The Messenger seeking blessing? No, it is the opposite that is correct: the Companions used to seek blessing from the ablution of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The story is well known in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and there is no need for us to lengthen the discussion. Seeking blessing from the traces of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) during his lifetime is something that cannot be denied in terms of the strength of its establishment. However, is it prescribed to seek blessing from any of the traces of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) if some of them are preserved until this time? As is mentioned in some Islamic countries, there is a hair from the hair of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) preserved in a piece of glass, which they present in some countries like Syria and Egypt in their celebrations of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birth to seek blessing from his hair (peace and blessings be upon him). We do not consider this permissible or allowed, because our righteous Salaf did not act in this manner. This is what came in the athar of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), as narrated by Sa'id ibn Mansur in his *Sunan*, and Ibn Abi Shaybah in his *Musannaf*: "That 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) performed Hajj during his caliphate, so he stopped at a place and saw a group of people with him—perhaps some of the Companions or some of the Tabi'un who did not meet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—he saw them turning toward a side of the road. He asked, 'Where are these people going?' They said, 'They are following the mosques in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed,' meaning in the Farewell Pilgrimage. So 'Umar ibn al-Khattab gave a sermon and said: 'O people, whoever finds himself in one of these mosques at the time of prayer, let him pray, and whoever does not, let him not do so. Indeed, what destroyed those before you was their following the traces of their prophets.'" So seeking blessing from the traces of the prophets is a cause for people to fall into exaggeration regarding the prophets by honoring them in a way that is not permissible to honor them. This is with regard to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who is the one who said:Ash-Shama'il Al-Muhammadiyah 329Sahih (Zubair `Aliza'i). So if seeking blessing from the traces of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) occurred during his lifetime (peace and blessings be upon him), it occurred from people in whom tawhid (the oneness of Allah) was firmly established in their hearts, and it was not feared that this would become a means for them to deviate from this tawhid and fall into a type of shirk (associating partners with Allah) in which the creation fell in this age. This is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
The Shaykh : The Messenger seeking blessing? No, it is the opposite that is correct: the Companions used to seek blessing from the ablution of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The story is well known in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and there is no need for us to lengthen the discussion. Seeking blessing from the traces of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) during his lifetime is something that cannot be denied in terms of the strength of its establishment. However, is it prescribed to seek blessing from any of the traces of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) if some of them are preserved until this time? As is mentioned in some Islamic countries, there is a hair from the hair of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) preserved in a piece of glass, which they present in some countries like Syria and Egypt in their celebrations of the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) birth to seek blessing from his hair (peace and blessings be upon him). We do not consider this permissible or allowed, because our righteous Salaf did not act in this manner. This is what came in the athar of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), as narrated by Sa'id ibn Mansur in his *Sunan*, and Ibn Abi Shaybah in his *Musannaf*: "That 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) performed Hajj during his caliphate, so he stopped at a place and saw a group of people with him—perhaps some of the Companions or some of the Tabi'un who did not meet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—he saw them turning toward a side of the road. He asked, 'Where are these people going?' They said, 'They are following the mosques in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed,' meaning in the Farewell Pilgrimage. So 'Umar ibn al-Khattab gave a sermon and said: 'O people, whoever finds himself in one of these mosques at the time of prayer, let him pray, and whoever does not, let him not do so. Indeed, what destroyed those before you was their following the traces of their prophets.'" So seeking blessing from the traces of the prophets is a cause for people to fall into exaggeration regarding the prophets by honoring them in a way that is not permissible to honor them. This is with regard to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who is the one who said: