Explaining what is prescribed to visit in Madinah

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that visiting the Prophet’s Mosque is among the best of deeds, but it is not restricted to a specific time. You may visit it whenever you wish, at the beginning of the year, at the end, or in the middle, as you please. You may visit the Prophet’s Mosque and pray in it as much as you wish. Note, however, that some people say that one must pray in it.
The student: Forty

The Shaykh : Forty prayers? Even one person today insisted on me, saying, “My brother, the forty—sit in Madinah for forty days. What are the forty?” He said, “Forty prayers are obligatory.” Who said this? It is not obligatory for me to sit there, nor is it obligatory to pray five prayers. The important thing is that I remain in the Prophet’s Mosque as long as I wish, and I visit the grave of our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and the graves of his two companions, who are in one place. I also visit al-Baqi‘, because it is the cemetery of the Companions, and specifically the grave of the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), which is well known and famous. After that, we visit the Mosque of Quba. A person should leave his home in a state of ritual purity, and if he leaves his home in a state of ritual purity and prays in it two rak‘ahs or more, it is as if he has performed a ‘Umrah. Look at the virtues of deeds! Glorified is Allah the Great. Some minor deeds are equivalent to many deeds. The chapter How much is it worth? One-third of the Qur’an. You may pray in it as much as you wish. These are the Prophet’s Mosque, the three distinguished graves, al-Baqi‘, and Quba. These are four. The fifth is the martyrs of Uhud, at the head of whom is the Lion of Allah and the Lion of His Messenger, Hamzah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib (may Allah be pleased with him), the master of the martyrs. You visit these, but what do you say during the visit? As for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), you greet him with the best form of greeting that he (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us. What is it? “Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.” If you add, “O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad,” and so on, that is good. For Abu Bakr, you say, “Peace be upon you, O Successor of the Messenger of Allah, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. O Allah, be pleased with him and reward him well for the Ummah of Muhammad.” For ‘Umar, likewise, but do not say “Successor of the Messenger of Allah”; say “Commander of the Faithful,” as the Companions named him, for he was the successor of the successor. And ‘Uthman was the successor of the successor of the successor, and ‘Ali was the successor of the successor of the successor (may Allah be pleased with them all). As for al-Baqi‘, you greet them as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to greet Likewise for the martyrs of Uhud. These visits are not specific to Rajab, Ramadan, or Shawwal, but rather at any time when your journey brings you to this blessed city, the Prophet’s city. We return now to the interpretation of the verse, after we have explained what Allah the Exalted has led us to, and I hope that Allah the Exalted will make it a source of good.