Is the greeting of the Sacred Mosque the tawaf?

The questioner : ... ؟

The Shaykh : I do not know of a hadith with this exact wording, but the jurists said: for every tawaf, there are two rak'ahs. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), when he arrived in Makkah, began with the tawaf. Then, when he finished the tawaf, he said: This indicates that these two rak'ahs are not the greeting of the mosque. However, the statement by some people that the greeting of the Sacred Mosque is the tawaf is not absolute. Rather, it is said: its greeting is the tawaf for the one who enters to perform tawaf. As for the one who enters to pray or to seek knowledge, it is like the other mosques; its greeting is prayer.