Travel to Visit Graves

Q: Is it permissible to travel with the intention of visiting graves, including the graves of Prophets or righteous people (awliyāʾ)? How is this understood in light of the ḥadīth “Do not saddle mounts except to three mosques”?

A: According to the authoritative works of the Hanbali school, traveling with the intention of visiting graves, whether the grave of a Prophet or the grave of a righteous person (walī), is considered permissible travel (safar mubāḥ). Such travel is neither prohibited nor disliked and therefore falls within the category of lawful journeys for which the legal concessions of travel, such as shortening and combining prayers, apply.

Hanbali jurists define permissible travel broadly to include journeys undertaken for obligatory purposes, recommended purposes, or neutral purposes. Within this framework, they explicitly include travel undertaken to a site of visitation (mashhad), to the grave of a Prophet, to the grave of a righteous person, and to mosques other than the three sacred mosques. These intentions are treated as valid and lawful objectives of travel, provided the journey itself is not for a prohibited or blameworthy purpose.

This ruling appears consistently in the major Hanbali commentaries, where travel to graves, whether of Prophets or righteous believers, is mentioned explicitly as an example of permissible travel. As such, a person who undertakes this journey is entitled to the standard dispensations granted to travelers under Islamic law.

The permissibility of this type of travel is further supported by the Prophet’s ﷺ established practice of visiting places of devotion, such as Masjid Qubāʾ, sometimes walking and sometimes riding, as well as his general encouragement to visit graves, saying: “Visit them, for they remind you of the Hereafter.” These evidences establish visitation as a legislated and meaningful act, and travel undertaken to facilitate it as lawful.

As for the ḥadīth, “Do not saddle mounts except to three mosques,” Hanbali scholars explain that it is not a prohibition on traveling to other destinations, including graves or sites of visitation. Rather, it is understood as a statement negating exclusive virtue, meaning that no mosque shares the unique superiority of the three sacred mosques. It does not render travel to other devotional places impermissible, nor does it affect the validity of travel concessions, since possessing special virtue is not a condition for lawful travel.

Accordingly, traveling to visit the grave of a Prophet or a righteous person is regarded in the Hanbali school as permissible, legislated, and legally consequential travel, and the ḥadīth concerning the three mosques is interpreted in a manner consistent with this broader juristic framework.

Sources: al-Mughnī; Kashshāf al-Qināʿ; Sharḥ Muntahā al-Irādāt