What is Madina Sharif?
Medina is celebrated as the place from which Muhammad established the Muslim community (ummah) after his flight from Mecca (622 ce) and is where his body is entombed. A pilgrimage is made to his tomb in the city’s chief mosque.
What does the word Madina mean?
The Arabic word madinah simply means “city.” Before the advent of Islam, the city was known as Yathrib but was personally renamed by Muhammad. It is the second holiest city in Islam after Mecca and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
What was the previous name of Madina Shareef?
Yathrib
Yathrib. Before the advent of Islam, the city was known as Yathrib (pronounced [ˈjaθrɪb]; يَثْرِب), supposedly named after an Amalekite king, Yathrib Mahlaeil.
What is the real name of Madina?
Although the city’s name is usually written as Medina in English, its full name is Al Medina Al Munawwarah, meaning “the Enlightened City.” Because of the city’s pivotal role in the Prophet Muhammad’s life, making a trip to Medina is a lifelong dream for many Muslims.
Why do we circle the Kaaba 7 times?
There is no particular reason why the circumambulation of the ‘Kaaba’ is made seven times. For the same reason that Allah requires Muslims to pray five times a day is why Muslims make seven circuits around the Kaaba. In doing so, Muslims are simply obeying the commands of Allah.
Is visiting Madinah Sharif an obligation on Muslims?
Allama Zain al-Din Abu al-Fadl Abd al-Rahim bin Hussain al-Iraqi (d. 806 A.H.) wrote an commentary on Ihya, and added that the aforementioned Hadith had been recorded by Ibn ‘Addi, al-Dar Qutni and Ibn Habban. Imam Ghazali has not mentioned anything in Ihya to suggest that visiting Madinah Sharif is ‘not an obligation’ upon Muslims.
Are Hajj and the visit of Madina synonymous?
on the superiority of Madina Sharif in the ‘Book of Hajj’, which thus implicitly suggests that the Hajj and the visiting of Madina are almost synonymous. Imam Muslim did exactly the same with his Sahih.
Is it permissible to travel to Madinah to visit the Prophet’s grave?
“The Hadiths which are cited to support the legitimacy traveling to Madinah with the purpose of visiting the grave of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have weak transmission chains; indeed they are fabricated.
Who is Maulana Arif Hussain?
My late father, Maulana Arif Hussain (1905-1984), was a Mujtahid-e-Iraq, taught at Sultan-ul-Madaris of Lucknow, India, and was a principal of Sultan-ul-Madaris Oriental College, Khairpur Mirs, Pakistan. He wrote several books on the Middle-Eastern Islamic history. I have two sons.