Greeting the Holy Ka'ba A Muslim should enter the Holy Ka'ba with the intention of either performing Umrah, Tawaf, praying in the Haram or to attend lectures. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Is the greeting of the Holy Mosque praying two Rak'ahs or doing Tawaf? He replied, “The Holy Mosque is like any other mosque: the one who enters it to pray or listen to a reminder and so on should pray two Raka'ats as in any other mosque because of the general meaning of the words of the Prophet (peace be upon him): “When one of you enters the mosque, let him not sit until he prays two Rak'ahs.” (Bukhari - 1167) If he enters the mosque to do Tawaf, a voluntary Tawaf or the Tawaf of the Umrah then in that case the Tawaf replaces the two Rak'ahs of greeting the mosque, because when he does Tawaf he is going to pray two Rak'ahs after the Tawaf. And with regard to the Hadith that some people quote, “Greeting the Sacred Mosque is Tawaf,” it is baseless and has no evidence in the books of Sunnah. It was not narrated from the Prophet (peace be upon him) with any ‘Isnad' at all, so it is not permissible to attribute it to him. Sheikh Al-Albani said in Silsilat Al-Ahadeeth Al-Da'eefah (no. 1012): I do not know of any basis for it, although it is often quoted. It was narrated by the author of Al-Hidayah who was a Hanafi: Whoever comes to the House, let him greet it with Tawaf. Al-Hafiz Al-Zayla'i observed in his commentary that it has no basis. He said (2/51): It is very strange (Ghareeb Jiddan). Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar was clearer than that, as he said in Al-Dirayah (p. 192): I did not find it. Shaykh Al-Albani said: I do not know of anything in the Sunnah, word or deed, that testifies to this. Rather the general meaning of the evidence about praying before sitting down in the mosque includes the Holy Mosque too, and the view that its greeting is Tawaf is contrary to the general meaning referred to, so it should not be accepted unless it is proven. And there is no proof, especially since it is proven by experience that it is not possible for the one who enters the Holy Mosque to do Tawaf every time he enters during the Haj season. Praise be to Allah Who has made the matter very clear “and [Allah] has not laid upon you in religion any hardship” (Qur'an, 22:78). It should be noted that this ruling applies to people other than those in Ihram. The Sunnah for the pilgrim in Ihram is to start with Tawaf and pray the two Rak'ahs after that. Refer ‘Bida' al-Haj wa'l-‘Umrah' in my essay ‘Manaasik al-Haj wa'l-‘Umrah' number 37. Al-Hattaab al-Maliki said in Mawahib al-Jaleel Sharh Mukhtasar Khaleel (2/375):Whoever enters the mosque in Makkah, the greeting of the Holy Mosque in his case is circumambulation of the Ka'ba (Tawaf). This applies to the newcomer who comes in Ihram. He should enter the Holy Mosque and do Tawaf Al-Qudoom (Tawaf of arrival) if he has entered in the state of Ihram for Haj or Qiran or foe the Tawaf of Umrah or for the Tawaf Al-ifadah if he has returned from Arafah as a part of the Haj rites. In this case, he is not required to pray when he enters. The same applies to a person, apart from the newcomer, if he enters the Holy Mosque with the intention of performing Tawaf, he should greet the Holy Mosque which in this case is Tawaf, and he is not required to pray two Rak'ahs to greet the mosque. __
