‫يف املناقب اّنه سأل ليث اخلزاعي سعيد بن املسّيب عن إهناب املدينة‬

It is written in Al Manāqib (of Ibn Shahr Āshūb) that Layth al Khuzā’ī questioned Sa`īd bin al-
Musayyab regarding the plunder of Madīnah.

‫ وانهتبت املدين""ة‬، ‫ ورأيت اخلي""ل ح""ول القرب‬، ‫ نعم شّد وا اخلي""ل اىل أس""اطني مسجد رس""ول اهّلل صلىاللهعلهيوآهل‬: ‫قال‬
‫ فكنت أان وعّيل بن احلس ""ني علهيالسالم نأيت قرب الن ""يب صلىاللهعلهيوآهل فيتّلكم عّيل بن احلس ""ني بالكم مل أق ""ف‬، ‫ثالاث‬
. ‫ ونصيّل ونرى القوم ومه ال يروننا‬، ‫ فيحال ما بيننا وبني القوم‬، ‫عليه‬
The latter replied: 'yes (indeed), they (the Syrian army) tied the horses to the pillars of the
mosque of the Messenger of God (s), and I saw the horses (all) around the grave. Madīnah
was plundered for three days. `Alī ibn al-Ḥusain (a) and I used to come to the grave of the
Prophet (s) and `Alī ibn al-Ḥusain (a) would utter speech that I did not understand.
Consequently, a barrier would come up between us and the people (soldiers). We would
pray and see the people (soldiers) but they would not see us.

‫ فاكن إذا‬، ‫وقام رجل عليه حلل خرض عىل ف"رس حمذوف أشهب بي"ده حرب"ة م"ع عّيل بن احلس"ني علهيالسالم‬
‫أومأ الرجل (من جيش الشام) اىل حرم رسول اهّلل صلىاللهعلهيوآهل يشري ذكل الفارس ابحلرب""ة حنوه فميوت من غري أن‬
‫ فمل يرتك قرطا يف إذن صّيب وال حلي""ا‬، ‫ فلّم ا أن كّفوا عن الهنب دخل عّيل بن احلسني علهيالسالم عىل النساء‬، ‫يصيبه‬
.‫عىل امرأة وال ثواب اّال أخرجه اىل الفارس‬
And a man, attired in green, seated on a grey (invisible?) horse with a spear in his hand,
would stand with `Alī ibn al-Ḥusain (a). Whenever a man from the Syrian army intended to
assault the sanctuary of the Messenger of God (s), he (the horseman) would point at him
with his spear and the man would die without it (the weapon) (even) reaching him. When
they (the Syrian army) stopped the plunder, `Alī ibn al-Ḥusain (a) went to his womenfolk and
did not leave behind an earring in the ears of the children nor jewellery on the women, or
dresses, save that he brought them out to the horseman.

‫ إ يّن مكل من املالئكة من شيعتك وشيعة أبيك ّملا أن ظه"ر الق"وم‬، ‫ اي بن رسول اهّلل‬: ‫فقال هل الفارس‬
‫ ف" "أذن يل ألن أّدخره ""ا ي ""دا عن ""د اهّلل تب ""ارك وتع ""اىل وعن ""د رس ""وهل‬، ‫ابملدين ""ة استأذنت ريّب يف نرصتمك آل محمد‬
‫صلىاللهعلهيوآهل وعندمك أهل البيت اىل يوم القيامة‬
The horseman said, 'son of the Messenger of God! I am an angel from your partisans and
that of your father's. When the people (the Syrian army) came out to plunder Madīnah, I
sought my Lord's permission to help you, the progeny of Muḥammad (s). God permitted me
(to do so), so that I could render it (my act of aiding) a favour with God, the Blessed and
Exalted, with His Messenger (s), and with you, the people of the (Prophet's) House, till the
day of resurrection.

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It is interesting to note that the report mentions three things subjected to transgressions. It
mentions the 'mosque of the Prophet' (‫)مسجد رسول هللا‬, to whose pillars horses were tied; the 'grave of
‫القرب‬
the Prophet' ( ), around which were horses; and the 'haram of the Prophet' ( ‫)حرم رسول هّللا‬, which
when threatened by an attack, was defended miraculously.

Your query is what the phrase 'ḥaramu rasulillah' ( ‫ )حرم رسول هّللا‬means. Does it refer to the mosque
or to the grave?

It could refer to both and to a wider geographical area of Medina.

I have relied on the following piece (very probably a transcription of a talk) by Shaykh Muhammad
al-Obaidan al-Qatifi for the following details. He is a Saudi Shi'ite scholar.

‫ موقع سماحة العالمة الشيخ محمد العبيدان القطيفي‬- ‫( المدينة حرم النبي صلى هللا عليه و آله‬alobaidan.org)

The word ḥaram has three meanings.

(1) Linguistically, it refers to the place which undertakes to protect, shelter, and defend a
person including fighting for him or for her. Obviously, in this meaning, the city of Medina is
the ḥaram of the Prophet for it undertook to do all the above for him.

Thus the Prophet is attributed to have said: 'every prophet has a ḥaram and my ḥaram is
Medina'.
‫ وحريم املدينة‬،‫ للك نيب حرم‬:)‫قال(ص‬
Imam Ali (a) is attributed to have said: 'Mecca is the ḥaram of God and Medina is the ḥaram
of the Prophet'.
)‫ واملدينة حرم رسول هللا(ص‬،‫ مكة حرم هللا‬:)‫قال أمري املؤمنني عيل بن أيب طالب (ع‬
Sahl ibn Ḥanīf relates that the Messenger of God (s) stretched out his hand towards Medina
and said: 'it is a safe ḥaram'.
‫ إهنا حرم آمن‬:‫ فقال‬،‫ أهوى رسول هللا(ص) بيده إىل املدينة‬:‫وجاء عن سهل بن حنيف أنه قال‬

But apparently, the boundary of the Medinan ḥaram is circumscribed. The Prophet (s) is
attributed to have said the following: 'O God! Abraham rendered Mecca sacred, and so he
rendered it a sanctuary, and I have rendered Medina sacred, which is the narrow area
(between the two mountains) in that no blood should be shed in it, weapons for fighting
cannot be carried into it, and trees cannot be beaten with a staff or stick save for fodder (in
which case the leaves of the trees are struck with a stick so that they may fall down, without
the trunk or branches being injured)'.
‫ وال‬،‫ وال حيمل فهيا سالح لقت"ال‬،‫ أن ال هيراق فهيا دم‬،‫ م"ا بني مأزمهيا‬،‫ وإ ين حرمت املدينة حرام"ًا‬،‫ اللهم إن إبراهمي حّر م مكة جفعلها حرمًا‬:)‫وقال(ص‬
‫ختبط فهيا جشرة إال لعلف‬
In different reports of the fourth kind above, the Medinan area circumscribed as ḥaram is
done so using various terms such as 'the area between the two mountains' or 'the area
between the two lava formations'. In some reports, the circumscription occurs by means of
ambiguous terms, such as 'the area between that and that' and in one report, specific
geographic names are mentioned to delimit the area of the ḥaram, which a historian of the
topography of ancient Medina would need to identify. However, what these reports appear
to tell us, at the very least, is that a specific geographic area of Medina is ḥaram. These
additional reports may be sampled here: ( ‫( ) قول النبي (ص) في مكة والمدينة‬mezan.net).

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 The Shi'ah author named above has unfortunately not cited his sources for the reports he
mentions, very probably because the above was a talk subsequently transcribed (and I have
limited myself to only citing reports here, which he has mentioned). I observed that many of
these reports are from non-Shi'ah sources (as can be seen in the link above). But he does
state that such kinds of reports are many in the sources of both Muslim groups, sunni and
shi'a. I have a feeling that relevant reports from Shi'a sources, regarding the limits of the
Meccan and Medinan ḥarams and the rules regarding their sanctity can be found in Shi'a
works of demonstrative jurisprudence, in the chapter of Hajj and Umra. But I would need to
explore.

These reports forbid a number of acts within the area of the ḥaram such as the three acts
forbidden in the report above. In others, trees are forbidden to be cut, killing is not allowed,
deceiving Muslims is forbidden, giving sanctuary to a criminal is disallowed, frightening game
is not allowed, etc., within the Medinan ḥaram.

The following is a shi'a report. It is the sound report of Jamīl ibn Darrāj who says: 'I heard
Imam Sadiq (a) say: 'The Messenger of God (s) said that whoever brings about 'a deed' in
Medina or grants refuge to one who brings about such 'a deed' will be subject to God's
curse!' Jamīl says: 'I asked 'what does 'bringing about a deed' mean?' He replied:
'killing/murder'.'
:‫ قلت‬،‫ من أحدث ابملدين""ة حدًاث أو آوى حمدًاث فعلي""ه لعن""ة هللا‬:)‫ ق""ال رس""ول هللا(ص‬:‫ مسعت أاب عب""د هللا(ع) يق""ول‬:‫ففي حصيح مجي""ل بن دراج ق""ال‬
‫ القتل‬:‫ومااحلدث؟ قال‬
Closely similar reports to this one can be found in Sunni sources where it is added that such
a person will be subject not only to God's curse but that of the angels and mankind
altogether.

2) Technically, (i.e., from the fiqh perspective), the term ḥaram refers to the two mosques in
Mecca and Medina (masjid al-ḥarām and masjid al-nabawiy respectively) while the reason
both Mecca and Medina are identified as ḥaram is because of the two mosques that lie
within them, i.e., God's ḥaram and the Prophet's ḥaram.

3) Among the Shi'ah, graves of infallibles are also termed ḥaram.

Therefore, the phrase 'ḥaramu rasulillah' ( ‫ )حرم رسول هّللا‬in the report above could potentially
refer to that special area of Medina defined as ḥaram by the Prophet, which would include
his mosque, which also includes his grave and that of his daughter's. So at the most it could
refer to this enlarged area of Medina encompassing also the mosque and the graves.
Alternatively, in this report, it could refer just to the mosque and the grave in it due to the
historical fact that Medina was pillaged for 3 days, which may mean that the circumscribed
zone was transgressed. At the very least, it refers to the Prophet's grave. I would venture to
say it refers to the mosque and the grave, in this report, although it would not be far-fetched
to conjecture that it includes the specially circumscribed zone, the mosque, and the graves.

Relying on the report which mentions how Prophet Ibrahim rendered Mecca a ḥaram and
how the Prophet Muhammad rendered Medina a ḥaram, jurists such as Shaykh al-Mufid,
Shaykh al-Tusi, Ibn Idris al-Hilli and others have concluded that the same prohibitions that
apply to Mecca, in its capacity as ḥaram, also apply to Medina in its capacity as ḥaram unless
excepted otherwise.

It is interesting to observe that Mecca was rendered a ḥaram by Ibrahim. It gave refuge to
his family, he built a mosque there (the ka'ba), and it also became the burial place of
Prophet Ismai'il (and lady Hajira). Medina was rendered a ḥaram by the Prophet

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Muhammad. It gave him, his family, and followers refuge, he built a mosque there, and it
became his final resting place.