Tuesday, 26 May 2026 (10 Dhuʻl-Hijjah 1447 AH)
Question: Allah, the Exalted, has favored some lands over others; so is the merit in them the multiplying of reward for righteous deeds in them?
Or does it return to the availability of provisions and conveniences in them, and the availability of security and stability?
Or is it a natural merit returning to the land itself and its soil?
Or does it return to the goodness of its climate and its safety from epidemics?
Or does it return to its not being exposed to earthquakes and floods and natural disasters?
Or is its merit by consideration of the merit of its inhabitants and the lack of their merit?
Or is it for other than that?
The answer: the merit of some lands over others returns to some of what was mentioned in the question, and some of it to other than that.
Allah favored agricultural land over land that is not suitable for agriculture in His statement: "And the good land—its vegetation emerges by permission of its Lord; but that which is bad—nothing emerges except sparsely, with difficulty." [Al-A'raf:58]. Fertile land through which permanent rivers run is better than land in which there are no rivers, and everything mentioned in the question from aspects and considerations is an aspect for preference.
So the land of Mecca and the sacred inviolable sanctuary—Allah, the Exalted, favored it by what He placed in it of:
1. The Ancient House.
2. The Station of Abraham.
3. Settling Ishmael in it.
4. Its being the place of the mission of the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad.
5. What is in it of the blessing of the supplication of Abraham—may Allah’s blessings be upon him.
6. What Allah, the Exalted, placed in it of multiplying reward for deeds.
7. Its being a place of return for people; they make pilgrimage to it, and a security for them—within it the fearful is safe, and the birds and the wild animals.
8. Its being a direction for the prayer—which is the greatest of acts of worship—so they venerate it by turning toward it in their prayer, and then in their supplication.
- Fertile land is better than saline-barren land, and elevated land is better than low land: "And We sheltered them on a high ground having levelness and flowing water." [Al-Mu'minun:50]. The plain is better than the mountain, and what is moderate in climate is better than other than it. A land inhabited by the righteous is better than one inhabited by other than the righteous, and the Abode of Islam is better than the Abode of disbelief.
In sum: the preference of lands, some over others, has aspects and considerations from what was mentioned in the question, or for other aspects besides it. And every aspect of preference returns either to a worldly interest, or to a religious interest, or to both. And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon our master Muhammad and upon his pure family.
Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.3