The hadith Sedd-i Rihal (Trevel to three holy masjids) and its evaluation

Each Ummah has its own blessed places existing or non-existing in their religion. Islam Ummah also has some blessed places which gain their holiness from religion and are evaluated in terms of time and place. Islam Ummah will approach their real values that they have lost and have been awaiting as far as Muslims give the necessary importance to these blessed places at the cost of their lives and riches. Because, these blessed places carry out the most important function for Islam Ummah which leads Muslims to clamp together besides many other benefits. Therefore, one of the most significant blessed places are the masjids, named as "Allah's Houses" in Qur'anic verses and hadiths. Because, masjids are places where Muslims worship and are accepted as holy and protected places in Islam. Of these masjids, three great ones (al-Masjid al-Haram, al-Masjid al-Nabawi, and al-Masjid al-Aqsa) have different importance. The reason for this is that the first kiblah in Islam is al-masjid al-Aqsa; and the first sanctuary built to worship for Allah is Kaaba; and the masjid built by Holiness Prophet Muhammed and known as "Prophet's Masjid" is al-Masjid al-Nabawi which has different features. This features are frequently mentioned in hadiths, and one of these hadiths, Şedd-i Rihal (no permission to travel to the masjids except for the three ones mentioned above), is the subject of our study. This hadith not only encourages to travel to only three holy masjids (al-Masjid al-Haram, al-Masjid al-Nabawi and al-Masjid al-Aqsa) in the most general sense (for worshipping) but also carries a special wisdom to them. Our study consists of an introduction part and two other parts and a conclusion part. In the introduction part, after information about subject, limits, objective, importance and method of the study is given, the consideration of blessed places in Islamic religion is especially studied in terms of Kaaba, al-Masjid al-Nabawi and al-Masjid al-Aqsa. In the first part, Basic hadith sources where Şedd-i Rihal hadiths are mentioned were determined, and not only the texts and meaning but also narrations taking place in these works were schematized and were applied sened criticism and evaluations were made; and also the comments of hadith interpreters' were given place. Moreover, the reflections of hadiths in Islamic sciences and their dimensions in current debates were discussed; and in conclusion part, objective information about hadiths were tried to be presented mentioning the results obtained. Key Words Şedd-i Rihal, Hadith, al-masjid al-Haram, al-Masjid al-Nabawi, al-Masjid al-Aqsa