Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Habbah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that a man came to Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: "Indeed, I have bought a camel and prepared my travel provisions, and I intend to go to Bayt al-Maqdis." Upon this, he (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Sell your camel and pray in this mosque." Imam Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "That is, in the mosque of Kufa... because after the Sacred Mosque, there is no mosque more beloved to me than this one."

Hazrat Aswad (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates that Hazrat Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with him) met me in Bayt al-Maqdis and asked: "Where have you come from?" I replied: "From the central mosque of Kufa." He (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I too have come from there, from the place you have come from. And that place is more beloved to me than giving two thousand dinars in charity and placing each dinar in the hand of every needy person." Then, taking an oath, he said: "Surely that mosque is exactly in the middle of the earth, just as the base of a tray is."