Muslim

Hadith Commentary: Benefits and Issues:
In these hadiths, it is explicitly stated that performing prayer in the Prophet’s Mosque (Masjid al-Nabawi) carries a reward one thousand times greater than in ordinary mosques,
but the Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) is made an exception.
It is evident from this that the reward is not as great as that of the Sacred Mosque,
and this is explicitly mentioned in other authentic hadiths.
Jabir radi Allahu anhu narrates that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:
“A prayer in my mosque is better by one thousand times than in other mosques, except for the Sacred Mosque, and a prayer in the Sacred Mosque is better by one hundred thousand times than in my mosque.”
(‘Umdat al-Qari, vol. 3, p. 685, under the hadith of Abu Hurayrah radi Allahu anhu)
And in the narration of Abu al-Darda’ radi Allahu anhu, the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:
“A prayer in the Sacred Mosque is equivalent to one hundred thousand prayers, and a prayer in my mosque is equivalent to one thousand prayers,
and in Bayt al-Maqdis it is equivalent to five hundred prayers.”
(‘Ayni, vol. 3, p. 686)
Imam Najjar has declared its chain to be hasan (good),
and the narration of Sahih Ibn Hibban, which is also found in Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, Musnad Ahmad, and other books.
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr radi Allahu anhuma narrates that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:
“A prayer in this mosque of mine is better than one thousand prayers in other mosques except for the Sacred Mosque,
and a prayer in the Sacred Mosque is one hundred times better than in this mosque of mine.”
(al-Ihsan fi Taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban, vol. 4, p. 499, Dr. Shu‘ayb Arna’ut, etc.)
Now, from these narrations, it becomes clear that the reward for praying in the Prophet’s Mosque is one thousand times greater than in ordinary mosques, and praying in the Sacred Mosque carries the reward of one hundred thousand prayers, which is one hundred times greater than the Prophet’s Mosque sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and there is no contradiction in these hadiths.
And some contemporaries, while distorting the aforementioned narration of Jabir radi Allahu anhu with reference to ‘Allamah ‘Ayni, have written as follows:
(SALATUN FI MASJIDI HAZA AFḌALU MIN ALFI SALATIN FIMA SIWAHU ILLA AL-MASJID AL-HARAM WA SALATUN FI AL-MASJID AL-HARAM)
(“Praying in my mosque is better than one hundred thousand prayers in other mosques except for the Sacred Mosque, and the reward of the Sacred Mosque is also more than one hundred thousand prayers in ordinary mosques”)
In this way, they have established a contradiction between the two hadiths,
whereas in ‘Umdat al-Qari:
(SALATUN FI MASJIDI HAZA AFḌALU MIN ALFI SALATIN FIMA SIWAHU)
(vol. 3, p. 685; Fath al-Mulhim, vol. 3, p. 417)
these are the very words,
furthermore, leaving aside these authentic hadiths and engaging in analogical reasoning, they have claimed that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam made supplication for Madinah in comparison to Makkah: (DI‘FA MA JA‘ALTA BI MAKKAH)
So the meaning would be:
“Bestow upon Madinah four times the blessings You have bestowed upon Makkah,”
whereas in other narrations the word MITHLAYN (“double”) has come,
meaning twofold,
now, upon this, they have constructed the argument
that the reward for prayers performed in the Sacred Mosque would be four times greater than this—so can any Muslim, in full possession of his senses, in the face of authentic hadiths,
adopt such a method as to distort the hadiths and let loose the reins of analogy against authentic hadiths?