The Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them) were very keen to follow the Sunnah and teachings of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and to follow in his footsteps. In this hadith, the Taabi‘i Yazid ibn Abi ‘Ubayd narrates that he used to come with Salamah ibn al-Akwa‘ (may Allah be pleased with him) to the Mosque of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and Salamah used to pray at the pillar where the Mus-haf was. That was the Mus-haf of ‘Uthmaan (may Allah be pleased with him). This indicates that there was a special place for the Mus-haf. It was also said that what appears to be the case is that this pillar was one of the pillars of the old mosque, which is called ar-Rawdah. In ar-Rawdah there were two pillars facing each of which it was said that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to pray. The first is called the “perfumed pillar” (al-ustuwanah al-mukhallaqah), which is also known as the pillar of the Muhajirin; it is in the middle of ar-Rawdah. The second is the “pillar of repentance” (ustuwanah al-tawbah) and it is the pillar to which Abu Lubabah tied himself until Allah accepted his repentance. Yazid ibn Abi ‘Ubayd asked Salamah ibn al-Akwa‘ why he sought to pray at this pillar, and Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) told him that he saw that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was keen to pray at that spot, so he was following in the footsteps of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). In a report narrated by Ibn Majah, it clearly states that this prayer was a voluntary prayer. This hadith indicates that there is nothing wrong with always praying in a particular place in the mosque, in the case of voluntary prayers.