Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets (Migration II)

Muhammad Zafrulla Khan

Shortly after parting from Suraqa, the party encountered Zubair bin Awam, who was returning to Mecca with a small party of Muslims after a trading journey to Syria. Zubair presented a suit of white garments to the Holy Prophet and another to Abu Bakr, and submitted that he would soon return from Mecca and join them in Yathrab. Of other people whom they encountered during the rest of their journey, many who knew Abu Bakr recognized him and inquired from him who was the person who was riding ahead of him. Abu Bakr would reply, ‘He is the one who shows me the way,’ meaning, that he was his spiritual preceptor, but the inquirers understood that he was some person whom Abu Bakr had taken with him as his guide.

After journeying for eight days the party approached Yathrab. The Muslims in Yathrab had learnt that the Holy Prophet had set out from Mecca on his way to Yathrab. For some days they had been coming out of Yathrab to welcome him, but after waiting for him through the forenoon they went back disappointed. On the day of his arrival, they had just returned to their homes when they heard a Jew, who was for some reason standing at a height, and who perceived the Holy Prophet and his companions approaching in the distance, call aloud, ‘O ye Arabs, the one you have been awaiting is approaching.’ On hearing this the Muslims were overjoyed, and, taking up their arms in a hurry, emerged from the city to welcome the illustrious traveller.

When Ansar had the first glimpse of the Holy Prophet, their joy knew no bounds. They felt that on them had been bestowed all the blessings of the here and the hereafter. Bokhari has reported Braa bin Aazib as saying that on no other occasion did he behold Ansar exhibiting such spontaneous joy as they did on the arrival of the Holy Prophet in Yathrab. Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah have reported Ans bin Malik as saying: ‘The day the Holy Prophet arrived in Medina we perceived as if the city had been illumined, and on the day that he died it seemed to us that we had never seen Medina so dark.’

After greeting those who had come out to welcome him, the Holy Prophet did not proceed direct to the city, but veered a little to the right and arrived at Qaba, a suburb about a couple of miles from the city and a little higher from it. Some families of Ansar, of whom the best known was the family of Amar bin Auf, had their residences in Qaba. At that time, their chief was Kulthum bin Hadam. The Ansar of Qaba welcomed the Holy Prophet very joyously and he chose to stay with Kulthum bin Hadam. The majority of the emigrants who had arrived before him had also been put up by Kulthum bin Hadam and other leading Ansar. It may be that the Holy Prophet chose to stop in Qaba for that reason. News of his arrival spread rapidly in Yathrab and the Muslims hurried joyfully to his residence to greet him. Some of them who had not had any opportunity of seeing the Holy Prophet before mistook Abu Bakr for him, as the latter, though somewhat younger than the Holy Prophet, looked older than him and there was nothing to indicate which of them was the Holy Prophet. After the Holy Prophet’s arrival in Yathrab, the city became known as Medinaten Nabi (‘City of the Prophet’), which was soon abbreviated to Medina.

Within three days of his arrival in Qaba, Ali also arrived from Mecca and joined the Holy Prophet. The first matter which the latter paid attention to was the building of a mosque at Qaba, of which he laid the foundation stone and which was constructed within a few days with the eager and diligent labour of his Companions who worked as builders and labourers. The Holy Prophet continued much attached to this mosque till the end of his life. After arrival in Medina he went every week to Qaba and led the Salat in the mosque there. Some divines have surmised that the words ‘A mosque that was founded upon piety from the very first day, is surely more worthy that thou shouldst stand therein to lead the Prayer Service’ (9:108) have reference to this mosque. The Muslims had built some mosques before the erection of this mosque, but this was the first mosque of which the foundation was laid by the Holy Prophet himself on the first day of his arrival in Qaba.

While he was still at Qaba, the Muslims of Medina began to speculate with whom the Holy Prophet would stay in Medina. Every family was eager to have the honour of being his hosts. When the Holy Prophet learnt of this, he intimated that he would stay with Banu Najjar to whom Selma, mother of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib, had belonged.

After a stay of more than ten days in Qaba, the Holy Prophet started towards the main city on Friday. He was accompanied by a large number of Ansar and Emigrants. He was riding a camel with Abu Bakr behind him. Progress was slow and the time of the noon Prayer arrived while they were on the way. The Holy Prophet stopped in the quarter of Banu Salam bin Auf and delivered a sermon and led the Friday Service. The Friday noon Service had already been instituted in Medina, but this was the first Friday Service in which the Holy Prophet participated himself.

After the Service, progress was resumed amidst shouts and songs of welcome. At every step the Holy Prophet was eagerly invited to stay with the Muslim whose house he was passing. He thanked everyone and continued his progress till his camel arrived in the quarter of Banu Najjar, where the men of the tribe were standing armed in rows to welcome him and the girls were singing songs of welcome from the roofs of the houses. Here again the question arose with whom would he stay. Everyone of the tribe was desirous that he should stay with him. Some of them, in their eagerness, would take hold of the halter of his camel. The Holy Prophet, peace be on him, directed, ‘Leave my camel free, it is under divine direction.’ It continued to advance and then sat down, but rose immediately and went a few steps forward and then returned and sat down on the spot where it had sat down first. On this, the Holy Prophet observed, ‘Allah desires that this should be my dwelling place.’ He then dismounted and inquired whose house was nearest. Abu Ayub Ansari came forward and submitted, ‘Messenger of Allah, that is my house and that is my door. You are most welcome.’ He responded, ‘Well then, go and prepare some place for my stay.’ Abu Ayub went and, having made his arrangements, returned within a few minutes and the Holy Prophet accompanied him into the house. It was a two-storey house and Abu Ayub suggested that the Holy Prophet should stay in the upper storey, but he preferred the ground floor so that people should have easy access to him. During the night Abu Ayub and his wife could get little sleep as they were disturbed by the idea that they were above the Holy Prophet, so next morning Abu Ayub respectfully insisted that the Holy Prophet should move to the upper storey and he yielded to his supplications. He continued to reside with Abu Ayub for several months till the construction of the mosque and his own quarters was completed. Abu Ayub took his food up to the Holy Prophet, and he and his wife subsisted on the leftovers. Often food was sent for the Holy Prophet by other Muslims, among whom the name S’ad bin Ubadah, chief of Khazraj, has been specially mentioned in biographies.

Um Saleem, a widow, was a devoted Muslim who had a ten-year-old son, Anas bin Malik. She brought him to the Holy Prophet and submitted, ‘Messenger of Allah, I have brought my son to serve you and request that you may kindly bless him and accept him as your servant.’ He thanked her and blessed the boy, who continued to serve him till his death. As Ans had opportunities of observing the Holy Prophet at close quarters, a large number of ahadith are narrated on his authority. He survived the Holy Prophet for more than eighty years and died in Basra when he was well over a hundred years of age. He often said that through the prayers of the Holy Prophet on his behalf he had been so much blessed in every respect as he could not have imagined.

A short while after his arrival in Medina, the Holy Prophet sent Zaid bin Haritha to Mecca to bring the members of his family and they all arrived safe within a few days. Along with them, Abdullah bin Abu Bakr arrived with the members of Abu Bakr’s family.

In Medina also the first concern of the Holy Prophet was the construction of the mosque. The spot where his camel had sat down belonged to two Muslim boys, Sahl and Suhail, who were under the guardianship of Asad bin Zararah. It was a vacant site on which there were a few date trees and at one place the ruins of an old building. The Holy Prophet purchased this plot for the mosque and his own quarters for ten dinars (approximately six pounds sterling). The site was cleared of the trees and the ruins and was levelled and prepared for the building of the mosque. The Holy Prophet laid the foundation stone with Prayers and, as in the case of the mosque at Qaba, his Companions worked as builders and labourers. The Holy Prophet himself also occasionally shared in their work. The mosque was built of bricks and slabs of stone, which were erected between wooden stakes. The roof was covered with the trunks and branches of date trees, and in the beginning the Holy Prophet delivered his sermon on Fridays leaning against one of these pillars. Some years later a pulpit was provided for him. To begin with the floor was unpaved, and as the roof leaked when it rained the floor became muddy. Therefore, some time later, the floor was paved with gravel. The mosque faced towards Jerusalem, but when the Qibla was, under divine direction, changed towards the Ka’aba, the mosque faced in that direction. The height of the mosque was 10 feet, its length 105 feet, and its width 90 feet. Since then it has been extended several times.

In one corner of the mosque a covered platform was prepared which was known as Suffah. This served as the resting place of indigent Emigrants, who had nowhere else to go to. This was their home and they became known as the Dwellers of Suffah. They enjoyed the company of the Holy Prophet most of the time, and occupied themselves with worship and the recitation of the Holy Quran. They had no permanent means of subsistence. The Holy Prophet looked after them, and shared with them whatever became available to himself and to members of his family. On occasion, the latter went without, and whatever was available was sent to the Dwellers of Suffah. Ansar also offered them hospitality, so far as they could afford it. Nevertheless, these people often faced starvation. This continued for several years till some of them began to find gainful occupation, and the national treasury could also afford to provide them with some relief.

The Holy Prophet’s own quarter, a single chamber a few feet square, was adjacent to the mosque. One of its doors opened into the mosque through which he entered the mosque for prayer services, etc. When the number of his wives increased, a chamber was built for each of them, contiguous with the first chamber. Some of the Emigrants built their simple houses in the vicinity of the mosque.

This was the mosque of the Holy Prophet in Medina. As there was no public building where public affairs could be transacted and administered, the mosque served as headquarters for the administration. The Holy Prophet spent most of his time in the mosque. It was the place of consultation and also the place for the administration of justice. All directions were issued from the mosque. It also served as the public guesthouse. Later, when need arose, prisoners of war were also confined in the mosque. Sir William Muir has observed (The Life of Muhammad, p. 177):

Though rude in material, and insignificant in dimensions, the Mosque of Muhammad is glorious in the history of Islam. Here, the Prophet and his Companions spent most of their time; here, the daily service, with its oft-recurring prayers, was first publicly established; and here, the great congregation assembled every Friday, listening with reverence and awe to messages from Heaven. Here, the Prophet planned his victories; here, he received embassies from vanquished and contrite tribes; and from hence issued edicts, which struck terror amongst the rebellious to the very outskirts of the peninsula. Hard by, in the apartment of Aisha, he breathed his last; and there, side by side with his first two Successors, he lies buried.

The construction of the mosque and its adjacent apartments was completed within about seven months, and the Holy Prophet, peace he on him, moved with his wife, Sudah, into her apartment. Those of the Emigrants who could not procure building plots in the vicinity of the mosque built their houses wherever they could procure a site, sometimes at quite a distance from the mosque, and some were able to procure houses from Ansar.

The times of Prayer services had been appointed, but there was yet no arrangement about the announcement that a Prayer service was about to be held. The worshippers came to the mosque for each Prayer service according to their own estimate of the time of the service, but this was not satisfactory. When the mosque had been built it began to be felt that some suitable means should be adopted for calling the Muslims to Prayer services. A consultation was held and various suggestions were made, and in the end Umar advised that someone should be appointed to announce that the time of a service had arrived. The Holy Prophet, peace be on him, approved of this suggestion and directed Bilal to carry out this duty. Thereafter Bilal used to call out in a loud voice at the time of each Prayer that the service was about to be held, and the worshippers arrived in response to this call. The same announcement was made if it was desired to call the Muslims to the mosque for other purposes also. Some time later Abdullah bin Zaid Ansari was taught the Call to Prayer, which has since been in use, in his dream and he mentioned the dream to the Holy Prophet, who observed that this was a divine direction and told Abdullah to teach the Call to Bilal. When Bilal called the Azan for the first time Umar, on hearing it, hastened to the Holy Prophet and told him that he too had heard the same words in his dream. Thus was the current Azan established. No one will question that the Islamic Call to Prayer is the most blessed and most attractive way of calling people to divine worship. Five times a day, from every mosque around the globe, in every city and every village inhabited by Muslims, the announcement is made of the Unity of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad, peace be on him, along with a brief but comprehensive exposition of Islamic doctrine and teaching.