How many Muhajirun were in Madinah? We can estimate by looking at the number of participants in the Battle of Badr (which will take place in ~2 years). There were exactly 82 male Muhajirun in the battle. So we can say, roughly, there were around 300-400 Muhajirun in Madinah including the women and children. They didn't have quantity, but they had quality. Whenever Allah mentions the Muhajirun and the Ansar in the Quran, Allah always prefers the Muhajirun over the Ansar — the Muhajirun are always mentioned first, e.g., in verse [9:100].
Verses of Commandment of Hijrah in the Quran: From Lenient to Strict
The Prophet PBUH was one of the very last to Emigrate. There were only a handful that Emigrated after him, e.g., Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Prophet PBUH assigned him the task of returning all the amanat (أمانات - entrusted items/amounts) to the people of Makkah who had entrusted them to his care (PBUH). Otherwise, the Prophet PBUH was the last to Emigrate.
At this point, it was fard ayn (فرض عين - compulsory/obligatory upon every single Muslim) to Emigrate to Madinah, down to women and children. Allah SWT revealed many verses —around 8 or 9— with every one of them getting stricter and stricter in command, instructing the Muslims to Emigrate to Madinah. Allah first encouraged them to Emigrate, and then eventually, threatened. E.g., in Surah al-Hajj —a surah some say revealed during the Hijrah— Allah says:
Fast forward in Surah al-Nisa which came down 2-3 years down the line, Allah says if you do not Emigrate, you are a major sinner, and Allah will punish you. One such verse is:
Note this is the sunnah of Allah that laws come down gradually — the first is an encouragement, then it becomes obligatory.
There are now two groups of Muslims in Makkah: (i) Those who were already Muslims when the Prophet PBUH Emigrated but they remained behind and didn't Emigrate [we don't have any particular names of these people]; and (ii) Those who convert in Makkah after the Prophet PBUH Emigrated to Madinah [we have some of their names]. (Note: Dawah still continued in Makkah even after the Prophet PBUH had Emigrated to Madinah.) And Hijrah was made obligatory upon both groups.
وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ قُتِلُوا أَوْ مَاتُوا لَيَرْزُقَنَّهُمُ اللَّهُ رِزْقًا حَسَنًا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُوَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ
"And those who emigrated for the cause of Allah and then were killed or died — Allah will surely provide for them a good provision. And indeed, it is Allah who is the best of providers" [22:58]. This is encouragement. There is no threat.Fast forward in Surah al-Nisa which came down 2-3 years down the line, Allah says if you do not Emigrate, you are a major sinner, and Allah will punish you. One such verse is:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ظَالِمِي أَنفُسِهِمْ قَالُوا فِيمَ كُنتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا كُنَّا مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ قَالُوا أَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَرْضُ اللَّهِ وَاسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوا فِيهَا ۚ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا
"Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves — [the angels] will say, 'In what [condition] were you?' They will say, 'We were oppressed in the land.' The angels will say, 'Was not the earth of Allah spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?' For those, their refuge is Hell — and evil it is as a destination" [4:97].Note this is the sunnah of Allah that laws come down gradually — the first is an encouragement, then it becomes obligatory.
There are now two groups of Muslims in Makkah: (i) Those who were already Muslims when the Prophet PBUH Emigrated but they remained behind and didn't Emigrate [we don't have any particular names of these people]; and (ii) Those who convert in Makkah after the Prophet PBUH Emigrated to Madinah [we have some of their names]. (Note: Dawah still continued in Makkah even after the Prophet PBUH had Emigrated to Madinah.) And Hijrah was made obligatory upon both groups.
Ibn Abbas says, "A group of Muslims remained in Makkah. And in the Battle of Badr, because they didn't tell their Islam to others (out of fear of persecution), they were forced to participate on the wrong side." They didn't actually fight; they just kept in the back and did whatever they did; and some of them were killed by the Muslims (because of arrows, etc.). So Allah revealed the above verse for those people, that the angels will basically ask, "What were you doing? Why are you on this side? How can you be fighting against the Muslims?" And they will say, "We were weak, we were forced to fight." But the angels will say, "You weren't forced to remain in Makkah. You could have gone to another place, i.e., Madinah." Ibn Abbas comments, "They were told by Allah that they have no excuse not to Emigrate. This verse of Surah al-Nisa was sent to them." (Note: This shows us there was a secret correspondence going on between the Muslims of Makkah and the Prophet PBUH in Madinah — and obviously, the Prophet PBUH knows who are the Muslims, because they have informed him. So there are some messages [e.g., these Quran verses] being sent by the Prophet PBUH to these Muslims in Makkah.) And Ibn Abbas says, "Some of them tried to Emigrate, but the pagans prevented them. [The word used is fatanuhum (فتنوهم) — which basically means they could hurt/persecute them; details are not given.] So they stayed put again and didn't Emigrate." And so Allah revealed a verse in Surah al-Ankabut, which says:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ وَلَئِن جَاءَ نَصْرٌ مِّن رَّبِّكَ لَيَقُولُنَّ إِنَّا كُنَّا مَعَكُمْ ۚ أَوَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَعْلَمَ بِمَا فِي صُدُورِ الْعَالَمِينَ
"There are some who say, 'We believe in Allah' — but when they suffer in the cause of Allah, they mistake [this] persecution at the hands of people for the punishment of Allah" [29:10]. The word udhiya (أوذي) could mean 'persecuted' but also 'slightest irritation,' i.e., a little bit of pressure and he collapses. Then Allah says, "But when victory comes from your Lord, they surely say [to the believers], 'We have always been with you,'" i.e., they want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to be Muslims, but they also want to remain in Makkah. Why do they want to be in Makkah? Because it is a world where property and wealth are around them — in those days, they didn't have bank accounts they could transfer money to, so performing Hijrah meant they needed to give up the bulk of their wealth; Emigration automatically meant poverty. That was the point for them. So Allah is saying these small groups of people (probably 3-5 people) prefer living in Makkah for the sake of their wealth over living in Madinah as instructed. And then Allah says, "Does Allah not know best what is in the hearts of all beings?" [29:10].We have a story of one sahabi who converted after the Prophet PBUH had Emigrated to Madinah. His name is Junda' ibn Damura (جندع بن ضمرة). Ibn Abbas tells us when the verse in Surah al-Nisa was sent, which says, "When the angels seize the souls of those who have wronged themselves — scolding them, 'What was wrong with you?' they will reply, 'We were oppressed in the land.' The angels will respond, 'Was Allah's earth not spacious enough for you to emigrate?'" [4:97] — Allah did not accept the excuses from them; but He SWT then made an exception and excused those who were truly very weak, as in the case of this sahabi Junda'. In fact, Allah revealed this exception for him: "Except helpless men, women, and children who cannot afford a way out — it is right to hope that Allah will pardon them. For Allah is Ever-Pardoning, All-Forgiving" [4:98-99].
Junda' ibn Damura was a sahabi who was elderly, blind, and so weak that he couldn't even walk. Still, when verse [4:97] came down, he said, "I am not one of those that have an excuse — I can Emigrate to Madinah, and I will not spend another night in Makkah" — so he commanded his servants to lift him up on his chair/couch and walk with him outside the city — and he had tawakkul that he would find his way to Madinah. — But Allah was merciful to him and he met his death right outside of Makkah. And it is said that while he was dying, he put his right hand on his left hand and said, "O Allah, this is my oath of allegiance to the Prophet PBUH upon what he wanted me to do," i.e., "I don't have the opportunity to do it in person, so whatever I can do, O Allah, accept from me." And he died in Tan'im (basically near Masjid Ayesha in our time). When the news of his death reached Madinah, the sahaba basically said, "How unlucky; he almost made it," i.e., "He didn't really make it; but he tried," (look at how strict the sahaba were). And this is when Allah revealed the verses [4:98-99]:
إِلَّا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةً وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ سَبِيلًا
فَأُولَٰئِكَ عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا
"Except for those who are genuinely weak of the men, women, and children, that they cannot find a way out, nor find a passage. For these people, perhaps they will be forgiven" [see Quran, 4:98-99]. Note Allah SWT says 'asa (عسى - perhaps)' — but Ibn Abbas comments that whenever Allah says 'asa,' it is certainty. Meaning Allah WILL forgive him. But still 'asa' is used to show the severity of those who don't have a genuine excuse for remaining in Makkah.______________
Tangent: Can Muslims in Our Time Live in Non-Muslim Lands?
Now the whole issue of Hijrah and living in Dar al-Kufr (دار الكفر - Abode/Land of Disbelief) and Dar al-Islam is very pertinent to our times today. It requires a long fiqhi discussion — but to summarize a few major points: The ruling of Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah was fard ayn for the Muslims of that time (the time of the Prophet PBUH). After the Battle of Ahzab in the 5th year of the Hijrah [episode 60], when it became clear that the Muslims were the more powerful, the ruling became laxer; and after the Conquest of Makkah [episode 79], this ruling was abrogated. In Sahih Bukhari, the Prophet PBUH said, "There is no Hijrah after the Conquest of Makkah," meaning the Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah has been nullified. If anyone emigrates now, they won't get the reward promised by Allah for the Emigration. Also, it means the commandment to Emigrate to Madinah is abrogated. You don't have to emigrate to Madinah. And this then led to a controversy in later fiqh among the four madhhabs: Is it allowed for Muslims to voluntarily live in a land that is not a Land of Islam? In medieval Islam, when there was a true Islamic Land, there were two opinions on this issue:
1) The majority of Hanafi & Hanbali, and also standard Shafi'i, said it's permissible to live in lands that are not Dar al-Islam with the condition that he can live an Islamic life, e.g., he can pray without being tortured, not being forced to do haram, and has access to halal food. This is based on a sahih hadith: Towards the end of the Prophet's PBUH life, a sahabi by the name Fudayk (فديك) came to Madinah and said, "O Messenger of Allah, the people are saying that whoever does not do Hijrah will be destroyed." And in one version, he said, "My people are upon shirk (شرك), so I have been told to make Hijrah" — his land is not a Land of Islam. The Prophet PBUH responded, "O Fudayk, establish the salah, avoid the sins, and live with your people wherever you like." This hadith is reported in Ibn Hibban's Sahih. This hadith is as explicit as you can get. Fudayk's people were mushriks and people were telling him his Islam was not valid because he was living with people who were committing shirk — but clearly, the Prophet PBUH told him that he could live with his people.
2) The Maliki school was stricter here. Generally speaking, they consider it to be impermissible for a Muslim to live in Dar al-Kufr if there is a Dar al-Islam. The reason that they were the strictest in this regard is because of what happened to Andalus, which was of course the land of Maliki schools and Maliki scholars. Andalusia really changed their perspective about Muslims living in Dar al-Kufr. Post-Spanish Inquisition, what happened to the Muslims was very sad: They were forced to eat pork, forced to dress un-Islamically, etc. In the beginning, the conquerors Ferdinand and Isabella said the Muslims would be safe, etc., but within the next 100 years, the Muslims were being persecuted. So the Andalusian scholars basically said, "This is what happens to those who remain in Dar al-Kufr." So the Maliki school became very strict on this issue.
Now can we import these 500-year-old fatawa when there was an actual Dar al-Islam and khilafa, into our times? In our days, in India alone there are 200 million Muslims — where do you expect them to go? And if you do the math, you will get half a billion Muslims living in minority lands. So scholars in our times who say it's wajib to emigrate, with all due respect, they are not being realistic. Even in the time of the Prophet PBUH, Hijrah was only wajib because of the circumstances of Makkah and Madinah. Therefore, we say: If any land becomes difficult to live and practice Islam in, then yes, Hijrah will become wajib. And for every land, it's for the scholars of the land to judge. In America, there is complete freedom to practice Islam — so there is no need to emigrate.
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When Did the Prophet PBUH Emigrate?
When did the Prophet PBUH Emigrate? Everybody loves to quote the 12th of Rabi' al-Awwal for everything, e.g., for the birth date of the Prophet PBUH, for the first date the Quran came down (which obviously cannot be true, since it came down in Ramadan) — but really, we don't know the exact date. It was, however, most likely, the first week of Rabi' al-Awwal, which corresponds to September 622 CE.
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Arrival in Madinah
Madinah at the time wasn't a densely populated city — each tribe resided in its own distinct area, separated by desert and trees. And the outermost settlement of the city, facing Makkah, was Quba. (In our days, the city of Madinah is so big that it goes even beyond Quba.) The Prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr arrived in Quba and waited for Ali RA, Aisha RA, and Asma RA. They waited around a week for them — and when they arrived, they entered central Madinah with them. And it's said they entered central Madinah on a Friday. When the Ansar heard that the Prophet PBUH was entering, they all dressed up in their armor, and over 500 went to Quba and accompanied the Prophet PBUH into Madinah.
(Tangent: There is a famous story that when the Prophet PBUH was entering, there were little girls singing, "طلع الـبدر عليـنا مـن ثنيـات الوداع (tala' al-badru 'alayna, min Thaniyat al-Wada' [The full moon rose over us, from Thaniyat al-Wada'])" — but this story actually did not happen during the Hijrah. It's impossible because Thaniyat al-Wada' has nothing to do with the road from Madinah to Makkah (southward). In fact, it's the road to the exact opposite side (northward). So even if this singing incident occurred, it happened AFTER the Battle of Tabuk [9 AH]. Thaniyat al-Wada' is literally on the opposite side of Quba, so this story cannot take place during the Hijrah.)
(Tangent: There is a famous story that when the Prophet PBUH was entering, there were little girls singing, "طلع الـبدر عليـنا مـن ثنيـات الوداع (tala' al-badru 'alayna, min Thaniyat al-Wada' [The full moon rose over us, from Thaniyat al-Wada'])" — but this story actually did not happen during the Hijrah. It's impossible because Thaniyat al-Wada' has nothing to do with the road from Madinah to Makkah (southward). In fact, it's the road to the exact opposite side (northward). So even if this singing incident occurred, it happened AFTER the Battle of Tabuk [9 AH]. Thaniyat al-Wada' is literally on the opposite side of Quba, so this story cannot take place during the Hijrah.)
The Ansar accompanied the Prophet PBUH into Madinah, and every sahabi wanted him to live with them. But he PBUH told the sahaba to let his camel walk freely, and wherever it sat, that would be the place he would reside — he said, "Let the camel be, because Allah has taken charge of it." And when the camel sat down, the Prophet PBUH understood that was where Allah wanted him to build his masjid [which was also where he would build his house — he would build his house right next to the masjid]. The camel sat on a small plantation that was used by the people to dry their dates — there were a few trees, but it was an open ground by and large. The Prophet PBUH said, "Whose house of our family members is the closest to us?" (Remember, the Prophet PBUH had distant cousins in Madinah — his great-grandmother was a Madani [Banu Adi ibn al-Najjar].) So Khalid ibn Zayd (خالد بن زيد), who was also known as Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (أبو أيوب الأنصاري), said, "O Messenger of Allah, I am from the Banu al-Najjar" — Abu Ayyub is roughly the Prophet's 6th cousin. Remember, the Arabs memorized their lineage and genealogy. So because of this ancestry, the Prophet PBUH decided to live with him until his own house was built. (And this shows the rights of the relatives.)
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Staying at the House of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari
The Prophet PBUH lived at the house of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari for half a year while he waited for his own house and masjid to be built. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari was a relatively upper-middle-class man, and he had a two-storey house that could easily allow the Prophet PBUH, Abu Bakr RA, and some of the sahaba to live in. And so Abu Ayyub and his wife moved upstairs; the Prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr RA lived downstairs.
Ibn Hisham mentions: In the middle of one night, Abu Ayyub was sleeping, and in turning over, he knocked over a jar of water. And he became worried that the water would seep through the floor and drip onto the Prophet PBUH, so he woke his wife up and the two of them spent the entire night soaking up the water with their blankets.
In another narration in Musnad Imam Ahmad, it is mentioned that one evening, Abu Ayyub and his wife suddenly realized, "We are walking above the head of the Prophet PBUH!" meaning their feet were above the head of the Prophet PBUH and they felt that was inappropriate. So they sat with their feet withdrawn in for the entire night. The next morning, they go down to the Prophet PBUH and say, "O Messenger of Allah, please move up." The Prophet PBUH replied, "The bottom floor is easier for me," meaning, "You have more privacy. I have guests coming in here," etc. But Abu Ayyub said, "No, wallahi, O Messenger of Allah! We can never ever be on top of you, on a roof that your head is under." So, amazingly, they disobeyed the Prophet PBUH out of respect. So the Prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr RA for the bulk of their time stayed upstairs — they were downstairs only for a few weeks.
It's also narrated that Abu Ayyub and his wife would always cook the food, send the full dish up to the Prophet PBUH, and then eat the leftovers. When the leftovers were sent down, Abu Ayyub would ask, "Where did the Prophet PBUH eat from?" and he would eat from where the Prophet PBUH ate from. One day, the food came down untouched, so Abu Ayyub panicked — he rushed upstairs and asked, "O Messenger of Allah, what have I done? Is there something wrong?" The Prophet PBUH said, "No, but the food has garlic in it." Abu Ayyub asked, "Is garlic haram?" The Prophet PBUH said, "No. But I speak to those whom you do not speak to (i.e., the angels)." (Tangent: A lot of people in our time have misunderstandings that it is makruh [مكروه - disliked/discouraged] to eat garlic; but the correct understanding is, this discouragement is meant only for uncooked garlic, because it has a bad after-smell. If you grind it, cook it, etc., that removes the odor, so there is no problem. And even if you ate raw garlic, it is still halal. The reason the Prophet PBUH said, "Whoever eats garlic should not come to the masjid," was because the masjid is the place of angels. So if your breath is smelling really bad with garlic, then you should wait until the bad smell goes away. Otherwise, garlic is no issue cooked — and in our times, no one eats it raw anyway.)
So these are a few narrations about Abu Ayyub and his wife. And the Prophet PBUH stayed at his house for around 6 months.
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Building Masjid al-Nabawi
Back to the story of the camel: The camel sat down around a land that wasn't used for date palms, but used for drying the dates. The Prophet PBUH said, "Who does this land belong to?" And it's said it belonged to some orphans —Sahal and Suhayl (سهل وسهيل)— who inherited it from their father. They said, "O Messenger of Allah, this is a gift to Allah from us." The Prophet PBUH said, "No, I will only take it with its due price." And he negotiated a price with them and paid them the agreed money. Further, he ordered the date trees be cut down, and two corpses which were buried in the land to be dug up and buried elsewhere. This shows us the permissibility of digging up graves for a legitimate reason. This also shows us a fiqhi point: One may cut down the trees of the Haram for legitimate needs, e.g., construction work.
The very trees that the Prophet PBUH cut down, he used them to make the front and back walls of the masjid; and the other sides were built with clay bricks that the sahaba constructed. And the Prophet PBUH physically participated in the construction. He was a part of the line that was moving the bricks along. The sahaba told him to sit down, but the Prophet PBUH refused, and he built the masjid with them. And it's said the Prophet PBUH began saying lines of poetry/du'a at the time, "اللهم إنه لا خير إلا خير الآخرة * فارحم الأنصار والمهاجرة (O Allah, there is no good other than the good of the Hereafter; so have mercy on the Ansar and the Muhajirun)." They were all saying it together just to get the time to go by as they passed the bricks to one another. And it's reported in al-Bayhaqi's Dala'il that it took almost two weeks to build the masjid. For its time, it was very large. (Even for our time, it is quite big — if you go to the actual Rawdah [روضة], you get an idea it's a large place. Allah knows best, but some modern estimates have said the masjid was around 100×130 ft. [more of a square than a rectangle].)
We learn that there were at least three main doors to the masjid:
1. Southside: Bab al-Rahma (باب الرحمة - Door of Mercy)
1. Southside: Bab al-Rahma (باب الرحمة - Door of Mercy)
2. Westside: Bab Jibril (باب جبريل - Door of Gabriel)
3. Eastside: Bab al-Nisa' (باب النساء - Door of Women)
To this day, there are pillars that say, "Bab al-Rahma," "Bab Jibril," and "Bab al-Nisa'," exactly where they used to be. One door was assigned for women because Umar RA told the Prophet PBUH that men and women should not enter with the same door.
In addition to these, there were private entrances to the masjid. The three were public entrances, and there were at least half a dozen private entrances directly from houses on the other side of the walls of the masjid.
And we know Abu Bakr RA was one of those whose house was attached to the masjid. How do we know this? Because the Prophet PBUH, on his deathbed, said, "Every [private] door to the mosque should be closed/sealed from now on, except for the door of Abu Bakr" [see episode 101].
And we know Abu Bakr RA was one of those whose house was attached to the masjid. How do we know this? Because the Prophet PBUH, on his deathbed, said, "Every [private] door to the mosque should be closed/sealed from now on, except for the door of Abu Bakr" [see episode 101].
The Prophet's PBUH house (Aisha's house) was also connected to the masjid, separated only by a curtain.
The roof of the masjid was very low, and initially, the Prophet PBUH only covered one area of the masjid with a roof (the northern portion) which at the time was the one facing the qibla (Jerusalem). Later, when the qibla direction changed to Makkah (facing southward), the roofed area became the back of the masjid. And anyone who wanted to spend the day in the masjid would have to spend it under that shelter (otherwise, it gets too hot) — and so, that area was called al-Suffa (الصفة).
The Prophet PBUH eventually built a roof above the whole masjid; but it was a roof that was only to protect them from the sun (not coldness, rain, etc.). We know this for sure, because in Sahih Bukhari, it's stated that on the 22nd of Ramadan, probably in the 8 year of the Hijrah, it rained, and the entire masjid got muddy, but the Prophet PBUH still did full sujud, and when he came up, there was the traces of mud on his forehead and nose. This shows that the roof was leaking — it wasn't a solid roof.
The Prophet PBUH eventually built a roof above the whole masjid; but it was a roof that was only to protect them from the sun (not coldness, rain, etc.). We know this for sure, because in Sahih Bukhari, it's stated that on the 22nd of Ramadan, probably in the 8 year of the Hijrah, it rained, and the entire masjid got muddy, but the Prophet PBUH still did full sujud, and when he came up, there was the traces of mud on his forehead and nose. This shows that the roof was leaking — it wasn't a solid roof.
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Tangent: Expansions of Masjid al-Nabawi During Various Khilafat
In terms of expansion, Abu Bakr RA didn't touch the masjid during his reign. Umar RA was the first one to solidify it, put pillars of wood, and install a waterproof roof. He also expanded it by 10-15 rows. Then during Uthman's RA reign, he did a major expansion, by around 50%.
The next Umayyad khalifa a few generations down the line, al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (الوليد بن عبد الملك بن مروان), in approximately 96 AH, was the one who destroyed the entire old mosque and built a fully expensive, decorative, solid mosque. He was also the one to incorporate the grave of the Prophet PBUH and the house of Aisha RA inside the masjid. There is a common misconception/myth that 'the Prophet PBUH was buried in the masjid' — but this is not the case. The Prophet PBUH was buried in his house, and his house was outside the masjid (it was connected to the masjid, but was outside); and al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik was the one who incorporated the house of Aisha RA into the masjid. And he literally more than doubled the space of the masjid in all four directions. He is the only person in our entire history to do this. He added 15 rows including towards the direction of the qibla — so the original minbar (منبر - pulpit) of the Prophet PBUH is actually not where the imam prays right now in Madinah — the minbar is 15 rows back, which is why the imam does khutbah there, then walks through the crowd to lead the salah. Al-Walid also destroyed all the houses of the sahaba (except for Aisha's, because that's where the Prophet PBUH is buried). Of course, a number of tabi'un objected — Sa'id ibn Jubayr (سعيد بن جبير) said, "You are including the graves inside the masjid, but graves should not be in there!" Indeed, Islamically speaking, graves and masjid should be separate. Others objected as well — they said, "You are destroying the heritage of the Prophet PBUH and the Mothers of the Believers! Let these buildings remain so people can see how simply the Prophet PBUH lived!" But al-Walid had his reasons, and so all houses were destroyed other than the house of Aisha RA.
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Two of the Blessings of Masjid al-Nabawi
Of course, the blessings of the masjid are well known:
1) A prayer in Masjid al-Nabawi (مسجد النبوي - the Prophet's Mosque) is equal to 1,000 prayers anywhere else.
2) The Prophet PBUH said, "What is between my house and my minbar is one of the Riyad al-Jannah (رياض الجنة - Gardens of Jannah)." Scholars have differing interpretations: (i) Some say, that very land will be transferred to Jannah; (ii) Another more common interpretation is that worshiping Allah on that land will get you to Jannah. However, note that the blessing of the 1,000 prayers is for the entire masjid, and not just the Rawdah (روضة). The Rawdah is blessed for other reasons: doing dhikr (ذكر - remembrance of Allah), making du'a, etc.
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Story of the Crying Stump
We know that in the beginning (in the early portion of the Madinan period), one of the stumps of a tree was used for the Prophet's PBUH minbar. It was rather large that, in one hadith, it's said he would pray his salah on the stump to show the Ansar how to pray (and of course, he stepped down during sajdahs). And for a few years, the Prophet PBUH would give the khutbah on this stump. Then, in Sahih Muslim, it's said one time, the Prophet PBUH told one of the Ansari ladies who had a slave who was a carpenter to, "Tell your carpenter to make for me a [proper] minbar." So the carpenter made a minbar of three steps.
This narration is found both in Bukhari and Muslim — the sahaba narrated: "During the first khutbah that the Prophet PBUH gave on the new minbar (away from the tree stump), we began to hear a wailing/crying like that of a baby camel, and we found that the source of the noise was the stump. And the Prophet PBUH interrupted his khutbah, came down, and hugged the stump, and it sniffled and stopped crying." This is a miracle — Allah SWT allowed the sahaba to hear the emotions of the tree.
And Anas ibn Malik RA said the Prophet PBUH said, "If I hadn't hugged it, it would have cried until the Day of Judgment." Obviously, the tree is jealous that the Prophet PBUH has left him for another minbar. So the Prophet PBUH gave the tree its wish by digging it under his new minbar.
At this, al-Hasan al-Basri (الحسن البصري) (d. 110 AH), after narrating the hadith to his students, said, "O believers, look. This was a tree that was crying because it wished to be with the Prophet PBUH. Is it not more befitting that those of us who are man should cry even more to be with the Prophet PBUH?"
Note here the Prophet PBUH did not even build his own house until the House of Allah was built. He built the masjid first, and only then attention was turned to his own house.
Note here the Prophet PBUH did not even build his own house until the House of Allah was built. He built the masjid first, and only then attention was turned to his own house.
[Transcribed by Br. Safwan Khan & Faizan]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, November 2023]
safwan-khan@hotmail.com
[Re-revised by Br. Syed Haq & MAR, November 2023]
