Construction of The Prophets Mosque

The Prophet (peace be upon him) sent for the two boys who owned the date-store and asked them to name the price of the yard. They answered, Nay, but we shall make thee a gift of it, O Prophet of Allah! The Prophet (peace be upon him), however, refused their offer, paid them its price and built a mosque from there. (39)

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself carried the unburned bricks for construction of the building along with the other Muslims. He is reported to have recited as he worked.

 

O Allah! The true reward is the reward of the hereafter, have mercy O Allah on the Ansaars and Mujajirun. (Ibn Kathir, Vol. II, p. 251)

 

Overjoyed to see the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) invoking blessings on them, the Muslims, too, sang and thanked Allah.

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) lived in the house of Abu Ayyub Ansaari for seven months. (Ibn Kathir, Vol. II, p. 279)

 

In the meantime, the construction of the mosque and dwelling place for the Prophets family (May Allah be pleased with them) was already completed and so he moved to live in his house.

 

The Muslims who had been restrained from migration by the polytheist of Makkah, continued to emigrate to Madinah until the only ones left there were those who were either forcibly detained or had apostatized. On the other hand, not a house of Ansaar was left without the people having sworn allegiance to Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him). (Ibn Hisham, Vol. I, pp. 499-500).

 

BONDS OF BROTHERHOOD BETWEEN THE ANSAARS AND MUHAAJIRIN

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) established bonds of brotherhood between the Muhaajirun and the Ansaar putting them under an agreement and obligation to mutual welfare, benevolence and assistance. Each Ansaari took a Muhaajir brother where the former went so far as to give his Muhaajir brother half of whatever he possessed in the form of houses, assets, lands and groves. Such was the enthusiasm of the Ansaars to share everything with their brothers-in-faith that they divided everything into two parts to draw lots for allocating their share. In most cases, they tried to give the Muhaajirun the fairer portion of their property.

 

An Ansaari would say to his migrant brother Behold, I shall divide my possessions into two halves. And I have two wives, thou see whichever of the two pleaseth thee better, and tell me her name. I shall divorce her and thou wed her. The Muhaajir would answer, Bless thee Allah in thy family and thy possession! Just tell me, where is the market?

 

The Ansaar were magnanimous and self-denying and the Muhaajir forbearing, self-reliant."(40)

 

COVENANT BETWEEN THE MUSLIMS AND THE JEWS

 

Shortly thereafter, the Prophet (peace be upon him) got a written document, which bound the Muhaajirun and the Ansaars to a friendly agreement. The covenant made the Jews a party to the treaty that guarantees them the freedom of their rights and obligations. (Ibn Hisham, Vol. p. 501)

 

 

THE CALL TO PRAYER

 

After the Prophet (peace be upon him) had settled down and Islam was deeply entrenched in the soil of Madinah, the mode of calling the faithful to prayer caught the attention of the Prophet (peace be upon him). He disliked the customs of the Jews and Christians such as kindling fire or the use of bell and horn to summon the people to such a spiritual obligation. Initially, the Muslims used to come by themselves for prayer at the scheduled time without any announcement or call at all. While different proposals were being considered, Allah guided the Muslims to the method of giving the call to prayer. A number of companions had a vision of the call in their dreams, which was approved by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and prescribed as the official procedure of assembling the Muslims for such a worship act. Bilal Ibn Rabah (radiallahu 'anhu) was entrusted by the Prophet (peace be upon him) to give the call to prayer and thus he came to be known as the muadhin of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the leader of all those who would call the faithful to prayer till the end of time.