Home > Sira > The First Year of the Prophetic Hijra
The year 1 of the Hijra: the Hijri calendar, the mosque of Qouba, the Islam of Abdallah ibn Salam, the first Friday prayer, the building of the Prophet's mosque, the fever of Medina, the covenant with the Jews and the brotherhood of the emigrants and the Ansar.
Updated on 07 September 2026 at 11:07 PM
The companions agreed, in the sixteenth year of the caliphate of Oumar, or the seventeenth or eighteenth according to others, to make the Islamic era begin with the year of the Hijra. A deed, that is, a document of debt, was brought to Oumar, may Allah be pleased with him, against a man, falling due in Cha’bane. Oumar asked: which Cha’bane? That of the year we are in, of the past year, or of the coming year? He then gathered the companions and consulted them on establishing a calendar by which they would know the due dates of debts and the rest. One proposed: date according to the calendars of the Persians, who dated by their kings, one after another: he disliked that. Another proposed: date by the calendar of the Romans, who dated by the reign of Alexander son of Philip of Macedonia: he disliked that too. Others said: date by the birth of the Messenger of Allah; others: rather by his prophetic mission; others: rather by his emigration; others: rather by his death. Oumar inclined to dating from the Hijra, on account of its prominence and fame, and they agreed with him.
The Boukhari reports, in the chapter on the calendar and when it was established, through Sahl ibn Sa’d: they did not count from the Prophet’s mission nor from his death, but counted only from his arrival in Medina. The Waqidi reports that Oumar consulted the people on dating and that they agreed upon the Hijra. Abou Dawoud at-Tayalisi reports through Ibn Sirine that a man came to Oumar and said: establish a calendar. He said: date what? The man said: it is a custom of the non-Arabs: they write in such a month of such a year. Oumar said: that is good, so date. They asked: from which year do we begin? They proposed his mission, they proposed his death, then they agreed upon the Hijra. They then asked: from which month do we begin? They proposed the Ramadhan, then the Mouharram, because it is the month in which the people return from their pilgrimage, and it is a sacred month. So they agreed upon the Mouharram. Ibn Jarir reports that Ibn Abbas said of the words of the Most High: by the dawn and the ten nights (al-Fajr, 1-2), that it was the Mouharram, the dawn of the year. Oubayd ibn Oumayr reports that the Mouharram is the month of Allah, the first of the year: in it the House is clothed in its garment, the people date their writings by it, and in it silver is struck.
Imam Ahmad reports through Amr ibn Dinars that the first to date written documents was Ya’la ibn Oumayya in Yemen, and that the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina in Rabi’ al-Awwal, and the people made that the beginning of the year. Mohamed ibn Ishaq reports, from az-Zouhri and from ach-Cha’bi, that the descendants of Ismaïl first dated from the fire of Abraham, then from the building of the House by Abraham and Ismaïl, then from the death of Ka’b ibn Louayy, then from the Year of the Elephant, and that finally Oumar ibn al-Khattab dated from the Hijra, in the year sixteen or seventeen. This topic has been treated with its chains in the Sira Omariyya. The companions thus made the Islamic era begin with the year of the Hijra and, according to what became known of them, made the Mouharram its beginning: that is the view of the majority of the imams. As-Souhayli reports from Imam Malik that he held the beginning of the Islamic year to be Rabi’ al-Awwal, because it is the month in which the Messenger of Allah emigrated, citing the words of the Most High: a mosque founded upon piety from the first day (at-Tawba, 108), that is, from the first day of the Prophet’s entry into Medina. That view is fitting, but practice proceeded contrary to it: because the Mouharram is the first of the months of the Arabs, they made the year of the Hijra the first year and its beginning the Mouharram, so that the order might not be confused. And Allah is most knowing.
The blessed year of the Hijra opened while the Messenger of Allah was still residing in Mecca, after receiving from the Ansar the pledge of the second Aqaba, in the middle of the days of at-tachriq, on the night of the twelfth of Dhoul-Hijja, before the year of the Hijra. The Ansar departed, the Messenger of Allah permitted the Muslims to emigrate to Medina, and there emigrated all of his companions who could, until none remained in Mecca but he. Abou Bakr held himself back with the Messenger of Allah to accompany him on the road. Then the two set out, and Ali ibn Abi Talib remained behind the Prophet by his command, to return the deposits entrusted to him, and then joined them at Qouba. The Messenger of Allah arrived on a Monday, near midday, when the heat was intense.
The Waqidi reports that this was after two nights of the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal had passed. Ibn Ishaq also reports it, but inclines rather to twelve nights having passed: that is the well-known view adopted by the majority. The duration of the Prophet’s stay in Mecca after his mission was, in the soundest view, thirteen years: that is the version of Hammad ibn Salama, from Abou Jamra ad-Dou’bi, from Ibn Abbas: the Messenger of Allah was sent at forty years of age and remained in Mecca thirteen years. Ibn Jarir also reports it from Amr ibn Dinars, from Ibn Abbas. It has already been mentioned that Ibn Abbas cited the verses of Sirmat bint Abi Anas: He dwelt among Quraysh ten and some pilgrim seasons. The Waqidi reports, from Ikrima, from Ibn Abbas, that he cited this same verse as evidence. Ibn Jarir also reports a version with fifteen seasons: a very strange claim.
Stranger still is what Ibn Jarir reports from Qatada: the Quran came down upon the Messenger of Allah eight years in Mecca and ten in Medina. Al-Hasan, however, said: ten in Mecca and ten in Medina. This second view, that of al-Hasan al-Basri, was also held by Anas ibn Malik, Aïcha, Sa’id ibn al-Moussayyab and Amr ibn Dinars. It rests on a version from Ibn Abbas: the Prophet received revelation at forty-three years of age, and remained in Mecca ten years. It is also reported from ach-Cha’bi that Israfil attended the Messenger of Allah for three years, conveying the word to him; in one version: he heard his breath but did not see his person; then afterward came Jibril. The Waqidi reports that some of his elders rejected the claim of ach-Cha’bi. Ibn Jarir attempted to reconcile the views of ten and of thirteen by what ach-Cha’bi had said. And Allah is most knowing.
When the prophetic rider’s mount was set down in Medina, the first halt was in the house of the Banu Amr ibn Awf, that is, Qouba. He stayed there, by the most widely reported account, twenty-two nights; it is said eighteen nights; it is said ten and some; Moussa ibn Oqba said three nights. The best known is what Ibn Ishaq mentioned: that he remained at Qouba from Monday to Friday. In that debated span he founded the mosque of Qouba. As-Souhayli claims that the Messenger of Allah founded it on the first day of his arrival, leaning on the words of the Most High: a mosque founded upon piety from the first day. That mosque is noble and eminent: upon it descended the words of the Most High: a mosque founded upon piety from the first day is more worthy that you stand in it: therein are men who love to purify themselves, and Allah loves those who purify themselves (at-Tawba, 108), as we have established in the tafsir.
Imam Ahmad reports through Chourahbil, from Ouwaym ibn Sa’ida, that the Messenger of Allah came to them in the mosque of Qouba and said: "Allah has praised you in goodness for your purification in the story of your mosque. What is this purification by which you purify yourselves?" They said: by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, we know of nothing except that we had neighbours among the Jews, who washed themselves after relieving themselves, and we washed as they washed. Ibn Khuzayma reported it in his Sahih, and it has other supporting reports. Abou Dawoud, the Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah report through Younous ibn al-Harith, from Ibrahim ibn Abi Maymouna, from Abou Hourayra, that the words: therein are men who love to purify themselves, descended concerning the people of Qouba, who purified themselves with water; the Tirmidhi said: strange by this route. We say: Younous ibn al-Harith is weak.
As for those who said the mosque founded upon piety was that of Qouba, they include Abd ar-Razzaq from Ma’mar, from az-Zouhri, from Urwa ibn az-Zoubayr, Ali ibn Abi Talha from Ibn Abbas, as well as ach-Cha’bi, al-Hasan al-Basri, Qatada, Sa’id ibn Joubayr, Atiyya al-Awfi and Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam. The Prophet used to visit it afterward and pray in it, coming to Qouba every Saturday, sometimes riding and sometimes on foot. It is related in the hadith: a prayer in the mosque of Qouba equals an Umra. And it is related that Jibril pointed out to the Prophet the qibla of the mosque of Qouba. This mosque was thus the first mosque built in Islam in Medina, indeed the first mosque established for all people in this faith. We add this qualification to distinguish it from the mosque the Truthful One built in Mecca at the door of his dwelling, in which he worshipped and prayed: for that one was for his own private use, not for people in general. And Allah is most knowing.
The Islam of Salman the Persian has already been related among the glad tidings announcing the emigration: when he heard of the Messenger of Allah’s arrival in Medina he went to him at Qouba, bringing food, and said: this is charity. The Messenger of Allah held back and did not eat, and ordered his companions to eat of it. Then Salman came another time with food and said: this is a gift, and the Prophet ate of it and had his companions eat, as the long hadith has already been related.
Imam Ahmad reports through Zurara, from Abdallah ibn Salam himself: when the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina, the people hurried to him, and I was among them. When I discerned his face I knew it was not the face of a liar. The first words I heard him say were: "O people, spread the greeting of peace, feed the hungry, uphold the ties of kinship, and pray by night while people sleep: you will enter Paradise in peace." The Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah reported it by similar chains, and the Tirmidhi declared it authentic.
In the Sahih of the Boukhari, through Abd al-Aziz, from Anas: when the Prophet arrived, Abdallah ibn Salam came and said: I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah and that you have come with truth. The Jews know that I am their lord and the son of their lord, the most knowing among them and the son of their most knowing. Call them therefore and ask them about me before they know that I have embraced Islam: if they learn of my conversion they will say of me what is not true. The Prophet sent for the Jews, who came to him. He said to them: "O assembly of Jews, woe to you! Fear Allah. By Him besides whom there is no deity, you know certainly that I am the Messenger of Allah in truth, and that I have come to you with truth: so embrace Islam." They said: we have no knowledge of that. They said it to the Prophet three times. He said: "What kind of man is Abdallah ibn Salam among you?" They said: he is our lord and the son of our lord, our most knowing and the son of our most knowing. He said: "And if you saw him embrace Islam?" They said: Allah forbid! He would not do such a thing. He said: "O ibn Salam, come out before them." He came out and said: O assembly of Jews, fear Allah! By Him besides whom there is no deity, you know that he is the Messenger of Allah and that he has come with truth. They said: you lie. The Messenger of Allah dismissed them.
The Bayhaqi reports, through Anas, that Abdallah ibn Salam, hearing of the Prophet’s arrival while on his land, came to the Prophet and said: I will ask you about three things which none but a prophet knows. What is the first of the signs of the Hour? What is the first food the people of Paradise will eat? And why does a child resemble his father, and why does another resemble his mother? The Prophet said: "Jibril taught me these just recently." He said: Jibril? He said: yes. He said: Jibril, the enemy of the Jews among the angels! Thereupon the Prophet recited: whoever takes Jibril for an enemy, he it is who brought it down upon your heart by the permission of Allah (al-Baqara, 97). Then he said: "As for the first of the signs of the Hour, it is a fire that will go out from the east to the west gathering the people; as for the first food the people of Paradise will eat, it is the extra lobes of the liver of the fish; and as for the child, if the water of the man precedes the water of the woman, the child will resemble the father, and if the water of the woman precedes, the child will resemble the mother."
He said: I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah. The Jews are a people of slander: if they learn of my conversion before you ask them about me, they will slander me. The Jews came, and the Prophet said: "What kind of man is Abdallah among you?" They said: the best of us and the son of our best, our lord and the son of our lord. He said: "And if you saw him embrace Islam?" They said: Allah preserve him from that! Abdallah came out and said: I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, and that Mohamed is the Messenger of Allah. They said: the worst of us and the son of the worst, and they belittled him. He said: this is what I feared, O Messenger of Allah.
Ibn Ishaq reports, from a man of the family of Abdallah ibn Salam, his words at the time of his conversion, when he was a learned rabbi: when I heard of the coming of the Messenger of Allah, and recognised his description, his name and his appearance, and that toward which we extended our hands in hope, I kept it secret within me. When he entered Medina and stopped at Qouba among the Banu Amr ibn Awf, a man came announcing his arrival, while I was at the top of one of my palm trees at work, and my paternal aunt Khalida bint al-Harith sat below me. When I heard the news of the Messenger of Allah’s arrival, I cried out Allah is great! My aunt said: no good will come to you; you have heard of Moussa, and now more! I said to her: O my aunt, by Allah, he is the brother of Moussa and was sent in his religion. She said: O son of my sister, is he the one of whom we were told he would be sent at the end of time? I said: yes. She said: then that is he. I went out to the Messenger of Allah, embraced Islam, then returned to my family and had them embrace Islam, concealing my Islam from the Jews. I said: O Messenger of Allah, the Jews are a people of slander, and I wish you to hide me in one of your houses, away from them, and then to ask them about me, so that they may tell you what I am among them before they learn of my conversion; for if they learn of it they will slander me and revile me. He did as I had requested; I made my Islam and that of my household manifest, and my aunt Khalida bint al-Harith embraced Islam.
Younous ibn Boukayr reports from Ibn Ishaq, from Safiyya bint Houyayy: no child of my father and my uncle was ever dearer to them than I, and never did I run to them among their children but they received me kindly. When the Messenger of Allah arrived at Qouba, the village of the Banu Amr ibn Awf, my father and my uncle Abou Yasir ibn Akhtab went to him early in the morning, and by Allah they did not return to us until the sun had set, both worn out, dragging their feet. I ran to them as I was accustomed to do, but by Allah not one of them looked at me. I heard my uncle Abou Yasir say to my father: is it he? He said: yes, by Allah. He said: do you recognise him with your own eyes? He said: yes, by Allah. He said: then what is in your heart concerning him? He said: enmity toward him, by Allah, so long as I have a breath left.
Moussa ibn Oqba reports from az-Zouhri that Abou Yasir ibn Akhtab, when the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina, went to him, listened to him, questioned him, then returned to his people and said: O my people, obey me: Allah has brought you what you were waiting for, so follow him and do not oppose him. His brother Houyayy ibn Akhtab, at that time the lord of the Jews, both of them of the Banu an-Nadir, sat with the Messenger of Allah, listened to him, then returned to his people, whose obedience he possessed, and said: I come from a man, by Allah, whose enemy I shall never cease to be. His brother Abou Yasir said to him: O brother of my mother, obey me in this matter and disobey me in whatever you wish after it: do not perish. He said: by Allah, I shall never obey you. The devil gained mastery over him, and his people followed his counsel. As for Abou Yasir ibn Akhtab, we do not know how his affair ended; as for Houyayy ibn Akhtab, father of Safiyya, he drank deeply of enmity toward the Prophet and his companions, and it remained his habit until he was slain, patient in his obstinacy, before the Messenger of Allah on the day of the execution of the Banu Qurayza, as will come in its place.
When the Prophet left Qouba riding his she-camel al-Qaswa, it was a Friday, and the time of midday overtook him in the house of the Banu Salim ibn Awf: there he prayed the Friday prayer with the Muslims, in a valley called the valley of Ranouna. It was the first Friday prayer the Messenger of Allah prayed with the Muslims in Medina, or without restriction: for in Mecca he and his companions could not gather to hold a Friday prayer with sermon and public exhortation, because of the opposition of the polytheists and their persecution.
Ibn Jarir reports what reached him of the Prophet’s sermon on that first Friday among the Banu Salim ibn Awf: "Praise belongs to Allah: I praise Him, seek His aid, His forgiveness and His guidance, I believe in Him without denying Him, and I declare enmity against whoever denies Him. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, alone without partner, and that Mohamed is His servant and His messenger: He sent him with guidance, light and exhortation, after a break in the messengers, a scarcity of knowledge and the straying of men, at the approach of the Hour and the nearness of the term. Whoever obeys Allah and His messenger is rightly guided, and whoever disobeys the two of them has strayed far astray. I counsel you the fear of Allah: there is no better counsel from a Muslim to a Muslim than to urge him toward the Hereafter and command him the fear of Allah. Beware then of that of which Allah has warned you concerning Himself: there is no better counsel than that, no nobler reminder. It is fear for whoever acts upon it in awe and dread a sincere aid in what you seek of the affair of the Hereafter; and whoever sets right what is between him and Allah, in secret and in public, intending thereby only the Face of Allah, gains thereby a remembrance in the near term of his life and a store for after death, when man is in need of what he sent ahead, while the rest would have him wish for a long respite between him and it.
Allah warns you of Himself, and Allah is gentle with the servants, true in His word and fulfilling His promise, without failing therein: for He the Most High says: no change is there in the words of Allah, and I am not unjust to the servants. Fear Allah in the near and the far of your affairs, in secret and in open: whoever fears Allah, He expiates his evil deeds and magnifies his reward, and whoever fears Allah has won a mighty triumph. The fear of Allah wards off His hatred, His punishment and His wrath; it whitens the face, pleases the Lord and raises the degree. Take your portion, and do not neglect the side of Allah: He has taught you His Book and cleared for you His path, that the truthful may be known and the liars known. Be excellent as Allah has been excellent to you, fight His enemies, and strive in Allah the striving due to Him: He has chosen you and named you Muslims, that he who would perish might perish after clear evidence, and he who would live might live after clear evidence. There is no might but in Allah: remember Allah much and work for what follows death; for whoever sets right what is between him and Allah, Allah suffices him regarding what is between him and the people. Allah decrees upon the people and they do not decree upon Him, and He owns them and they own nothing of Him. Allah is greater, and there is no might but in Allah, the Most High, the Magnificent." Such is that sermon as Ibn Jarir relates it, in a discontinuous chain.
The Bayhaqi reports from Ibn Ishaq, from Abou Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf, that the first sermon the Messenger of Allah delivered in Medina was this: he stood, praised Allah as He deserves, then said: "O people, send ahead for yourselves: by Allah, one of you will surely be made deaf, then leave his flock without a shepherd, then his Lord will say to him, with no interpreter before him and no veil to conceal Him: did My messenger not come to you and convey to you, and did I not give you wealth and favour you, and what did you send ahead for yourself? He will look right and left and see nothing, then look before him and see nothing but the Gehenna. Whoever can protect his face from the Fire, even with half a date, let him do so; and whoever finds nothing, with a good word: for the good word is rewarded tenfold up to seven hundred times." Then the Messenger of Allah stood again and said: "Praise belongs to Allah: I praise Him and seek His aid, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and the sins of our deeds:
whoever Allah guides none can lead astray, and whoever He leads astray none can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, alone without partner. The best of speech is the Book of Allah: blessed is he whom Allah beautifies with it in his heart, whom He brings into Islam after disbelief, and whom He prefers to all other speech of men; it is the best of speech and the most eloquent. Love him whom Allah loves; love Allah with all your hearts, do not grow weary of the word of Allah and His remembrance, and let not your hearts harden against Him: for Allah chooses and prefers of everything, and names His chosen among deeds, among servants and among upright speech. Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, fear Him as He should be feared, be true to Allah in what your mouths utter, and love one another by the spirit of Allah: Allah becomes angry when His covenant is broken." Both routes are discontinuous, but they strengthen one another despite the difference of wording.
The length of the Prophet’s stay in the house of Abou Ayyoub was debated: the Waqidi says seven months, others say less than a month. And Allah is most knowing. The Boukhari reports through Anas ibn Malik: when the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina, he stopped in the upper part of the city among a clan called the Banu Amr ibn Awf, and stayed with them fourteen nights. Then he sent for the notables of the Banu an-Najjar, who came girded with their swords. Anas said: I still picture the Messenger of Allah upon his mount with Abou Bakr behind him and the notables of the Banu an-Najjar around him, until he alighted in the courtyard of Abou Ayyoub. He prayed wherever the prayer overtook him, even in the sheep-folds, then ordered the mosque built and sent for the Banu an-Najjar, who came. He said: "O sons of Najjar, sell me this garden." They said: no, by Allah, we seek its price only from Allah. The garden held graves of the polytheists, ruins and palm trees: the Messenger of Allah ordered the graves of the polytheists dug up, the ruins levelled, and the palm trees cut. The palm branches were set in rows toward the qibla of the mosque, and stones were taken for the pillars. The men carried the stone chanting: "O Allah, there is no good but the good of the Hereafter: so grant victory to the Ansar and the emigrants"; and the Messenger of Allah, among them, said: "O Allah, the reward is indeed the reward of the Hereafter: have mercy on the Ansar and the emigrants."
The Boukhari also reports from az-Zouhri, from Urwa, that the mosque was a mirbad, that is, a date-drying floor, belonging to two orphans under the guardianship of As’ad ibn Zurara, named Sahl and Souhayl: the Messenger of Allah offered them a price, and they said: rather we give it as alms to the Messenger of Allah. He refused until he had bought it from them and built it as a mosque. As he carried the dust with them he said: "This burden, no burden of Khaybar: this is more upright of our Lord and purer." And he said: "O Allah, the reward is indeed the reward of the Hereafter: have mercy on the Ansar and the emigrants." Moussa ibn Oqba reports that As’ad ibn Zurara compensated the two boys with palm trees he owned among the Banu Bayada; it is also said that the Messenger of Allah bought it from them.
Ibn Ishaq says the drying floor belonged to two orphan boys under the guardianship of Mou’adh ibn Afra’: Allah is most knowing. The Bayhaqi reports from al-Hasan al-Basri: when the Messenger of Allah built the mosque, his companions helped him at it, and he carried the clay bricks with them until his chest was covered in dust, and he said: "Build it a shelter like the shelter of Moussa." It was asked: what was the shelter of Moussa? He said: "When he raised his hands, he reached its roof." That route is discontinuous. Ubada ibn as-Samit also reports that the Ansar brought their wealth to the Prophet saying: O Messenger of Allah, build this mosque and adorn it; how long shall we pray under these palm branches? He said: "I have no disinclination toward my brother Moussa: a shelter like the shelter of Moussa." That hadith is strange.
Abou Dawoud reports through Ibn Omar that the walls of the Prophet’s mosque in the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah were of palm trunks, its roof of palm branches; then it collapsed in the caliphate of Abou Bakr, who rebuilt it of trunks and palm branches; then it collapsed in the caliphate of Outhman, who rebuilt it of fired brick: and it stood firm until that day. That account is strange. He also reports, through the route of Nafi’, from Ibn Omar, another version: the mosque in the time of the Prophet was built of unbaked brick, its roof of palm branches and its columns of palm wood; Abou Bakr added nothing; Oumar enlarged it, building upon the Prophet’s construction with unbaked brick and palm branches, and renewed the columns in wood; Outhman changed it, enlarged it greatly, built its walls of dressed stone and teak, made its columns of dressed stone and its roof of sâj. The Boukhari reports this second version through Ali ibn al-Madini, from Ya’qoub ibn Ibrahim.
We say: Outhman ibn Affan interpreted thereby the word of the Prophet: "Whoever builds a mosque for Allah, even like the nest of a quail, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise": the companions present agreed with him and changed nothing after him. From this is inferred the view of the scholars judged prevalent: the enlargement takes the ruling of the first building, so that the ruling of the added part is that of the rest of the mosque, including the lesser reward for prayer in it and the desirability of travel to it. It was enlarged in the time of al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik, builder of the mosque of Damascus: the enlargement was carried out by his command by Omar ibn Abd al-Aziz, then governor of Medina, who incorporated the prophetic chamber into it; then came many further enlargements, especially on the side of the qibla, until the garden and the minbar came to lie behind the first rows, as is witnessed today.
Ibn Ishaq reports that the Messenger of Allah stayed with Abou Ayyoub until he had built his mosque and his dwellings, and that the Messenger of Allah himself worked at the mosque to encourage the Muslims to work at it: the emigrants and the Ansar worked at it with diligence, and one of the Muslims said: "If we sat idle while the Prophet works, that would be of us a straying deed." The Muslims chanted as they built: "There is no life but the life of the Hereafter: O Allah, have mercy on the Ansar and the emigrants." And the Messenger of Allah said: "There is no life but the life of the Hereafter: O Allah, have mercy on the emigrants and the Ansar." Ammar ibn Yasir came in loaded heavily with bricks and said: O Messenger of Allah, they have killed me: they load me what they do not carry! Oum Salama reports that she saw the Messenger of Allah brush the dust from his chest with his hand, for he was a curly-haired man, saying: "Woe to ibn Soumayya! It is not they who will kill him, but the rebellious party." This version has a gap, even a difficulty; Mouslim connects it in his Sahih through Chou’ba, from Khalid al-Hadhdha, from Sa’id and al-Hasan, the sons of Abou l-Hasan al-Basri, from their mother Khayra, the freedwoman of Oum Salama, who reported from Oum Salama that the Messenger of Allah said:
"Ammar will be killed by the rebellious party." She also reports, through another route, that he said to him as he carried the stones: "Woe to you, O ibn Soumayya: the rebellious party will kill you." Abd ar-Razzaq reports from al-Hasan, who reports from his mother, from Oum Salama: while the Messenger of Allah and his companions were building the mosque, each of the Prophet’s companions carried one brick, and Ammar carried two, one for himself and one for the Prophet. The Prophet wiped his back and said: "O ibn Soumayya, the people have one reward, and you two: your last provision in this world will be a draught of milk, and the rebellious party will kill you." That chain meets the condition of the two Sahihs. The Bayhaqi also reports through Khalid al-Hadhdha, from Ikrima, from Abou Sa’id al-Khoudri: we carried one brick each in building the mosque, and Ammar carried two; the Prophet, seeing him, kept brushing the dust off him and saying: "Woe to Ammar! The rebellious party will kill him: he calls them to Paradise and they call him to the Fire." Ammar would say: I seek refuge in Allah from trials. The Imam al-Boukhari, however, reported this hadith without the words "the rebellious party will kill you".
The Bayhaqi says: it seems he omitted it because of what Mouslim reports, from Abou Nadra, from Abou Sa’id: he who is better than I informed me, namely Abou Qatada, that the Messenger of Allah said to Ammar while he was digging the trench, wiping his head: "Woe to ibn Soumayya: a rebellious party will kill him." The Bayhaqi distinguishes what Abou Sa’id heard himself from what he heard from his companions, and holds that the reference to the trench is an error of the transmitter, or that the Prophet said it to him both in building the mosque and in digging the trench. We say: carrying bricks while digging the trench makes no sense: the apparent conclusion is that the transmitter became confused. And Allah is most knowing. This hadith is among the proofs of prophethood: the Prophet announced that a rebellious party would kill Ammar, and the people of Syria killed him at the battle of Siffin, Ammar being then with Ali and the people of Iraq. Ali did indeed have more right than Mouawiya, and naming the companions of Mouawiya aggressors does not imply declaring them unbelievers, contrary to what the ignorant of the deviant sect of the Shiites and their like try to claim:
for though they were aggressors in the essence of the matter, they strove as jurists in the fighting they undertook; and not every jurist reaches the truth: the just jurist has two rewards, and the one who errs has one. As for whoever adds after "the rebellious party will kill you" the words "may Allah not grant it my intercession on the Day of Resurrection", he has fabricated against the Messenger of Allah in this addition: for the Prophet never said it, since it was not transmitted by any acceptable route. As for the words "he calls them to Paradise and they call him to the Fire", Ammar and his companions called the people of Syria to concord and unity, while the people of Syria wished to appropriate command at the expense of the one more entitled to it, and to have the people divided under every banner an imam: which leads to the splitting of the word and the division of the community; it follows from their method even if they did not intend it. And Allah is most knowing.
The purpose here is only the story of the building of the Prophet’s mosque, upon its builder the best prayer and salutation. The hafiz al-Bayhaqi reports in the proofs, through Sa’id ibn Jouhan, from Safina, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah: Abou Bakr came with a stone and set it down, then Oumar came with a stone and set it down, then Outhman came with a stone and set it down, and the Messenger of Allah said: "These are the stewards of affairs after me." He reports another version in which the Prophet himself commanded Abou Bakr to set a stone beside his, then Oumar beside that of Abou Bakr, then Outhman beside that of Oumar, then said: "These are the caliphs after me." That hadith, in that form, is very strange. What is well known is the report of Imam Ahmad, through Sa’id ibn Jouhan, from Safina, that the Messenger of Allah said: "The caliphate after me will last thirty years, then there will be kingship." Safina added: "Retain this: two years the caliphate of Abou Bakr, ten years that of Oumar, twelve years that of Outhman, and six years that of Ali." Abou Dawoud, the Tirmidhi and an-Nasa’i reported it, and the Tirmidhi said: a good hadith which we know only by his route, in the wording: "The caliphate after me thirty years, then biting kingship."
The mosque of the Prophet had, at its founding, no minbar from which the Prophet addressed the people: he would address the people leaning against a palm trunk beside his place of prayer, in the wall of the qibla. When a minbar was made for him, as will be explained in its place, and he turned to it to preach, leaving that trunk, the trunk groaned with a moaning like the moaning of a she-camel whose milk has run dry, because of what it used to hear of the discourses of the Messenger. The Prophet returned to it, embraced it until it quieted, as a newborn is quieted, as will be detailed through the routes of Sahl ibn Sa’d, Jabir, Ibn Omar, Ibn Abbas, Anas and Oum Salama. And how beautiful the words of al-Hasan al-Basri after relating this hadith from Anas ibn Malik: O assembly of Muslims, the wood longed for the Messenger of Allah out of yearning for him; are not the men who hope to meet him more entitled to long for him?
Imam Ahmad reports through Abou Sa’id al-Khoudri that two men disputed over the mosque founded upon piety: a man of the Banu Khudra said it was the mosque of the Messenger of Allah, and a man of the Banu Amr ibn Awf said it was the mosque of Qouba. They came to the Messenger of Allah and asked him, and he said: "It is this mosque," meaning the mosque of the Messenger of Allah, then said: "Therein is much good," meaning the mosque of Qouba. The Tirmidhi reported it and declared it good and authentic. The Tirmidhi and an-Nasa’i report, through Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Sa’id, from his father, the same dispute. In the Sahih of Mouslim, through Houmayd al-Kharrat, from Abou Salama ibn Abd ar-Rahman: he asked Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi Sa’id how his father related the matter of the mosque founded upon piety. He said: my father came to the Messenger of Allah and asked him about the mosque founded upon piety; the Prophet took a handful of pebbles, struck them against the ground, then said: "It is this mosque of yours." Ahmad also reports through Sahl ibn Sa’d the same dispute and answer, and through Ubayy ibn Ka’b that the Prophet said:
"The mosque founded upon piety is this mosque of mine." These multiple routes perhaps approach certainty that it is the mosque of the Messenger: that is also the view of Oumar, of his son Abdallah, of Zayd ibn Thabit and of Sa’id ibn al-Moussayyab, and Ibn Jarir preferred it. Others said there is no incompatibility between the descent of the verse concerning the mosque of Qouba and these hadiths: for the Prophet’s mosque is more worthy still of that description, being one of the three mosques toward which journeys are undertaken, as established in the two Sahihs from Abou Hourayra: "Do not set out on journeys except to three mosques: this mosque of mine, the Sacred Mosque, and the mosque of Bayt al-Maqdis." It is established in the two Sahihs that the Messenger of Allah said: "A prayer in this mosque of mine is better than a thousand prayers elsewhere, except the Sacred Mosque." In the Mousnad of Ahmad is added, by a good chain: "for that is superior." And in the two Sahihs, from Abou Hourayra: "Between my house and my minbar lies a garden of the gardens of Paradise, and my minbar is upon my pool." The hadiths on the merits of this noble mosque are very many.
It is related that Imam Malik and his companions held that the mosque of Medina is superior to the Sacred Mosque: because the latter was built by Abraham and the former by Mohamed, and Mohamed, it is known, is superior to Abraham. The majority of scholars, however, held the contrary, establishing that the Sacred Mosque is superior: for it stands in a city which Allah declared sacred on the day He created the heavens and the earth, which Abraham the Friend declared sacred, and which Mohamed, seal of the messengers, declared sacred: thus there are gathered in it attributes found in no other. This question has a fuller treatment elsewhere. And upon Allah we call for aid.
There were built for the Messenger of Allah, around his noble mosque, chambers to serve as dwellings for him and his family. They were dwellings low of structure, with narrow courtyards. Al-Hasan al-Basri, who was a boy with his mother Khayra, freedwoman of Oum Salama, said: I could reach the highest ceiling of the chambers of the Prophet with my hand, and he was a big, tall boy. As-Souhayli relates in the Rawd that his dwellings were built of palm branches coated with mud, some of dressed stone, all their roofs of palm branches; he also relates from al-Hasan that the chambers were of hair bound with boards of ar’ar wood. In the Tarikh of the Boukhari, the door of the Prophet was knocked upon with the fingernails: evidence that his doors had no rings. All the chambers were annexed to the mosque after the death of the wives of the Messenger of Allah.
The Waqidi and Ibn Jarir report that when Abdallah ibn Ourayqit ad-Dayli returned to Mecca, the Messenger of Allah and Abou Bakr sent with him Zayd ibn Haritha and Abou Rafi’, freedmen of the Prophet, to bring back their families from Mecca, and entrusted them with two loads and five hundred dirhams to buy camels at Qoudayd. They returned with the two daughters of the Prophet, Fatima and Oum Koulthoum, his two wives Sawda and Aïcha, the mother of the latter Oum Roumane, and the household of the Prophet and of the family of Abou Bakr, in the company of Abdallah ibn Abi Bakr. The camel carrying Aïcha and her mother strayed along the way, and Oum Roumane kept crying: woe to the bride and her mother! Aïcha said: I heard a voice saying: loosen its bit. I loosened it, and by the permission of Allah it stopped, and Allah delivered us in safety. They encamped at the Sanh, and the Messenger of Allah entered with Aïcha in Shawwal, after eight months. Asma bint Abi Bakr, wife of az-Zoubayr ibn al-Awwam, arrived with them, pregnant to the full term with Abdallah ibn az-Zoubayr, as will be explained at the end of this year.
The Boukhari reports from Aïcha: when the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina, Abou Bakr and Bilal fell ill with fever. I entered upon them and said: father, how do you find yourself? And you, Bilal, how do you find yourself? Whenever fever seized Abou Bakr he would say: "Every man wakes at morning among his family, and death is nearer than the strap of his sandal." And whenever fever left Bilal he would raise his voice and say: "Would that I knew whether I might spend a night in a valley, about me the plants of idhkhir and jalil; shall I ever come again to the waters of Majanna, and shall Chama and Tafil appear to me once more?" Aïcha came to inform the Messenger of Allah, who supplicated: "O Allah, make us love Medina as we love Mecca or more, make it healthy, bless us its sâ and its moudd, and transfer its fever to al-Jouhfa." Mouslim reported it. In the version of Abou Ousama, Bilal would add: "O Allah, curse Outba ibn Rabi’a, Chayba ibn Rabi’a and Oumayya ibn Khalaf, as they cast us into the land of pestilence." And the Prophet answered with this supplication: "we came to Medina, said Aïcha, and it was the most pestilential land of Allah, and the Bouthan ran with acrid water."
Ziyad reports from Ibn Ishaq, from Urwa ibn az-Zoubayr, from Aïcha: the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina when it was the most pestilential land of Allah, and his companions were smitten with affliction and sickness, while Allah turned that away from His Prophet. Abou Bakr, Amir ibn Fouhayra and Bilal, freedman of Abou Bakr, were in one house, and fever seized them. I entered to conjure for their protection: that was before the veil was imposed upon us. Their suffering was of a severity known only to Allah. I drew near Abou Bakr and said: father, how do you find yourself? He said: "Every man wakes at morning among his family, and death is nearer than the strap of his sandal." She said: by Allah, the father no longer knew what he was saying. Then she drew near Amir ibn Fouhayra and said: Amir, how do you find yourself? He said:
"I have found death before tasting it: the sore of the camel burdens him who keeps vigil; every man guards his neck like the bull that guards its skin with its chewing." She said: by Allah, Amir no longer knew what he was saying. Bilal, when fever seized him, would lie in the courtyard, raise his voice and say: "Would that I knew whether I might spend a night in a valley, about me the plants of idhkhir and jalil; shall I ever come again to the waters of Majanna, and shall Chama and Tafil appear to me once more?" She reported to the Messenger of Allah what she had heard from them, and said: they are raving, and no longer reason, so hard is the fever. He supplicated: "O Allah, make us love Medina as You made us love Mecca or more, bless us its moudd and its sâ, and transfer its pestilence to Mahya’a": and Mahya’a is al-Jouhfa. Ahmad reports the same, as does an-Nasa’i.
The Bayhaqi reports from Hicham ibn Urwa, from his father, from Aïcha: the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina, which was the worst land of Allah, and its valley, the Bouthan, an acrid water. Hicham adds: its pestilence was known from the Age of Ignorance: when the valley was diseased and a man halted at its edge, he would be commanded to bray like the braying of a donkey; and if he did so, the pestilence of that valley would not harm him. A poet, arriving at the edge of Medina, said: "By my life, if I survive the braying of the mortal danger, the braying of the donkey, then indeed I am grieved." The Boukhari reports, through Moussa ibn Oqba, from Salim, from his father, that the Prophet said: "It was as if I saw a black woman with dishevelled hair coming out of Medina until she stood at Mahya’a, which is al-Jouhfa: I understood that the pestilence of Medina had been transferred to her." The Boukhari alone reported it in this wording; the Tirmidhi declared it sound, as did an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah. Hammad ibn Zayd reports from Hicham, from Aïcha, the hadith at length, to the words: "transfer its fever to al-Jouhfa"; and Hicham adds: a child born at al-Jouhfa would not reach maturity before fever brought him down. The Bayhaqi related it in the proofs of prophethood.
It is established in the two Sahihs, from Ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah and his companions came to Mecca on the morning of the fourth day, in the year of the Umra of Fulfilment, and the polytheists said: there comes to you a people weakened by the fever of Yathrib. The Messenger of Allah then commanded the companions to trot between the two corners during the first three circuits, and nothing prevented him in that except to leave them a portion of mercy. We say: the Umra of Fulfilment took place in the year seven, in Dhoul-Qi’da: either the Prophet’s supplication for the transfer of the pestilence took effect only near that date, or the pestilence was lifted leaving slight traces, or they remained until then in the aftermath of what had afflicted them. And Allah is most knowing. Ziyad finally reports from Ibn Ishaq, and az-Zouhri from Abdallah ibn Amr ibn al-As, that when the Messenger of Allah and his companions arrived in Medina, the fever of the city struck them until they were worn out with sickness, while Allah turned that away from His Prophet, to the point that they prayed only sitting. The Messenger of Allah went out to them while they prayed thus and said: "Know that the prayer of the seated one is half the prayer of the one standing." The Muslims then strove to stand despite weakness and sickness, seeking the reward.
There lived in Medina the Jewish tribes of the Banu Qaynouqa, the Banu an-Nadir and the Banu Qurayza. Their settlement in the Hijaz went back to the time of Bakht Nassar, when he ravaged the land of Bayt al-Maqdis, as at-Tabari relates. Then, at the bursting of the great dam of Ma’rib, when Saba scattered, the Aws and the Khazraj came to Medina and settled among the Jews, made pacts with them and began to imitate them, because of the knowledge they saw in them, inherited from the prophets. But Allah granted His favour to these associating Arabs by guiding them to Islam, and deprived the Jews of guidance, in recompense for their envy, their injustice and their pride before following the truth.
Imam Ahmad, the Boukhari, Mouslim and Abou Dawoud report, through multiple routes, from Anas ibn Malik: the Messenger of Allah made a covenant between the emigrants and the Ansar in my house. Ahmad further reports, through Amr ibn Chou’ayb, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Prophet wrote a document between the emigrants and the Ansar: that they maintain their fortifications, and that they ransom their captives with kindness and equity among the Muslims. In the Sahih of Mouslim, Jabir reports: the Messenger of Allah wrote for every clan what it was bound to pay for release.
Mohamed ibn Ishaq reports that the Messenger of Allah wrote a document between the emigrants and the Ansar, in which he summoned the Jews, made covenant with them, and confirmed them in their religion and their property, imposing terms upon them and for them. The content he relates runs thus: "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is a document from Mohamed the Prophet, between the believers and Muslims of Quraysh and Yathrib, and those who followed them, joined them and strove with them. They are one community, exclusive of other people. The emigrants of Quraysh keep their tribal standing: they pay blood-money among themselves and ransom their captives with kindness and justice among the believers. Each clan of the Banu Awf keeps its former standing: and likewise every clan and every household of the Ansar: the Banu Sa’ida, the Banu Jucham, the Banu an-Najjar, the Banu Amr ibn Awf, the Banu an-Nabit. The believers do not forsake any indebted man of theirs: they pay for him ransom and blood-money with kindness; and no believer makes alliance to the exclusion of another believer. The God-fearing believers stand against whoever of them commits aggression, or seeks the aid of injustice, sin, enmity or corruption among the believers:
their hands are all against him, even were he the son of one of them. A believer does not kill a believer for an unbeliever, nor aid an unbeliever against a believer. The protection of Allah is one: the nearest of them grants asylum in His name. The believers are allies one of another, to the exclusion of others. Whoever of the Jews follows us has help and equality: they shall not be wronged, nor shall aid be given against them. The peace of the believers is one: no believer makes peace to the exclusion of another believer in fighting in the path of Allah, save upon equity and justice between them. Every expedition that goes out with us takes turns with the next. The believers ransom one another’s blood shed in the path of Allah. The God-fearing believers are upon the best and most upright guidance. No polytheist of Quraysh may grant asylum to property or person of Quraysh, nor come between it and a believer. Whoever kills a believer without proof shall be delivered to retaliation, unless the heir of the slain is content: the believers are all against him, and nothing is lawful for them against him but standing over him. It is not for a believer who acknowledges what is in this document and believes in Allah and the Last Day to aid an innovator or shelter him:
whoever aids him or shelters him incurs the curse of Allah and His wrath on the Day of Resurrection, and from him shall be taken neither substitution nor just equivalent. Whatever you dispute of any matter, its reference is to Allah and to Mohamed. The Jews bear expenses alongside the believers so long as they fight together. The Jews of the Banu Awf are one community with the believers: to the Jews their religion, to the Muslims theirs; their clients and themselves, except whoever does wrong or sins: he harms none but his own soul and his household. The same for the Jews of the Banu an-Najjar, the Banu al-Harith, the Banu Sa’ida, the Banu Jucham, the Banu al-Aws, the Banu Tha’laba, the Jafna and the Banu ach-Choutayba: the like of what the Jews of the Banu Awf have. The clients of the Jews are as themselves. None of them goes out without the permission of Mohamed. None is held back from avenging a wound: whoever strikes strikes his own soul and his household, except him who is wronged. Allah is guarantor of the most sincere of this document. Upon the Jews their expenses, and upon the Muslims theirs: between them is help against whoever wars upon the people of this document. Between them are mutual counsel and good counsel, and virtue apart from sin:
no man is held sinful by reason of his ally. Help belongs to the wronged. Yathrib is sacred, its inner precinct inviolable for the people of this document. The neighbour is as oneself: he neither harms nor sins. No protected woman is given asylum without the permission of her family. Whatever incident or quarrel arises among the people of this document, from which corruption is feared, its reference is to Allah and to Mohamed, the Messenger of Allah. Allah is guarantor of the most devout and most sincere of this document. Quraysh is given no asylum, nor its allies. Between them is help against whoever raids Yathrib. When they are called to a peace treaty, they accept it and are bound by it: and when they are so called, it is due to them from the believers, except whoever fights in religion: to every people their share of the side facing them. This document does not prevent action against an oppressor or a sinner. He who goes out is safe, and he who stays in Medina is safe, except the wrongdoer and the sinner: Allah is guarantor of whoever is virtuous and God-fearing." Such is the version of Ibn Ishaq, which Abou Oubayd al-Qasim ibn Salam treated at length in his book al-Gharib.
Then, in application of the words of the Most High: those who settled the home and the faith before them love whoever emigrates to them (al-Hachr, 9), and: give to those with whom your oaths are bound their due (an-Nisa, 33), the Prophet established brotherhood between the emigrants and the Ansar. The Boukhari reports, from Ibn Abbas: when the emigrants came to Medina, an emigrant inherited from an Ansari to the exclusion of his blood kindred, because of the brotherhood the Prophet had established between them. Then, when there came down: to each We have appointed heirs, that ruling was abrogated, and the words: give to those with whom your oaths are bound their due, came down concerning aid, hospitality and sincere counsel, inheritance having been abolished. Ahmad reports, through Asim, from Anas: the Prophet established brotherhood between the emigrants and the Ansar in our house.
Ibn Ishaq reports that the Messenger of Allah established brotherhood among his companions, emigrants and Ansar, saying, as it has reached us: "Brother one another in Allah, two by two." Then he took the hand of Ali ibn Abi Talib and said: "This is my brother." Now the Messenger of Allah is the master of the messengers, the imam of the God-fearing, the messenger of the Lord of the worlds, without equal or peer among servants: he cannot have a covenant brother. It is also related that Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib, lion of Allah and lion of His messenger, paternal uncle of the Messenger of Allah, was paired with Zayd ibn Haritha, freedman of the Messenger of Allah: and it is to Zayd that Hamza bequeathed on the day of Ouhoud. And Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, the man of the two wings, was paired with Mou’adh ibn Jabal. Ibn Hicham notes that Ja’far was at that time absent in the land of Abyssinia.
Abou Bakr was paired with Kharija ibn Zayd al-Khazraji; Oumar ibn al-Khattab with Otban ibn Malik; Abou Oubayda with Sa’d ibn Mou’adh; Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf with Sa’d ibn ar-Rabi’; az-Zoubayr ibn al-Awwam with Salama ibn Salama ibn Waqch, or rather az-Zoubayr with Abdallah ibn Mas’oud; Outhman ibn Affan with Aws ibn Thabit ibn al-Moundir an-Najjari; Talha ibn Ubaydallah with Ka’b ibn Malik; Sa’id ibn Zayd with Ubayy ibn Ka’b; Mouss’ab ibn Oumayr with Abou Ayyoub; Abou Houdayfa ibn Outba with Abbad ibn Bichr; Ammar with Houdayfa ibn al-Yaman, the ally of the Abd al-Achhal, or rather Ammar with Thabit ibn Qays ibn Chammas, which is sounder from two angles. Abou Dharr, Bourayr ibn Jounada, was paired with al-Moundir ibn Amr al-Mu’niqi called Limate; Hatib ibn Abi Balta’a with Ouwaym ibn Sa’ida; Salman with Abou ad-Darda; and Bilal with Abou Rouwayha, Abdallah ibn Abd ar-Rahman al-Kath’ami.
We say: some of these names call for reserve. The brotherhood of the Prophet with Ali is denied and its validity rejected by some of the scholars: brotherhood was legislatively instituted for mutual aid and the joining of hearts, and the Prophet had no need of the aid of any of them, nor an emigrant of another emigrant, as in the pairing of Hamza with Zayd ibn Haritha, unless the Prophet entrusted the upkeep of Ali to someone else: for he had supported Ali since childhood, in the lifetime of his father Abou Talib, as reported from Moujahid. Similarly it would be that Hamza bound himself to the upkeep of their freedman Zayd ibn Haritha, and paired with him on that account. As for the pairing of Ja’far with Mou’adh ibn Jabal, it calls for reserve, as Abd al-Malik ibn Hicham noted: Ja’far only returned at the conquest of Khaybar, at the beginning of the year seven: how could the Prophet pair him with Mou’adh at his arrival in Medina, unless one says the brotherhood was prearranged against his return. As for the pairing of Abou Oubayda with Sa’d ibn Mou’adh, it contradicts what Imam Ahmad reports, and Mouslim likewise, alone in it, through Abd as-Samad, from Hammad, from Thabit, from Anas: the Messenger of Allah paired Abou Oubayda ibn al-Jarrah with Abou Talha. That version is sounder than what Ibn Ishaq mentions of the pairing of Abou Oubayda with Sa’d ibn Mou’adh. And Allah is most knowing.
The Boukhari reports, in the chapter on how the Prophet paired his companions, the words of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf: the Prophet paired me with Sa’d ibn ar-Rabi’ when we came to Medina. And the words of Abou Jouhayfa: the Prophet paired Salman the Persian with Abou ad-Darda. Ahmad reports through Houmayd, from Anas: Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf arrived, and the Prophet paired him with Sa’d ibn ar-Rabi’ al-Ansari. Sa’d said to him: I am the wealthiest of the people of Medina in property: look at the half of my wealth and take it; and I have two wives: look at which of them pleases you more, and I shall divorce her for you. Abd ar-Rahman said: may Allah bless your family and your wealth for you, show me the market. He went there, bought and sold, and made profit. After some days he came back with a little cheese and butter, and the Prophet, seeing upon him a trace of yellow, said:
"What is this, O Abd ar-Rahman?" He said: O Messenger of Allah, I have married a woman of the Ansar. He said: "What dower did you give her?" He said: the weight of a date stone in gold. He said: "Hold the wedding feast, even with a sheep." The Boukhari alone reports this hadith in this manner. He reports it also in other places, and Mouslim reports it through routes from Houmayd. The Boukhari’s connecting of it directly to Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf is strange: the hadith is only known connectedly from Anas, unless Anas received it from him directly. Ahmad reports, through Thabit and Houmayd, from Anas, a version in which Sa’d said: O my brother, I am the wealthiest of the people of Medina: look at the half of my wealth and take it. And Abd ar-Rahman said: truly, by Allah, were I to lift a stone, I would hope to find gold and silver beneath it.
Ahmad reports, through Houmayd, from Anas, a chain meeting the condition of the two Sahihs: the emigrants said: O Messenger of Allah, we have never seen a people who, when we came to them, relieved us so well in little, nor were so generous in much: they have spared us all toil and shared with us every comfort, until we fear they will take the whole reward. He said: "No, so long as you praise them and pray to Allah for them." None of the compilers of the Six Books reported it in this form, but it is established in the Sahih through another route. The Boukhari reports, from Abou Hourayra: the Ansar said to the Prophet: share the palm trees between us and our brothers. He said: "No." They said: we shall bear the costs, and you share the fruit with them. He said: "They heard and obeyed." Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam reports that the Messenger of Allah said to the Ansar: "Your brothers have left their properties and their children and come out to you." They said: our property is shared between us and them. He said: "Is there nothing beyond that?" They said: what is that, O Messenger of Allah? He said: "They are a people who do not know work: you will bear their costs and share the fruit with them." They said: yes. We have already related the hadiths and traditions on the merits of the Ansar and their fine qualities, concerning the words of the Most High: those who settled the home and the faith before them.
There died in those months Abou Oumama As’ad ibn Zurara ibn Odas, one of the twelve leaders of the night of al-Aqaba, over his people the Banu an-Najjar, who had witnessed all three Aqabas and was the first to pledge allegiance to the Messenger of Allah on the night of the second Aqaba, according to some: he was a young man, and the first to gather in Medina at Naqi’ al-Khadimat in the rout of the Banu an-Nabit. Ibn Ishaq reports that he died while the mosque was being built, seized by a pain in the side or a colic. Ibn Jarir reports in his History, from Ma’mar, from az-Zouhri, from Anas, that the Messenger of Allah had him cauterised on the side: his reporters are trustworthy. Ibn Ishaq reports that the Messenger of Allah said of him: "Evil is the death of Abou Oumama for the Jews and the hypocrites of the Arabs: they say, were he a prophet, his companion would not have died! I hold for myself, and for my companion, nothing against Allah." That implies he was the first to die after the Prophet’s arrival. Abou l-Hasan Ibn al-Athir claims in Ousd al-Ghabe that he died in Shawwal, seven months after the arrival of the Prophet: Allah is most knowing. Moussa ibn Oqba reports from Asim ibn Omar ibn Qatada that the Banu an-Najjar asked the Messenger of Allah to appoint a chief over them after Abou Oumama As’ad ibn Zurara, and he said:
"You are my maternal uncles, and I am of what you are: I myself am your chief." He disliked favouring one of them over the others. That was the distinction of the Banu an-Najjar, of which they boast before their people: the Messenger of Allah was their chief. Ibn al-Athir says this refutes the claim of Abou Nouaym and Ibn Mandah that As’ad ibn Zurara was leader of the Banu Sa’ida: he was leader of the Banu an-Najjar, and Ibn al-Athir spoke truly. Abou Ja’far Ibn Jarir says in his History: the first to die after the Prophet’s arrival in Medina was, as mentioned, his host Koulthoum ibn Hidm, who survived but a little after his arrival; then died As’ad ibn Zurara, within the year of his arrival, before the building of the mosque was finished, of a pain in the side or a colic. Koulthoum ibn Hidm was a very old man who had embraced Islam before the coming of the Messenger of Allah: when the Prophet came to Medina and stopped at Qouba, he lodged by night in this man’s dwelling, and by day conversed with his companions in the house of Sa’d ibn ar-Rabi’, until he moved to the house of the Banu an-Najjar. Ibn al-Athir says it has been said that he was the first of the Muslims to die after the arrival of the Messenger of Allah, then As’ad ibn Zurara after him: at-Tabari mentions it.
There was born in Shawwal of this year of the Hijra Abdallah ibn az-Zoubayr: he was the first child born in Islam among the emigrants, just as Nou’man ibn Bachir was the first child born to the Ansar after the emigration. Some claim he was born twenty months after the Hijra: that is the view of Abou l-Aswad, related by the Waqidi; and others claim Nou’man was born six months before az-Zoubayr, near the fourteenth month of the Hijra. The correct is what we have advanced. The Boukhari reports through Hicham ibn Urwa, from his father, from Asma: I became pregnant with Abdallah ibn az-Zoubayr, and went out near my full term, came to Medina and stopped at Qouba, and gave birth to him there. Then I carried him to the Messenger of Allah, who set him in his lap, called for a date, chewed it, then put his saliva into his mouth: it was the first thing that entered his stomach, the saliva of the Messenger of Allah; then he rubbed his palate with a date, supplicated for him and blessed him. He was the first child born in Islam.
Khalid ibn Makhlad corroborated it through Ali ibn Moussir, from Hicham, from his father, from Asma: she emigrated to the Prophet while pregnant. Qutayba reports, through Abou Ousama, from Hicham, from his father, from Aïcha: the first child born in Islam was Abdallah ibn az-Zoubayr; he was brought to the Prophet, who took a date, chewed it and put it in his mouth: the first thing to enter his belly was the saliva of the Prophet. This is proof against the Waqidi and his like: for he says the Prophet, when Abdallah ibn Ourayqit returned to Mecca, sent Zayd ibn Haritha and Abou Rafi’ to bring back his children and those of Abou Bakr, who arrived shortly after the Prophet’s emigration, with Asma pregnant to her full term, near delivery. When she gave birth, the Muslims proclaimed Allah is great with a great proclamation, rejoicing at his birth: for the Jews had bewitched their ears, claiming that after their emigration no child would be born to them, and Allah belied the Jews in what they claimed.
The Messenger of Allah entered with Aïcha in Shawwal of this year. Imam Ahmad reports through Sufyan ath-Thawri, from Isma’il ibn Oumayya, from Abdallah ibn Urwa, from his father, from Aïcha: the Messenger of Allah married me in Shawwal and entered upon me in Shawwal: which of his wives had greater fortune with him than I? Aïcha loved to have her women married in Shawwal. The Tirmidhi, Mouslim, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah reported it, and the Tirmidhi declared it good and authentic, known only through Sufyan ath-Thawri. On this reckoning, the Prophet’s consummation with her took place seven or eight months after the emigration. Ibn Jarir related both views. It has already been mentioned, in the account of his marriage with Sawda, how he married and how he entered with Aïcha after they came to Medina, and that he entered with her at the Sanh, by day:
contrary to what people customarily do today. His entering in Shawwal refutes what some people imagine today, namely that it is disliked to consummate marriage between the two feasts, for fear of separation between the two spouses. Aïcha said, refuting those who imagined it in her time: he married me in Shawwal and entered upon me in Shawwal: which of his wives had greater fortune than I? She had thus understood from the Prophet that she was the most beloved of his wives to him, and her understanding is correct, according to the clear proofs that establish it, were it only the hadith established in the Sahih of the Boukhari, from Amr ibn al-As: I said: O Messenger of Allah, who is the person most beloved to you? He said: "Aïcha." I said: among men? He said: "Her father."
Ibn Jarir reports that in this first year of the Hijra, according to some, two rak’a were added to the settled prayer, which had been like the travelling prayer of two rak’a: that took place a month after the Prophet’s arrival in Medina, in Rabi’ al-Akhir, after twelve nights of it. The Waqidi claims there is no disagreement among the people of the Hijaz on it. Now the Boukhari has already reported, from Ma’mar, from az-Zouhri, from Urwa, from Aïcha: the prayer was first prescribed as two rak’a; the travelling prayer was confirmed, and additions were made to the settled prayer. Ach-Cha’bi likewise reports it, through Masrouq, from her. The Bayhaqi relates from al-Hasan al-Basri that the settled prayer, when first prescribed, was prescribed as four. And Allah is most knowing: we have treated this in the tafsir of the chapter of the Women, at the words: when you travel through the land, no blame upon you to shorten the prayer (an-Nisa, 101).
Ibn Ishaq reports: when the Messenger of Allah was settled in Medina, and his emigrant brothers had gathered to him, and the affair of the Ansar was consolidated, the affair of Islam was strengthened: prayer was established, the zakat and the fast were prescribed, the legal punishments were instituted, the lawful and unlawful were prescribed, and Islam took hold among them. Now the people used to gather to the Messenger of Allah for prayer only at the times of prayer, without any call. The Messenger of Allah considered using a horn like the horn of the Jews, by which they called to prayer, but disliked it; he ordered a wooden bell which was carved for striking to call the Muslims to prayer; and while they were upon that, Abdallah ibn Zayd ibn Tha’laba ibn Abd Rabbih, brother of Balharith ibn al-Khazraj, beheld the call. He came to the Messenger of Allah and said: O Messenger of Allah, a visitor encircled me this night: a man wearing two green garments, carrying a bell in his hand. I said: O servant of Allah, will you sell me this bell? He said: what would you do with it? I said: we shall call to prayer by it. He said: shall I not point you to better? I said: and what is it? He said: you will say:
Allah is greater, Allah is greater, Allah is greater, Allah is greater; I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah; I bear witness that Mohamed is the Messenger of Allah, I bear witness that Mohamed is the Messenger of Allah; come to prayer, come to prayer; come to success, come to success; Allah is greater, Allah is greater; there is no deity but Allah. When he informed the Messenger of Allah of it, he said: "It is a true vision, if Allah wills. Rise with Bilal, convey it to him, and let him call to prayer by it: his voice is more sonorous than yours." When Bilal made the call, Oumar ibn al-Khattab heard it in his house: he went out dragging his cloak to the Messenger of Allah, saying: O Prophet of Allah, by Him who sent you with truth, I saw the like of what he saw! The Messenger of Allah said: "Praise belongs to Allah." Mohamed ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Harith reported this hadith from Mohamed ibn Abdallah ibn Zayd ibn Tha’laba, from his father. Abou Dawoud, the Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Ibn Khuzayma reported it through routes from Ibn Ishaq, and the Tirmidhi and Ibn Khuzayma declared it authentic. Abou Dawoud mentions that the Prophet also taught him the second call, which repeats the same formulas with the addition: prayer has begun, prayer has begun.
Ibn Majah reports this hadith through Abou Oubayd, from Mohamed ibn Salama al-Harrani, from Ibn Ishaq, who adds the poem that Abdallah ibn Zayd composed on that occasion: "I have praised Allah, the Owner of majesty and honour, in abundant praises for the call; the bearer of glad news brought it to me from Allah, and I honoured in it the bearer of glad news; he visited me over nights, turning away after three, and each visit increased my reverence." We say: this poem is strange, and it implies that he saw it over three nights before informing the Messenger of Allah. Allah is most knowing. Az-Zouhri reports from Sa’id ibn al-Moussayyab, from Abdallah ibn Zayd, a version like that of Ibn Ishaq without the poem. And Ibn Majah reports through az-Zouhri, from Salim, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah consulted the people about what occupied them toward prayer: they mentioned the horn, and he disliked it because of the Jews; then the wooden bell, and he disliked it because of the Christians; then the call was shown that night to a man of the Ansar called Abdallah ibn Zayd and to Oumar ibn al-Khattab. The Ansari knocked at the door of the Messenger of Allah by night, and the Messenger of Allah ordered Bilal to make the call. Az-Zouhri adds that Bilal added to the dawn call: prayer is better than sleep, twice, and the Messenger of Allah confirmed it. Oumar said: O Messenger of Allah, I saw the like of what he saw, but he preceded me.
As for the hadith related by as-Souhayli, through the Bazzar, that on the night of the Night Journey an angel came out from behind the veil and pronounced this call, each word confirmed by Allah, then took the hand of Mohamed and set him forward, seating him before the people of heaven, among them Adam and Nouh: that hadith is not authentic as as-Souhayli claimed, but rejected: it is reported only through Ziyad ibn al-Moundir Abou al-Jaroud, after whom the Jarudite sect is named, and who is among the accused narrators. Moreover, had the Messenger of Allah heard that call on the night of the Night Journey, he would most likely have commanded it after the emigration for the call to prayer. And Allah is most knowing. Ibn Jourayj reports from Oubayd ibn Oumayr that the Prophet and his companions resolved upon the wooden bell for gathering to prayer; while Oumar was seeking to buy two boards for the bell, he saw in a dream:
do not take the wooden bell, but call to prayer. Oumar went to the Prophet to inform him of what he saw, and revelation had already come with that: Oumar was startled only to find Bilal calling to prayer, and the Messenger of Allah said to him when he told him: "The revelation has preceded you." That indicates that revelation came confirming what Abdallah ibn Zayd saw, as some have stated plainly. And Allah Most High is most knowing. Ibn Ishaq finally reports, from a woman of the Banu an-Najjar: my house was among the highest around the mosque, and Bilal used to make the dawn call to prayer upon it. He would come in the early dawn, sit on the house waiting for dawn; when he saw it, he would stretch, then say: "O Allah, I praise You and seek Your aid against Quraysh, that they may establish Your religion." Then he would make the call. By Allah, I never knew him to omit those words a single night. Abou Dawoud alone reports it.
The Waqidi claims that the Messenger of Allah, in this year, in the month of Ramadhan, at the head of the seventh month, appointed Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib over thirty emigrants with a white banner carried by Abou Marthad al-Ghanawi, to ambush the caravans of Quraysh. Hamza met Abou Jahl at the head of three hundred Qurayshites, and Majdi ibn Amr intervened between the two, and there was no fighting. He also reports that the Prophet, at the head of the eighth month, in Shawwal, appointed Oubayda ibn al-Harith with a white banner carried by Moustah ibn Outhatha, ordering him to march toward the belly of Rabigh: they reached Thaniyyat al-Murra, near al-Jouhfa, in seventy or eighty emigrants, no Ansari among them; and they exchanged arrows with the polytheists at a water called Ahya, without sword play: Oubayda ibn al-Harith exchanged arrows with an-Nadr ibn al-Harith. The Waqidi says the polytheists were two hundred, under Abou Soufyan Sakhr ibn Harb: that is what is established with us; it is also said they were under Mikraz ibn Hafs. He finally reports that in Dhoul-Qi’da of this first year, the Messenger of Allah appointed Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas as far as al-Kharrar, with a white banner carried by al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad.
Abou Bakr ibn Isma’il reports from Amir ibn Sa’d, from his father: I went out with twenty men, or twenty-one, on foot, hiding by day and marching by night, until we surprised al-Kharrar on the fifth morning. The Messenger of Allah had enjoined me not to pass beyond it, but the caravan had outstripped me by a day. The Waqidi says: the caravan numbered sixty, and those with Sa’d were all emigrants. Abou Ja’far Ibn Jarir reports that according to Ibn Ishaq, these three expeditions, which the Waqidi mentions, all belong to the second year of the Hijra. We say: the statement of Ibn Ishaq, as Abou Ja’far relates it, is not explicit for whoever considers it: it is possible that these expeditions took place in the first year, and we shall set them out in detail in their place, at the beginning of the book of campaigns of the second year. The Waqidi holds beautiful additional material and a chronology mostly established: for he is one of the great imams of this science, truthful yet profuse, as we have treated of his equity and criticism in our book entitled at-Takmil fi ma’rifat ath-thiqat wad-du’afa’ wal-majahil. And to Allah belong praise and favour.
Born in this blessed year, the first of the Hijra: Abdallah ibn az-Zoubayr, the first child born in Islam after the emigration, as reported by the Boukhari from his mother Asma and his aunt Aïcha, mother of the believers, both daughters of the Truthful One; some say Nou’man ibn Bachir was born six months before him, which would make Abdallah ibn az-Zoubayr the first-born of the emigrants only; and others say the two were born in the second year: the apparent is the first view, as we have explained. It is also said that al-Moukhtar ibn Abi Oubayd and Ziyad ibn Soumayan were born in this first year. Allah is most knowing.
There died in this first year, among the companions: Koulthoum ibn Hidm al-Awsi, with whom the Messenger of Allah lodged at Qouba until he moved from it to the house of the Banu an-Najjar; then after him Abou Oumama As’ad ibn Zurara, leader of the Banu an-Najjar, who died while the Messenger of Allah was building the mosque. Ibn Jarir reports that in this year Abou Ouhaïha died at Ta’if with his wealth, and that al-Walid ibn al-Moughira and al-As ibn Wa’il as-Sahmi also died, at Mecca. We say: these died in their unbelief, never having embraced Islam.