We're still discussing the first few days of the prophet PBUHs arrival in the fi

rst few days.

As to when he arrived in Madinah, we don't know for sure. People did not concern
themselves with dates that much. 12th Rabbi Awwal was commonly put - but academ
ically it dosen't makes sense. One early book says the prophet PBUH left Mecca o
n the 1st Rabbi Awwal - the average time it took to get from Madinah is 3.5 days
. If its a slow caravan it would take 9 days. So it dosen't make sense the proph
et PBUH arrived on 12th. A date of 8th or 9th makes more sense. The report said
'when the news reached Madinah that the prophet PBUH has left...' - the fact the
news has reached shows 4 days has already passed. The Ansar go out to meet the
prophet PBUH every day but when the sun got too hot they would go back to sleep
(by 11AM or so). So the prophet PBUH arrived around noon time i.e. when the peop
le had gone back home and this was on a Monday. The farthest settlement of Madin
ah was Kuba and the people of Kuba met the prophet PBUH first. We already said M
adinah is composed of small pockets of villages. And the prophet PBUH stayed in
the house of Koolthom ibn Hidin, and he was the first sahabi to die in Madinah a
fter the prophet PBUH arrived. So subhanAllah Allah allowed him to live until th
e prophet PBUH came, host the prophet PBUH, and then die.
It is also said the prophet PBUH stayed in the
some reports say he would spend the night with
of Sa'ad ibn Kaythuma - Kooltom was a married
ophet PBUH would spend the day in the house of
house of another of the Ansar.

house of Sa'ad ibn Kaythuma, but

Koolthom and then go to the house
man with children and thus the pr
Sa'ad. Abu Bukr RA stayed in the

The next day the prophet PBUH started to build the first masjid in Madinah - the
re was already an area where the sahaba prayed in. There was already a make shif
t masjid. Juma'a had already begun and taken place - Musab ibn Omair was there.
The prophet PBUH had not prayed Juma'a once yet. This shows us the commandment o
f Juma'a is so important the prophet PBUH hadn't prayed Juma'a but the sahabah h
ad. The prophet PBUH start building Masjid-al-Kuba when Ali RA arrived. Note tha
t technically Kuba is the first masjid the prophet PBUH built but he did not wit
ness its completion - the first masjid he completed himself and prayed in is his
own masjid. Of course there is a 'first' element to both of them.
The prophet PBUH started before Ali RA by three days; he stayed some night in th
e cave of Thore and he took a longer path. But Ali RA took a faster route and es
sentially Ali RA arrived on around Wednesday. So Masjid al Kuba started being bu
ilt on Wednesday; the first pillar was put by the prophet PBUH, then Ali and Abu
Bukr RA and then the Ansar took over.
Allah says in the Quran 'Never pray in the masjid of the hypocrties'. Then Allah
tells him 'Verily the masjid that was built upon taqwah from the first day, thi
s has more right you pray in it. In this masjid there are men who love to purifi
y themselves.' So which masjid was being referred to? Its the masjid built upon
taqwah. Which is it?
One opinion which is the majority is that its Masjid al Kuba since its in the sa
me vicinity as the munaafiq masjid. The prophet PBUH said "whoever does wudu fro
m his house and then pray 2 raka'at in Masjid al Kuba will get the reward of a f
ull umrah". And the prophet PBUH would always at least once a week ride to Kuba
and pray in there (normally in a Monday). In one day it was asked "why does Alla
h praise you in the Quran i.e. 'purify themselves' like no other mosque?". And t
he people of Kuba said they always used water to clean themselves. Because the p
eople of Kuba did do this Allah prasied them. The point being from this hadith t
he masjid is Kuba.
Where's the issue? A sahabi came to the prophet PBUH and asked him "which is the
masjid referred to by Allah that Allah says its the masjid which purifies...?"

The prophet PBUH said "It is mine". So which one? Its both. The verse applies to
both - both masjids were built upon taqwah from the first day. And the prophet
PBUH said "my masjid" so to make sure no one thinks masjid al Kuba is better tha
n his mosque.
So the prophet PBUH announced on Thursday night he will enter Madinah the next m
orning. On Tuesday, Wed and Thur he was in Kuba helping built the masjid. On Fri
day morning he leaves Kuba and salaat-ul Juma'a occurs in the middle. So the fir
st Juma'a the prophet PBUH prays is in the middle of Mecca and Madinah. Note the
prophet PBUH's khutbahs were only 3-5 minutes long. The prophet PBUH was speaki
ng to people whose imaan was at a different level. His salah was always longer t
han his khutbah. In our times its the other way round. Why? 70% of the ummah tod
ay only prays on fridays so its necessary to have a longer khutbah. An hour long
khutbah is clearly too long; but a 20/25 minutes is fine. As to the first khutb
ah of the prophet PBUH, it comprised of a few things: the first part of it he en
couraged them to be generous; reminded them the certainty of death and Allah wil
l ask every one of them what he had been given and how spent it. "Whoever is abl
e to save himself from the fire even with the seed of a date, let him do so". Ch
arity, death, meeting Allah, giving charity and speaking good. In the second khu
tbah he began with khubah tul Hajjah (contrary to what we do today). So he start
ed with khutbah hajjah from second. However from other narrations he always star
ted the first khutbah with hajjah (so its just possible he changed over later OR
the narration is mixed around). The prophet PBUH then said "the successful one
is he whom Allah has beautified his heart, and entered Islam after leaving kufr"
. He said "love Allah with your entire heart and never tire of the speech or zik
r of Allah and never let your heart become hard. Allah chooses what he blesses a
nd He blessed this to be the best deed. So worship Allah, be sincere... love All
ah with the spirit of Allah between you and remember Allah hates His promise be
broken".
SubhanAllah look at the khutbah. The prophet PBUH stressed charity because Islam
needed money and sacrifice at that time. He further reminded them of death and
life. It has both reward and threats. We have to make people hopeful of Allah bu
t also make them scared of Allah's punishment. Further he says to never get tire
d of reading the Quran or getting tired of doing zikr. He concludes by reminding
them to love one another with help of Allah, for His sake and he reminds them t
hey have a promise to Allah to fulfill Islam. Thus 'make sure you don't break th
e promise'. He then entered Madinah after this and the events went as we discuss
ed previously. The camel sat down, the prophet PBUH asked whose house was the cl
osest and he stayed with Abu Ayyub.
Notice in the span of 5 days the prophet PBUH built two masjids, and a third ind
irect masjid was built (where the prophet PBUH stopped and did khutbah). On this
note there were already many masjids throughout Madinah. There were at least a
dozen masjids (eventually) but the prophet PBUH's masjid was the central and lar
gest. It also appears to be the only masjid where Juma'a was done. We see theref
ore the importance of the masjid. The masjid was built first even before the hou
se. It shows us these houses of Allah - Allah literally calls them His houses an
d He praises them in the Quran. That in houses of worship Allah has encouraged a
nd allowed people worship and glorify Allah. They glorify Him in morning and eve
ning. The masjid was the place of ilm (knowledge) and shura (discussion). It was
the place where people decided affairs and socialised. They would laugh and jok
e in the masjid. The masjid was the place of celebration i.e. nikaahs. From the
masjid ilm, quran and the armies of Islam spread. And as soon as muslims came th
e masjids became their house. The prophet PBUH said "the masjid is the house of
every believer". The other meaning is indeed that every muslim should feel most
comfortable in the masjid.
We mentioned the prophet PBUH himself participated in building the masjid. When
the sahabah saw him, they said "walahi if we sit down and the prophet PBUH is wo

rking then this for us is a very astray/shameful matter". One incident is narrat
ed that has deep historical implications. Amar ibn Yasir (both his parents where
the first shaheeds) was carrying two large bricks and his entire bodies is dust
ed in full. And he is struggling with them, and he says (jokingly) "Oh prophet P
BUH they are killing me by giving me two stones and they are only carrying one s
tone". This shows us the sahabah had a sense of humour with the prophet PBUH. It
also shows these types of jokes are understood to be a joke. It shows exaggerat
ion and his young age. The prophet PBUH smiled and said "know oh son of Sumaya,
they are not killing you. Rather the people who will kill you will be 'the group
that has gone beyond the bounds'". And note he called him "son of Sumaya" to gi
ve honour to his mother Sumaya, the first shaheed. Forever afterwards he was cal
led "son of Sumaya" because the prophet PBUH called him this. And the prophet PB
UH also said "everyone is getting one reward and you are getting two. The last t
hing you shall drink in this world will be a glass of milk". And Ammar ibn Yasir
's death became a very important death. Why? Because Ammar chose on the side of
Ali RA against Muawiya. Thus as sunni we indeed believe Ali was closer to the tr
uth than Muawiya, but he was sincere also and 'rathiyalaho an hom'. As a footnot
e there were three groups of sahabah. The group of Ali, Muawiya and the group th
at didn't fight: the abadillah. Abdullah ibn Zubair, Abdullah ibn Omar and Abdul
lah ibn Abass. They were asked multiple times to take part but they said no. And
ibn Abass was asked "are you on the team of Ali or team of Aisha?" He said "Nei
ther, don't get me involved with this, I am on the team of the prophet PBUH". Ib
n Tammiyah says "this group of sahabah was on the truth. Ali was closer to the t
ruth and Muawiya was not as close". And indeed Amar ibn Yasir died as the prophe
t PBUH predicted; he drank some milk and then went to fight in the battle but di
ed from an arrow shot. This shows us the prophet PBUH had unseen knowledge by th
e permission of Allah.
Moving on to the prayers in the masjid. We don't know exactly when the changing
of the raka'at of the 5 salahs. Recall 5 salah's were given during Isra wal Mi'r
aj. However at that time every single salah was two raka'at. Aisha RA tells us w
hen the prophet PBUH came to Madinah, the salah were put as "we know them" and t
he two raka'at were kept for the traveller. This shows us some time earlier on t
he sahabah prayed as we now do. But before this every salah was just two raka'at
. The sunnah and nafl were added later also. As to the times of the prayer: the
prophet PBUH called the sahabah and asked them "how should we call the people to
prayer?" One said "let us use the bell like the chrtisians". The prophet PBUH d
idn't like bells and also said "the angels do not accompany any caravan which ha
s bells". Others say let us use a "chaffuer" i.e. a horn. But this was discarded
too. No idea however made sense and the meeting finished. That night, two peopl
e saw a dream, Omar RA and Adbullah ibn Zaid RA. The dreams were the same; they
saw a man selling items (horns, bells etc). And Abdullah bin Zaid asked the man
"can we buy these items?" The man said "why?" and he said "the prophet PBUH want
s to call the people to pray". The man said "should I not tell you something bet
ter than that" and Abullah said "of cousre". The man then said "when you want to
give the time to prayer say 'AZAAN'". And then he woke up - this dream was so v
ivid he rushed to the prophet PBUH to tell him. And the prophet PBUH said "this
is a true dream" and it's clear from the report Abdullah ibn Zaid was hoping to
be the muazzin but the prophet PBUH had other plans. Also note because the proph
et PBUH approved of the dream, his approval makes him the shariah. The prophet P
BUH then said "stand up oh Bilal because you have the largest voice". And the pr
ophet PBUH told Abdullah bin Zaid to stand with Bilal to tell him the azaan. Tec
hnically he did give the first azaan because he is saying it before Bilal. As he
is saying the azaan, Umar RA comes rushing to the prophet PBUH saying "Oh proph
et PBUH I saw these phrases in my dream too". Why the azaan legislated on this m
anner? Allah knows best. All that we know about Abdullah bin Zaid is he is the o
ne with story of the dream - we know very little else. So why did Allah choose h
im for the dream? We don't know.
So the prophet PBUH spent around 2/3 weeks building his mosque, and thereafter s

tarted building his house. At the time he had 2 wives: Sauda RA and Aisha RA. An
d so both of their houses were built next to the masjid. And married other women
later on by a number of years. By that time people had moved in and connected o
ther houses to the masjid, so the prophet PBUH's other wives' houses were in a s
eperate block i.e. they didn't have direct entrances to the masjid. Note Sauda R
A was an elderly lady and senior to the prophet PBUH in age. She wanted to pleas
e the prophet PBUH so much she told him one year "I am an elderly lady, and I kn
ow you prefer the company of Aisha RA so I will gift you my night to her". This
means Aisha RA's house was the only house he lived in that was connected to the
masjid.
Next time we will discuss the pairing up of the muhajiroon and Ansar, and the tr
eaty between Ansar, muhajiroon, pagans and jews - this was an unprecented treaty
.
Sunnah prayers: sunnah ar ratibah prayers he would do as a habit. The first is t
he witr prayer. Hanafis have seven categories of takleef; other madhabs have sev
en. They have two types of makrooh and then haraam. Hanafis say it is waajib; th
e correct position is that it's not. The prophet PBUH said "whoever prays for th
e sake of Allah 10/12 raka'at He will build a palace".
Fajr: 2
Zukr: 4
Magrib:
Isha: 2

sunnah before
before zukr, 2 after
2 after magrib
after Isha

These are sunnah ar ratibah which he always prayed when he wasn't travelling. Th
e witr prayer is tahajjud and is tarawaeeh i.e. the night prayer. It can be said
anytime after Isha until Fajr. It's the least rewarding to pray before sleep if
you can't get to the level of excellence of waking up at 3AM. Witr is basically
praying an odd number of raka'at - its 11 or 13. This he would never even when
travelling. Ibn Tayyimah says this was waajib upon the prophet PBUH no matter wh
at.
There is also nafl which is unlimited.