We pointed out the constitution of Madinah was unprecented and forward thinking.

The prophet PBUH gave each group nearly complete independance. Also, the modern
world tells us to think about our nationality etc. But rather we are supposed t
o view ourselves about religion. This is genuinely important. Not skin colour, e
thnicity etc. Therefore if you really think about it, and think about the attack
s on Islam, Islam is the most logical position. The prophet PBUH got rid of the
mentalities of jaheleya but retained "muslims", "jews" and "pagans". And he said
the jews are "one ummah". So he divided based on religious values and its the m
ost logical way to divide a community. Your religion gives you the framework fro
m which you live. Then the prophet PBUH allowed to judge according to our own la
ws. The prophet PBUH gave each semi independance - even if murder occurs, the pr
ophet PBUH said "you deal with it" within each ummah and this was completely unp
recented. Note after a year the pagans gone anyway so there were two ummahs left
; and if the jews had fulfilled their part of the treaty they certainly would ha
ve become the most successful jewish nation ever. Instead they did not appreciat
e the freedom - never had they've been given this much freedom; a complete semi
independance state. Thats how much the prophet PBUH gave them. And of course peo
ple claim the prophet PBUH was anti semetic etc - we completely reject this and
will prove (in fact we already have but anyway) this wasn't the case; rather, th
e oppisite was true.
The next major incident takes place a few months after this. During this time no
thing major occurs. Recall the seerah is really a series of snapshots where all
major events are recorded. In between them there isn't a running list of events.
So the next major incident mentioned is the change of Qiblah and it occured aro
und 15/16 months after immigration. This caused a mini crisis. Why? For many rea
sons.
Perhaps the main was that this was the first time Allah had abbrogated a ruling.
The concept of "nask" was new to both muslims and non muslims. What is abbrogat
ion? Allah reveals a law; then He reveals a new law to abbrogate the first one.
This is a detailed topic of usool-al-fiqh. Classic example: Allah reveals in the
Quran those women whose husbands died should wait one year before marriage. Few
years later, Allah abbrogated the year and put in place "four months and 10 day
s". So there is two verses in the Quran that clash; but it's not a contradiction
, rather it's a clear case of abbrogation. Shia deny abbrogation, mu'taza deny a
bbrogation but ahlul sunnah affirm it. The first time abbrigation occured was th
e change of Qibla.
Noe, the prophet PBUH was told to pray towards Baytul Maqdas (Jeressulam) and he
did so throughout his entire time in Mecca. Note whenever the prophet PBUH pray
ed however he did also faced the kiblah in Mecca (reported in sahih hadith). The
refore it's as if he wanted to pray facing the ka'bah. Now Baytul Maqdas as prev
iously mentioned is indeed a blessed land; and the prophet PBUH praised As-Shams
many times. Ibrahim AS and Ismail AS made Mecca the holiest land but this was n
ot for the jews; for them they thought Baytul Maqdas was the holiest. To this da
y they don't consider Mecca to be holy. By the way many of the prophets includin
g Musa AS made hajj to Mecca (over 70 prophets) but not their followers. When th
e prophet PBUH came Allah wanted to show He is following the original religion o
f Ibrahim AS - the first masjid ever built is the kab'ah. The prophet PBUH said
the ka'bah was first (Ibrahim AS built it); then the kiblah in Baytal Maqdas (Is
haaq or Ya'qoob built) and that there was 40 years between them. When the prophe
t PBUH arrived in Madinah, if you want to pray facing Baytul Maqdas you have to
turn your back to Mecca and the kab'ah. By the way, "nask" dosen't have to be Qu
ran with Quran. All four logical possibilites can occur between Quran and Sunnah
. The ruling to change direction was through the Sunnah.
So what happened was the tensions began between the prophet PBUH and the jews in
creased. For the next year after the Hijrah tensions began. When the prophet PBU
H first immigrated to Madinah he is finally amongst a people who believe in the

Abrahamic faith. He is amongst a large group of jews who believe in the same God
and line of prophets. The Quraysh didn't even know what a prophet was. Nor did
they believe in a book. The jews however believe in everything; heaven, hell, ju
dgement etc. And so the prophet PBUH's heart was very optimistic. Why not? They
have been waiting for a prophet, they know the prophet PBUH is THE prophet (inde
ed Allah said "they recognised the prophet PBUH like they recognised their own c
hildren") and so the prophet PBUH was very hopeful. Also Abdullah ibn Salam, the
ir main rabbi converted so this is even more reason to be optimistic. Aisha RA n
arrates the prophet PBUH wanted to resemble the jews as much as possible to show
them "we are the same". But as the tensions increased, the prophet PBUH command
ed us to "be different to the jews; don't be like them etc". In the beginning it
was the oppisite, but when it was clear they had mind up their mind to never ac
cept the prophet PBUH through their arrogance, the prophet PBUH gave completely
oppisite rulings. So much so even where you part your hair the prophet PBUH said
"they parted their hair like this, you do it like that". Also the prophet PBUH
said "the jews don't pray with their shoes on, so you PRAY with your shoes on".
SubhanAllah. Why? Because the jews always take their shoes off when they pray. A
nd indeed it's not proper to take your shoes off and pray if for example you are
praying outside - in the mosque you must take your shoes off of course. The pro
phet PBUH said the jews don't touch their women etc. The prophet PBUH said to be
different to them: eat with them, sit with them and play with them. And of the
main things to be different to the jews was the change of the Qiblah. Note we wi
ll discuss in length this tensions between the jews. In paticular there are thre
e topics of discussion we will discuss in direct reponse to common attacks on Is
lam:
1. Treatment of the jews
2. Accusation the prophet PBUH was a military commander
3. Women's issues and the marriage to Aisha RA
We will discuss these topics in a way we defend our prophet PBUH.
So when all this amnosity started the prophet PBUH wanted to change direction of
the Qiblah. And of course he could not change it at his own will. And its narra
ted when Jibril AS came down the prophet PBUH expressed his wish to Jibril sayin
g "OH Jibirl I wish to pray facing Mecca". And Jibril said "I am a slave just li
ke you and I only come by permission of Allah - if you want this, make dua to Al
lah". SubhanAllah look at this - the most powerful human is asking the most powe
rful angel and they both are saying "we can't do anything". And therefore how mi
sguided are those who turn to these two for dua. When both the prophet PBUH and
Jibril can't even change the Qiblah how can they do anything else? So the prophe
t PBUH made intense dua so much so he was looking up to the sky. And looking up
to the sky is only done in dua at times of extreme distress. Normally the prophe
t PBUH would lower his head. But in extreme cases he looked up and begged Allah
for help. This was the most famous time he did so in public. Therefore the proph
et PBUH did this at night when no one was looking. How do we know? Allah reveale
d it in the Quran: "We have seen your face turning up at the skies; so let it be
decreed We will face you in a direction that you want". Notice the way the vers
e is phrased "because you want it, I am giving it to you". This shows the desire
of the prophet PBUH is indeed one Allah wants to fulfill and give. Allah says "
we will change your face and cause you to turn to a direction that will please y
ou. So from now on, turn your face to masjid al haram, and wherever you are turn
your face in that direction". This is the first two pages of the 2nd juz of the
Qur'an.
So when these verses came down, roughly 15/16 months after (the battle of Badr i
s one month away) - this command proved to be a great source of confusion for ev
eryone. Why? Allah mentions in the Quran: "the foolish people will begin questio
ning, why have they turned away from the Qiblah that they were upon?" One of the
jews said "If this man is a prophet, why is praying one day south one day north

?" Another said "Isn't our qiblah good enough for him?" Of course the issue of a
bbrogation itself was new. Therefore Allah revealed the concept of abbrogation i
tself. Recall Surah Baqarah was the first surah to be revealed in Madinah. So it
provides us the first year and a half: it mentions Badr, the change of Qiblah a
nd mentions the jews in abundance. It mentions Musa AS, the Bani Israel in great
depth. Why? Because this is the context: the muslims need to know all of this i
nformation. In surah Baqarah Allah mentions the concept of nask: "whenever We ab
brogate a ruling, We then bring forth something better than it, or at least some
thing equivalent". And Allah mentions "the only reason we wanted to test those w
ho follow the prophet PBUH, verses those who reject the prophet PBUH". So every
commandment is a test. For the muslims it was a test to see if they implemented
the new change and of course they did. For the jews there was a clear sign/messa
ge: This prophet came in the line of your prophets, so he's facing your qiblah,
but he shall now supercede your prophethood line and take it back to the origina
l ka'bah. The purpose primarily was to demonstrate to the jews that this prophet
was from the same traditions as you, but he is not just a jewish prophet; he is
more than this. Why? Remember the jews think they are the "chosen people" - we
believe they WERE a chosen people. Indeed Allah says they WERE a chosen people.
And Allah wanted to demonstrate this will cease, primarily through the change of
Qiblah. The jews began saying "anyone who faces any direction other than Baytul
Maqdas Allah will not accept from him - it's apart of piety to face Jerusalem".
At this Allah revelaed "piety is not in which direction you face; real piety is
to believe in Allah and the final day, and to give to the poor, and...". This a
lso shows that those groups of jews whose main emphasis is the law with little s
pirituality have got it wrong: it's about whats inside the heart. And in fact Al
lah says (all in 1st page of 2nd juz) "if you were to bring every sign to the pe
ople of the book they won't follow your Qiblah; and they themselves don't follow
each others' Qiblah". So Allah is consoling the prophet PBUH. And even for the
mushrikoon (pagans) there is a message: that they are not worthy of being the in
heritors of the kab'ah, rather the prophet PBUH is more worthy and he will bring
back the true religion of Ibrahim AS.
The sahabah asked the prophet PBUH "what will happen to those who prayed towards
Baytul Maqdus before this verse came down - will Allah accept their salah?" Of
course salah was obligatory after Isra wal Mi'raj so for 4/5 years the muslims h
ave been praying in the 'wrong' direction. At this Allah revealed in the same se
ries of verses "Allah will never cause your faith to be wasted away". Now this v
erse was a primary evidence of many of our classical scholars when they talked a
bout the status of salah. That praying is a requirement of being a muslim. This
was their main evidence always. Why? The question was about "Will Allah accept t
heir salah?" And Allah revealed "Allah won't cause your imaan to waste away". So
imam Bhukari says "Allah called their salah their IMAAN". This without salah yo
u don't have imaan. Therefore salah is a necessary requirement of being a muslim
- not a luxury. This is the primary verse used. Ibn al Qiyyam mentioned over 20
more verses to support this along with a whole hadith. In Surah Mudathir the nu
mber one thing people will say in Hellfire is that they didn't pray. Allah says
"establish the salah and don't be amongst the pagans": this means salah is oppis
ite to being a pagan. And many scholars say salah is a necessary part of being a
muslim. If there is "abandonment of salah this person is a kaffir" (Muslim).
Note there is a common myth that the prophet PBUH was praying one day, and Jibri
l AS came down, and the whole masjid turned direction with him. This is not true
. It's a confustion later on. The authentic reports are very clear. The prophet
PBUH prayed Fajr facing Jeresulam and then he prayed Zuhr facing Mecca. Therefor
e the law came down in the early morning; and when it came down the prophet PBUH
announced it in his masjid. And so what used to be the front of the masjid beca
me the back; and the previous front became the new back. Now those people who pr
ayed Zuhr in the masjid, they went back to their homes and one of them reached M
asjid al Qiblatain. This masjid was the tribe of Banu Salama. The sahabi prayed
Zuhr in the prophet PBUH's masjid; by the time he got back home they were alread

y praying Asr. He wanted to reach there BEFORE they prayed Asr to tell them the
change of direction but it was too late. So he cried out from the back of the ma
sjid that "Oh people I have just come from the prophet PBUH's masjid and I praye
d with him Zuhr and he was praying facing Mecca. The command has come to change
direction". Therefore this was the masjid the imam walked straight through the s
ufoof, chnaged direction, and the entire jama'ah turned around. This masjid ther
efore became known as Masjid al Qiblatain (mosque of the two Qiblas).
This whole page of surah Baqarah is very relevant. One paticular ayah is very re
levant which came down smack in the middle of these verses about the Qiblah. All
ah says "We have made you a middle nation". Note the arabic word is "wasat" and
the primary meaning means 'the highest'. So the peak of a mountain is it's wasat
; but the highest is usually the middle. Therefore wasat also means highest in e
xcellence, character and honesty. And Allah uses 'wasat' for this meaning. In th
e Surah Nur in the story of the garden, the word is used to say the 'best one sa
id "why didn't you thank Allah?"'. So primarily Allah is saying "you are the pin
nacle of all nations" and its the best time to mention this - why? Allah is sayi
ng "you won't face the qiblah of the jews, rather you will face the true origina
l kab'ah".
After this change, the prophet PBUH commanded the back of the masjid now becomes
the front. And the front before is the back. Note, there was no roof. Only late
r there were palm trees put up but these were not waterproof as mentioned before
- even in the 6th year in rained in Ramadan and the whole floor is mud. Anas sa
id "I saw the mud on his face and nose". Only up until much later on the roof be
came water tight; in the beginning there was no roof at all. So the prophet PBUH
ordered what used to be the front be covered up. As the number of muhajir and c
onverts increased, the prophet PBUH could not handle all of them. What happened?
A public shelter was built and the shelter people became known as the suffa and
the people who stayed there were known as the ahlul-suffah i.e. the people of t
he shelter. And there are chapters and books written on them. Why? Because they
are the elite of the sahabah - they possessed exemplary imaan. They had basicall
y given up everything and lived in a public shelter in the masjid of the prophet
PBUH. Note, the Suffa was probably built around Ramadan; and it was only after
Badr this concept of the people of the Suffa was known. Up until Ramadan every m
uhajir or convert could be accomodatated. The prophet PBUH assigned them to a sa
habi and they took those people on as their guests. But eventually it got too cr
owded; the houses that could cater for people were full and the prophet PBUH bui
lt this suffah. And so the prophet PBUH spent alot of energy on these people. Th
ere are many narrations on the difficulties faced by the people of the Suffah. T
hey were so poor the prophet PBUH said "OH women don't raise your head from sajd
ah until some time has passed". Its an embarrasing hadith but it shows how poor
the people of the Suffah were - they didn't even have clothing to cover their au
ra. This is why the prophet PBUH gave many hadith about taking care of the peopl
e of the Suffah. When his grandchild was born he said "give some charity of the
people of Suffah" to Fatimah RA. One time Fatimah came complaining to the prophe
t PBUH saying "I have so much house work to do.. Ali dosen't do much.. give me o
ne servant - you just had a whole batch of slaves". The prophet PBUH got irritat
ed and said "How can I give you a servant when the people of the Suffah have col
lapsed? By Allah I will sell them all and give the money to the Suffah". Our pro
phet PBUH got irritated even though he loved Fatimah RA very much. So the people
of the Suffah were on his mind at all times.
The semi humourous traditon of Abu Hurrairah who was the most famous person of t
he Ahleh Suffah. He says that "Many times I would ask a companion a question whe
n he went out the masjid; and walahi I knew the answer better than him. The only
reason I'm asking is to drag out the conversation until I get to his doorstep.
Perhaps he might invite me in for a meal". He is too embarrased to beg of course
. He is the one who narrated that "Once the prophet PBUH saw me to hungry I was
weak with exhaustion. And so the prophet PBUH invited him to his house. And he a

sked Aisha RA "is there anything to eat or drink?" Aisha RA said "yes one of the
ansar gave us a glass of milk"." Of course Abu Hurariah got happy - but the pro
phet PBUH said to him "go and call the people of the Suffah". And there were lik
e 30/40 people! He's narrating the hadith and said "I had to obey the command" a
nd he gathered together all of them. The prophet PBUH handed him the cup and sai
d "go to every one of them and give them the cup". And so it's as if he was the
servant - so every single one of them finished until it was the prophet PBUH and
Abu Hurrairah left. Then the prophet PBUH told him "drink" so he drank. And aga
in the prophet PBUH said "drink" - the prophet PBUH knows exactly whats happenin
g (it's almost like a joke). And the prophet PBUH kept saying "drink drink drink
" until Abu Hurairah said "there isn't any space left in my stomach". Then after
all these 30/40 people drank the prophet PBUH took the cup and drank from it.
Most of the companions went for two days in succession without food, so much tha
t when the prophet PBUH came into the masjid to lead the congregational prayers,
they would fall down due to weakness. Food given in charity to the prophet PBUH
was given to them, and when the prophet PBUH was offered food as a present, he
would invite them to share it. Often, the prophet PBUH would ask one of his othe
r companions to take some of the Suffah for supper, and to entertain them as bes
t they could. Sa d ibn Ubada RA sometimes entertained as many as eighty men at onc
e.
It's said one of the sahabah said "why not when we get some food when get a litt
le to the people of the Suffah". So a string was hung and food was put on it for
those who couldn't afford (so as to avoid people begging) - note this lasted up
until the 40s/50s. So for 1400 years!
Abu Hurairah's name was Abdur Rehamn from Yemen. He came to Madinah after the 7t
h year of the Hijrah. YET he is the number one of Hadith. He narrated so many th
at even some of the next generation said "how can he know so much?" They began q
uestioning him. He explained himself how this is the case: "the people are compl
aining I narrate too many hadith. But were it not for the fact Allah has critici
sed those who withold knowledge; I would not have narrated one hadith. And I wil
l tell you why I know more. As for the muhajir, they were busy buying and sellin
g. As for the ansar, they were busy harvasting in the fields. As for me, I would
stick to the prophet PBUH with hungry stomach. Therefore I would memorise what
they would not memorise". By the way Abu Hurairah was not poor. His mother moved
to Madinah and purchase a house there! But he stayed in the Suffah. Why? Becaus
e not only was it a shelter it became the first university of Islam. Because the
prophet PBUH is in his masjid at all times so Abu Hurairah stuck to the masjid
to be with the prophet PBUH at all times and learn from him everything. Note som
e of the sufi groups say the term 'sufi' comes from suffah. Abu Hurairah at this
time gave up an easy life for the sake of knowledge. Note even some of the Ansa
r moved into the shelter. Handhala did so, who was the one washed by the angels.
Ka'ab ibn Malik is also a member of the Suffah - this shows us the Suffah isn't
a freeloading shelter, it's primiarly a place of learning. Its just too good the prophet PBUH is always there. Some of the ansar therefore left their houses
and moved into the Suffah. So the people of the Suffah became legendary: the mos
t in knowledge, the most in Quran etc. In every battle the most shuhadah were pe
ople of the Suffah. So many of the people of the Suffah died that Umar RA wanted
to compile the Quran. Think about their status! The reason why the Quran is com
piled is because so many of the people of Suffah died. In the wars of Ridah agai
nst Musaylama many of the memorisers of the Quran died, most of which were peopl
e of the Suffah.
How many people were in the Suffah? At times 5 or 10; other times up to 70. Anyt
ime a delegation came they would stay in the Suffah. It's said people from far v
illages who wanted to learn Quran etc and teach their villages would go to the S
uffah. Ibn Masud said "any time anyone came to us, the prophet PBUH would assign
one of us to him to teach the Quran and salah". So the suffah was like a univer

sity. After the prophet PBUH died the suffah also died out.
One final note: the covering of the prophet PBUH was only for the people of the
suffah at the back of the masjid. He was more concered about them because they l
ived in the masjid. As for the raised platform in our time; they say that is the
place of people of the suffah but in reality it was ahead of that. Also its a m
yth the suffah was a raised platform.
Intresting story: we learn around this time one of the elderly people in Madinah
converted to Islam. And Sirma was the only hanif we know of in Madinah. Hanifs
were people who abandoned idoletry and said they would follow the religion of Ib
rahim AS. So Sirma was of the hanifs of Madinah. He was 100+ when the prophet PB
UH came. When he was a young man he had just like the hanifs of Mecca, openly re
jected idols and accept christianity. But right before he converted he said chri
stianity dosent make sense either. So he said he would be on the way of Ibrahim
AS. Ibn Ishaaq mentions he would do ghusl after intercourse etc. i.e. following
the sunnah of Ibrahim AS. When the prophet PBUH immigrated he was still alive an
d Allah blessed him to convert and he passed away shortly afterwards. Its a beau
tiful story: for 120 years he waited for the truth, its as if Allah stretched hi
s life out, and he got the blessing of being a sahabi and of those who saw and l
ived with the prophet PBUH.