THE PROPHET ARRIVES AT MADINAH

After six days, the Prophet reached Quba, a village three miles from Madinah. At that time, the people of Madinah had been waiting impatiently for his arrival. The Prophet stayed for two weeks in Quba, where he built the first mosque of Islam.

People came out of the city each morning and watched the road from Quba. Then, at last, the great day arrived. He set off for Madinah on a Friday morning. When he entered the town, he found that all the people, men, women and children, had turned out to receive him. The women stood on the house-tops and sang songs of joy.

They had all lined both sides of the street to receive him. Everybody wanted him to be his guest when the Prophet entered the city. The more zealous held the reins of the camel and wanted the Prophet to dismount in front of their doors and enter their houses. However, the Prophet refused politely and said:

“Leave my camel alone. She is under the command of God; she will stop where God wants her to stop.” It finally stopped at a site that belonged to two orphans, Sahal and Suhail, of the Banu Najjar tribe. The Prophet dismounted, saying: “It seems that this is where God wants us to stop.” (Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah - Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, p. 494)

The Prophet bought that land to build a mosque and some rooms for his wives. After settling this matter, the Prophet asked who lived nearest the site. Abu Ayyub Ansari said his house was the closest and requested the Prophet to be his guest. So the Prophet stayed in his house for about seven months. In the meantime, his house was built.

From the day the Prophet came to Yathrib, it came to be called Madinatun-Nabi or “The City of the Prophet”.

The Prophet entered Yathrib on 17 September 622 AD. This year was later designated by Caliph Umar as the first year of the Islamic era, for this event was considered the most important in the history of Islam.