Houses Opened for the Muhājirūn

So hijrah has a very high status in Islam. As for these Muhājirūn: where did they stay when they moved from Makkah to Madīnah? Did they check into hotels, or did they stay in refugee camps? No — they stayed in the houses of the Anṣār, and that is why they are called the Anṣār: the ones who gave victory to Islam. Anṣār means they gave support, they gave victory to the religion of Allah. Their houses were open to the Muhājirūn, even though they were very modest houses. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī says that he entered into the rooms of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and could touch the ceiling with his own hand, and when the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would pray in the room of ʿĀʾishah, he would have to touch her so that she would move her feet away, so that he could make sujūd. Every wife of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had a room — that was it, just one room. There was no kitchen and living room and balcony and bedrooms and basement; every wife of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) just had one room.

So for example, in the house of Ḥabīb ibn Asāf, Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydillāh, his mother and Ṣuhayb — that is where they stayed. Ḥamzah stayed in the house of Saʿd ibn Zurārah. Saʿd ibn Khaythamah — all of the bachelors would stay in his house, so they called it the House of Bachelors. ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith and his mother, al-Ṭufayl ibn al-Ḥārith, Ṭulayl ibn ʿAmr, al-Ḥuṣayn ibn al-Ḥārith — all of them stayed in the house of ʿAbdullāh ibn Salamah. So one lesson to be drawn here is that being generous and being supportive of the Muslims is one of the signs of īmān, and it was one of the signs of the Anṣār, may Allah be pleased with them.

A comparison between the hijrah to Madīnah and the hijrah to Abyssinia: there were two hijrahs. There was the first hijrah to Abyssinia, and then there was the second hijrah to Madīnah. So what is the difference between the two? When it comes to the hijrah to Abyssinia, it was more that they went there to flee persecution, but they did not become part of the society in Abyssinia. They were not really part of the society; they were secluded. Therefore their ability to change the society was hindered. They were like refugees in Abyssinia, and that is why, when they left Abyssinia, they did not leave a strong Islamic impression behind. However, the hijrah to Madīnah was a hijrah to establish the Islamic community. So there is a big difference between the two.