A She-Camel Chooses the Ground

The first project is the masjid. The masjid was the first thing the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did on arriving at Madīnah, just as it was the first thing he did on arriving at Qubāʾ — the first thing he did at Qubāʾ was to build the masjid of Qubāʾ, and the first thing he did inside Madīnah was to build Masjid al-Nabawī. This is because the masjid is the centre of learning for the Muslims, and that is why it was the first project the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) started with in Madīnah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had had Dār al-Arqam in Makkah, and now he was building the masjid, which expanded the role Dār al-Arqam had once carried. Dār al-Arqam had been a secret location where the Muslims would meet, pray and teach, but now that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had established an Islamic state, it was no longer in a secret location. It was public.

How did he choose the location? The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was riding his camel, and people were pulling it, everyone wanting to pull it toward their own direction. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: leave it, because it is being commanded by Allah. So the camel went through the streets of Madīnah, and then it stopped at this particular location, which was a field for drying dates. When dates become ripe they need to be dried, and this is done in an open place so that it is exposed to the sun and the water inside the dates evaporates. This field belonged to two orphans in Madīnah. When the camel chose this location, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, hādhā in shāʾa Allāh al-manzil — this, if Allah wills, is the dwelling place: this is the location of the masjid, and this is the location of his living quarters. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to buy this area from the two orphans. They said: no, we are going to give it to you, Messenger of Allah. There were some graves in there, graves of the mushrikīn. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) uncovered those graves and changed the location, and they started building Masjid al-Nabawī.

They built it from mud bricks, and the roof was palm leaves, so that when it rained, it would drop right onto their heads. Very simple. The floor was sand. Even though it was very simple, it was the most blessed masjid — that is where the first generation graduated from. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) joined the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) in the building of the masjid, giving them an example of himself joining in and working. So the poet among them said, laʾin qaʿadnā wa al-Nabiyyu yaʿmalu, dhālika idhan la-ʿamalun muḍallalu — if we sit down while the Messenger of Allah is working, that is a misguided act on our part. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) himself was carrying the bricks and building the masjid with the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).