The Turn Toward Makkah, and a Shaded Place at the Back

What was the direction of the qiblah in the beginning? The direction of the qiblah was toward the north, because they used to pray toward Jerusalem. A few months after the Hijrah, the qiblah changed from the north toward the south, the exact opposite direction, toward Makkah. In the direction of the old qiblah a shed was built, a roof that would provide shade, and the place under it came to be called the ṣuffah.

So what is the ṣuffah, and who are Ahl al-Ṣuffah? Ibn Ḥajar says that the ṣuffah is a place at the back of Masjid al-Nabawī, and it is shaded, and it was prepared for the foreigners, those who did not have any family or any place to stay. Abū Hurayrah says: Ahl al-Ṣuffah relied on no person, no money, no one — and this is in al-Bukhārī. Abū Hurayrah, who was one of them, says about Ahl al-Ṣuffah: they are the guests of Islam. They were the ones who did not have any family or wealth to fall back on, and so they lived in this place. Not everyone who lived there was forced to it by their condition; some chose, volunteered to join Ahl al-Ṣuffah, such as Abū Hurayrah — for it seems Abū Hurayrah did have wealth when he made hijrah, but he chose to devote his time to studying instead, and so he lived with the people of the Ṣuffah.