Finding the Messenger of Allah in Makkah

Kaʿb ibn Mālik said: "I went with my uncle, al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr. We went into the mosque, and we found al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, and we came and greeted them." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "O uncle, Abū al-Faḍl, do you know who these two men are?" The eldest son of al-ʿAbbās was named al-Faḍl, and it was a tradition of the Arabs to name the father after his eldest son — Abū al-Faḍl. Al-ʿAbbās said, "Yes, this is al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr, the leader of his people, and this is Kaʿb ibn Mālik." Kaʿb ibn Mālik said: "I swear by Allah, I will never forget the next statement the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Do you mean the poet?" Kaʿb ibn Mālik was a poet, and indeed, when al-ʿAbbās introduced him by name and said, "This is Kaʿb ibn Mālik," the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked, "Is he the poet — ash-shāʿir?" Kaʿb ibn Mālik says he can never forget that statement his whole life. Why was it such a big deal to him? Because it showed that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had already heard of him. He was so proud and happy that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), his leader, the man he was meeting for the first time and had been waiting for this moment to meet, had already heard of him — he might even have heard some of his works.

Al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr said: "I have come on this journey having been given guidance to Islam by Allah. I had the idea of not facing my back to this building, so I prayed towards it. My friends oppose me, and this is causing me concern. What do you think?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "You already had a qiblah, a direction for prayer, and you should have kept it. You should have remained praying to the qiblah that you know." Since then, al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr changed the direction back. Now, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), at that time — because he was in Makkah — was not turning his back towards the Kaʿbah; he was facing the Kaʿbah, but in the direction of Jerusalem. But the people of Madīnah, al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr among them, did not have that, and that was what had troubled him.