Quba

Part oneThe waiting

Yathrib was not a single town. It was a spread of villages, farms and fortified houses, strung through palm groves on a plain ringed by black ridges of old lava rock. Some of the Muhajirun had already settled there. Mus'ab ibn Umayr and the blind Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum had been among the first, followed by Ammar ibn Yasir, Bilal, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas and Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them all). The Prophet ﷺ came last.

The Muslims had heard that he had left Makkah. They knew he could arrive any day, but not which day. Each morning after the dawn prayer, they walked out to the edge of the town, to the stony black ground known as the harra, and waited until the heat of the sun drove them back to their homes. They did this day after day.

On the Monday that he arrived, they had already turned back when he came into sight. A Jewish man, standing on top of a fortified house, saw two riders in the distance and called out to the Arabs of Yathrib that the one they were waiting for had come. The Muslims ran out to greet him. They met him on the rocky ground on the southern edge of the oasis.

Many of them had never seen him. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) stood to receive the people while the Prophet ﷺ sat quietly, and the Ansar who had not met him greeted Abu Bakr first. When the sun reached the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr stood and shaded him with his cloak, and then they knew which one he was.

Part twoThe first masjid

He stayed in Quba, a village a few kilometres south of the town, with the family of Amr ibn Awf. Kulthum ibn al-Hidm (may Allah be pleased with him) opened his home to him. Accounts differ on how long he stayed, from a few days to about two weeks. In that time he did what he would do wherever he settled: he built a masjid.

The Muslims built it with their own hands from the stones of the area, and he worked alongside them. It was a simple building, and it became Masjid Quba, the first masjid built in Islam. Surah at-Tawbah speaks of a masjid founded on reverence for Allah from its first day, and many scholars have connected that verse with Masjid Quba.

Years later, after he had settled in the heart of the city, he visited Quba nearly every Saturday, on foot or on his mount, and prayed there. He said that whoever purifies himself at home and then prays in Masjid Quba receives a reward like that of an Umrah.

From the Quran

لَا تَقُمْ فِيهِ أَبَدًا ۚ لَّمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ مِنْ أَوَّلِ يَوْمٍ أَحَقُّ أَن تَقُومَ فِيهِ ۚ فِيهِ رِجَالٌ يُحِبُّونَ أَن يَتَطَهَّرُوا۟ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُطَّهِّرِينَ ۝١٠٨

Do not ˹O Prophet˺ ever pray in it. Certainly, a mosque founded on righteousness from the first day is more worthy of your prayers. In it are men who love to be purified. And Allah loves those who purify themselves.

From the hadith

Narrated `Abdullah bin Dinar:

Ibn `Umar said, "The Prophet (ﷺ) used to go to the Mosque of Quba every Saturday (sometimes) walking and (sometimes) riding." `Abdullah (Ibn `Umar) used to do the same.

Part threeFriends arrive

While he waited, other travellers from Makkah reached Quba. Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived on foot. He had stayed in Makkah to return everything entrusted to the Prophet ﷺ, and he had travelled by night and hidden by day. His feet were swollen and cracked from the road. The Prophet ﷺ received him warmly.

Suhayb ar-Rumi (may Allah be pleased with him) was another. He had been a skilled trader in Makkah. When he set out to leave, a party of the Quraysh caught up with him and wanted to bring him back. He told them that he was a good archer and would use every arrow before they came near him, and offered them his wealth, which was hidden in Makkah, in return for his freedom. They agreed. He reached Quba, and the Prophet ﷺ greeted him with delight and said that his trade had been a profitable one.

At Quba, too, a Persian slave named Salman, who had searched for years across Persia and Syria for the truth, brought him dates as charity and then as a gift, and then accepted Islam. He is remembered as Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him).

In the most widely told version, he remained at Quba until the following Friday and then set out for the heart of Yathrib. Those who had waited for him, and those who had just arrived, all knew that something new had begun.

He did what he would do wherever he settled: he built a masjid.

More on How to Muslim

• guide.howtomuslim.orgHow to prayThe prayer at the heart of the first masjid.

WatchLectures for this chapter

Lecture Towards EternityO Messenger, Ep. 5: The Hijrah (opens on YouTube)

Lecture Islamic GuidanceThe Hijrah, Part 4: The Prophet Enters Quba (Seerah of Muhammad, part 45) (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• The coast road
• Quba (Masjid Quba)
• the black lava ground (the harra)
• Madinah

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter