Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 137
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 137 After journeying for eight days the party approached Yathrab. The Muslims in Yathrab had learnt that the Holy Prophet had set out from Mecca on his way to Yathrab. For some days they had been coming out of Yathrab to welcome him, but after waiting for him through the forenoon they went back disappointed. On the day of his arrival, they had just returned to their homes when they heard a Jew, who was for some reason standing at a height, and who perceived the Holy Prophet and his companions approaching in the distance, call aloud, ‘O ye Arabs, the one you have been awaiting is approaching. ’ On hearing this the Muslims were overjoyed, and, taking up their arms in a hurry, emerged from the city to welcome the illustrious traveller. When Ansar had the first glimpse of the Holy Prophet, their joy knew no bounds. They felt that on them had been bestowed all the blessings of the here and the hereafter. Bokhari has reported Braa bin Aazib as saying that on no other occasion did he behold Ansar exhibiting such spontaneous joy as they did on the arrival of the Holy Prophet in Yathrab. Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah have reported Ans bin Malik as saying: ‘The day the Holy Prophet arrived in Medina we perceived as if the city had been illumined, and o n the day that he died it seemed to us that we had never seen Medina so dark. ’ After greeting those who had come out to welcome him, the Holy Prophet did not proceed direct to the city, but veered a little to the right and arrived at Qaba, a suburb about a couple of miles from the city and a little higher from it. Some families of An sar, of whom the best known was the family of Amar bin Auf, had their residences in Qaba. At that time, their chief was Kulthum