Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 138
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 138 bin Hadam. The Ansar of Qaba welcomed the Holy Prophet very joyously and he chose to stay with Kulthum bin Hadam. The majority of the emigrants who had arrived before him had also been put up by Kulthum bin Hadam and other leading Ansar. It may be that the Holy Prophet chose to stop in Qaba for that reason. News of his arrival spread rapidly in Yathrab and the Muslims hurried joyfully to his residence to greet him. Some of them who had not had any opportunity of seeing the Holy Prophet before mistook Abu Ba kr for him, as the latter, though somewhat younger than the Holy Prophet, looked older than him and there was nothing to indicate which of them was the Holy Prophet. After the Holy Prophet’s arrival in Yathrab, the city became known as Medinaten Nabi (‘Cit y of the Prophet’), which was soon abbreviated to Medina. Within three days of his arrival in Qaba, Ali also arrived from Mecca and joined the Holy Prophet. The first matter which the latter paid attention to was the building of a mosque at Qaba, of which he laid the foundation stone and which was constructed wit hin a few days with the eager and diligent labour of his Companions who worked as builders and labourers. The Holy Prophet continued much attached to this mosque till the end of his life. After arrival in Medina he went every week to Qaba and led the Salat in the mosque there. Some divines have surmised that the words ‘A mosque that was founded upon piety from the very first day, is surely more worthy that thou shouldst stand therein to lead the Prayer Service’ (9:108) have reference to this mosque. The Mus lims had built some mosques before the erection of this mosque, but this was the first mosque of which