The rooms of the poor faithfuls who had no house of their own to live in were called “Suffa,’ and it was in one of them that a famous muhaddith, narrator of traditions, named Abu Hurayra used to live. The latter numbered about seventy at the time and later gradually increased to four hundred. On the other side, rooms were provided for the poor adherents who had no house of their own. Close to one side of the mosque, rooms were constructed for the Prophet and his family. Soon, a simple, unostentatious mosque was completed. ‘Ammar was the very first person to begin digging the mosque's foundation. The Prophet, too, had his share of the work, but he was seldom allowed to work as ‘Ammar ibn Yasir, one of the earliest converts to Islam and a faithful companion of the Prophet, used to accomplish the Prophet's share of work in addition to his own. The construction of this mosque, “Masjid al-Nabi,’ (mosque of the Prophet), was distributed among the converts. The trunks of palm trees were used as pillars to support the roof. Actually, it was not sufficiently solid to keep rain out. It was roofed with palm-wood rafters covered with palm branches, leaves and clay. The plot was cleared of the trees, and a mosque 54 yards in width and 60 yards in length was built over it with clay bricks and mud. But the Prophet kindly declined their offer, paying them instead two mithqals 1 in gold, the price settled for the plot. When they came to know that the Prophet wanted to build a mosque on their property, they were elated and offered the property as a present to the Prophet. The place where Muhammad's she-camel had stopped was an open courtyard with some palm trees growing over it, and it belonged to two orphan brothers named Sahl and Suhayl. The next task was to build a mosque in Medina like the one built in Quba. The immigrants, forty-five in number, were called “Muhajirun.’ Islam effaced the age-long enmity between the tribes of Aws and Khazraj and they were given the honourific designation of “Ansars’ (helpers or supporters). The name of the city was then changed to “Medinat al-Nabi’, the City of the Prophet. No wonder they gave the Prophet a tumultuous welcome at Yathrib. Islam had already taken roots in Yathrib thus before the Prophet arrived there on the invitation of the people of Aws and Khazraj. Unlike the Meccans, the Yathribites had no vested interest standing in the way of their accepting the new religion. The disciples who had preceded the Prophet were spreading the message of Islam throughout Yathrib. The deputation (of three to five hundred referred to above) which they had sent to Mecca had returned entirely satisfied. Some of their people had come into contact with the Prophet at Mecca and had been deeply impressed by Him. They had heard from the Jews that a Prophet was to come. Living in contact with the Jews, the Aws and the Khazraj tribes were not foreign to the idea of the unity of God.
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