When the caravan of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) arrived in Medina, they first stayed as guests in the land of Banu Amr b. Awf. As mentioned on previous pages, this was the village of Quba. He resided there. According to some reports, he stayed there for twenty-two nights; according to others, eighteen; and according to yet others, a little over ten nights. According to the statement of Musa b. ʿUqba, he stayed only three nights. According to the well-known opinion of Ibn Ishaq, the Prophet stayed in Quba from Monday until Friday. During this period, he established (built) the Quba mosque. According to Suhaylī's claim, the Prophet built this mosque on the very first day of his arrival in Quba and considered the following verse to pertain to this mosque:
"A mosque founded on taqwa (God-consciousness) from the first day..."
This is a noble and virtuous mosque. The following verse was revealed concerning it:
"A mosque founded on taqwa (God-consciousness) from the first day is more worthy for you to stand in. Within it are men who love to purify themselves; and Allah loves those who purify themselves." (al-Tawba 9:108)
Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal narrated from ʿUwaym b. Saʿida that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) came to the Quba mosque and said:
"When speaking of the story of your mosque, Allah, the Exalted, has praised you beautifully regarding cleanliness. What is this cleanliness that you practice?"
Those present said:
"By Allah, O Messenger of God, we do not know of anything. Only, we had some Jewish neighbors. When they relieved themselves, they would wash their private parts. So we washed as they did."
Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah narrate from Abu Hurayra that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "This verse was revealed concerning the people of Quba: 'Within it are men who love to purify themselves; and Allah loves those who purify themselves.' For the people of Quba used water for istinja (purification after relieving oneself). Thus, this verse was revealed about them."
Yunus b. Harith says this hadith is weak. Allah knows best.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) later used to visit the Quba mosque and pray there. Every Saturday, he would go to the Quba mosque, sometimes on foot, sometimes riding. In a hadith, he said regarding this mosque:
"A prayer performed in the Quba mosque is like an ʿumra (lesser pilgrimage)." According to another hadith, Gabriel came and indicated to the Prophet the direction of the qibla of the Quba mosque. The Quba mosque is the first mosque built in Medina in the history of Islam. In fact, the first mosque built for all people in this religion was the Quba mosque. By using the expression 'a public mosque for people,' we have excluded the mosque that Abu Bakr al-Siddiq built beside the door of his house in Mecca, where he prayed and worshipped, because that mosque was not for all people, but only for Abu Bakr himself. Allah knows best.
In the section about the glad tidings concerning the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), we mentioned the conversion of Salman al-Farisi to Islam. As narrated in that section, when Salman al-Farisi heard of the arrival of the Messenger of God in Medina, he brought some things with him to the Messenger of God in Quba and said, "This is charity." The Messenger of God did not extend his hand to that charity and did not eat from it. He only ordered his Companions to eat from it. The second time, Salman brought something and said, "This is a gift." Thereupon, the Messenger of God ate from it and also ordered his Companions to eat from it.