By Sodium
The residents of the city of Yathrib, (the name Yathrib has been changed to Medina),welcomed the Muslims, who escaped from certain death in Mecca,with festive activities, generosity and joy.
As the Muslim immigrants settled in Yathrib, (Medina now), they were called "Al-Muhagireen" which simply meant in Arabic,"The Immigrants". The residents of the city of Yathrip, (Medina now), who gave the immigrant Muslims the festive, generous and joyous welcome, were called "Al-Ansar". The word of Al-Ansar in Arabic means "The Supporters" and supporters they were, indeed, since they provided the immigrating Meccan Muslims with support, at the time when the Muslims needed it most. In fact, it was a break for the Muslims who fled the city of Mecca.
Because of the Muslims' devotion to the new religion in Arabia, they wanted to have a place in which they could pray together, a hub for all Muslims to pray in and listen to the preaching and wisdom of the Messenger of God, the Prophet Muhammad. A decision was, somehow, made to build a Mosque for that purpose. There was a slight problem that confronted Al-Muhagireen, (The Immigrant Muslims): They could not agree on the spot locatoin of the Mosque, yet to be built. There is a fascinating story behind picking-up the spot-location for the first Islamic Mosque, yet to be built,in the city of Yathrib, (Medina now). The fascinating story:
In order to overcome the disagreements among the Al-Muhagireen, (The Immigrants), the Prophet suggested to let his camel decide as to where the Mosque should be built. Initially, it was a shocking suggestion to the immigrants who had no idea what the good Prophet had in mind. How could a camel decide a location for building a Mosque. Their shock disappeared as the Prophet gave his wise suggestion which was to let the camel roam in the city as it pleases until it became exhausted from roaming and where the camel parked for resting would be the spot-location on the which the Mosque be built. All agreed with fascination, as the story tellers told it. So it was as the first Islamic Mosque was built in the city of Yathrib, (Medina now), based upon a fascinating suggestion and with the help of the Prophet's camel.
Indeed, the fascinating suggestion behind picking-up a spot-location for building a Mosque in the city of Yathrib, (Medina now), attests once more to the profound intelligence of Prophet Muhammad and equally profound his ability in solving disagreements amongst people in a peaceful manner. It was not the first time he had done so. He had done so before he became Prophet, when he was still a lad in Mecca's Ka'aba as it was described in an earlier topic of this series.
Because of the fact that Prophet Muhammad had to spend most of his time praying and preaching the new religion of Islam, he had to spend a great deal of time in the newly built Mosque. His followers realized that. As a result, they built for him and his family a residence attached to the Mosque. And because of the multitude of people who paid visits to the Mosque, for either to pray or to listen to the preaching and wisdom of the Prophet, it had become necessary for the female members of his household to wear modest attires to fit the circumstances that were developing in the vicinity of the newly built Mosque and the residence attached to the Mosque. Islam does not require Muslim women to cover their-selves completely, as some ignorant souls seem to think so. All it requires is to wear modest cloths. Nothing more and nothing less. Question: what sort of attires Christian women wear on Sunday, as they attend Christian churches across the globe? Modest attires. So do Muslim women, as they leave their homes.
As some Christian churches use bells to call their members for prayers, Islam came up with the idea to call for prayers by a beautiful human voice. And so it was the idea of "Muazen" started in Yathrib, Arabia. "Muazen" simply means a "Caller" in the Arabic Language. The first Muazen in Islam was Billal, the former Ethopian slave who was freed from slavery after he was converted to Islam through Abu Bakr Al-Sidiq who was the closest friend to the Prophet Muhammad, and after the death of the Prophet, he became the First Caleph in Islamic and Arabic history. The reason Billal was appointed the first Muazen in Islam was due to his beautiful voice.
The next topic will be "The Prophet Muhammad's Triumphant Return to Mecca.
