It was narrated that Anas ibn Malik said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) came to Madinah and halted in A‘la al-Madinah, among a tribe called Banu ‘Amr ibn ‘Awf. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) stayed among them for fourteen days, then he sent for Banul Najjar, who came armed with their swords. It is as if I can see the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on his mount, with Abu Bakr riding behind him, and Banul Najjar all around him, until he dismounted in the courtyard of Abu Ayyub. He liked to pray wherever he was when the time for prayer came, and he would pray in sheepfolds. He issued instructions that the mosque be built, and he sent for a group of Banul Najjar and said: “O Banul Najjar, name your price for this garden of yours.” They said: No, by Allah, we will not ask for any price for it, except [reward] from Allah. Anas said: There was in [that garden] what I am going to tell you: there were some graves of the polytheists, and a ruin, and some palm trees. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) issued orders that the graves be dug up, the ruin be levelled, and the palm trees cut down; [the trunks of the palm trees] were lined up to make a wall in the direction of the qiblah of the mosque, and they made its other two supporting walls of stone. They brought stones whilst reciting rajaz verse, and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was with them and was saying: “O Allah, there is no good except the good of the hereafter; have mercy on the Ansar and the Muhajirin.”.
Commentary :
The migration from Makkah to Madinah took place by the command of Allah to His Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). That was the beginning of a new stage in the da‘wah (call) and the spread of Islam.
In this hadith, Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that when the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) migrated to Madinah, he halted and stayed in A‘la al-Madinah, which is an area also known as al-‘Awali and al-‘Aliyah. This refers to Quba’ and its environs. Quba’ was the land of Banu ‘Amr ibn ‘Awf. It was also said that everything on the side of Madinah in the direction of Najd, of villages and populated areas as far as Tihamah, is called al-‘Aliyah, and everything other than that is called al-Safilah.
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) stayed with them for fourteen days, then he sent for his maternal uncles, Banul Najjar. They came with their swords on their shoulders, as was their custom when they went to meet one of their prominent figures; or it may be that they came in this manner because they feared that the Jews might harm the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and this was a display of their support for the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). The Prophet’s intention was to move from al-‘Awali to the centre of Madinah and find a place to settle there. So he rode his she-camel, and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) rode behind him, which is indicative of the honourable and unique status of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), which none of the other companions shared with him. The men of Banul Najjar, their bravest fighters and nobles, surrounded him, and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) rode until he dismounted and unloaded his luggage in the courtyard of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), who was one of Banul Najjar. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) liked to pray wherever he was when the time for prayer came, to show that the entire earth had been made a place of prostration and a means of purification for him. He would pray in sheepfolds, which are enclosures to which the sheep go to sleep, rest and spend the night. This was a concession granted by the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), allowing people to pray in the places where sheep gathered, because sheep are peaceful animals that do not harm anyone, and there is blessing in them because they are so peaceful and gentle, and do not move very much, in addition to other benefits. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) wanted to build the mosque on the site of a garden belonging to some of Banul Najjar, so he sent word to them and said to them: Name your price for your garden; tell me how much you want for it, so that I can buy it from you. But they swore by Allah that they would seek the reward for that with Allah (may He be glorified and exalted), and they did not want any money for it. In this place there were some old graves of the polytheists, a ruin and some palm trees, so the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) issued orders that the graves of the polytheists be dug up, and the bones and remains be removed to another place. The ruin, in which there were holes, stones, cracks and the like, was to be leveled. It was said that what was meant by levelling the ruin is that the ruined building that is to be demolished will result in piles of rubble on the ground, so there is a need to remove that rubble, then make the ground level. And he issued orders that the palm trees be cut down, then the trunks of the felled trees were lined up to form a wall in the direction of the qiblah of the mosque. They made two other supporting walls of stone; the word translated here as supporting wall refers to anything that supports a structure around it. It is as if they put stones around the wall made of palm trunks. As they worked, they were reciting lines of rajaz verse, like chanting; rajaz is a type of rhythmic speech, like poetry. They did that to energize themselves and make the work go more smoothly. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was reciting lines of rajaz verse with them, and saying: “O Allah, there is no good except the good of the hereafter”, meaning that true goodness is the bliss of the hereafter, because it is eternal, and everything else is temporary; “have mercy on the Ansar and the Muhajirin” – this was a supplication for forgiveness for them. The Ansar were [the tribes of] al-Aws and al-Khazraj who supported him against his enemies, and the Muhajirin were those who migrated from Makkah to Madinah.
There was an issue regarding how to understand the report that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) recited lines of rajaz verse when Allah (may He be exalted) says: {And We did not give Prophet Muhammad, knowledge of poetry} [Ya-Sin 36:69]. The response to that is that what was not possible for him was to compose poetry of his own; it does not refer to him reciting poetry composed by others. It was not something that he did deliberately, and it was never proven that he composed poetry of his own.
This hadith indicates that it is permissible to recite poetry and rajaz verse when working and when on a military campaign, and to use that as a means to energize people and make the work go more smoothly.
It indicates that the one who owns something has more right to name its price.
It indicates that if a graveyard is dug up and the bones of the dead are removed, then it is no longer regarded as a graveyard, and it is permissible to pray there.
It indicates that one should not pray in graveyards, even if they are the graveyards of the polytheists, because that is barring a means that may lead to taking graves as places of worship, because with the passage of time people will forget what the situation was, and there is the fear that it may lead to fitnah and going astray.
It indicates that the graves of the polytheists have no sanctity, and that it is permissible to exhume their bones and remove them from that place, in order to make use of the land, if there is a need for that.
It indicates that it is permissible to cut down palm trees and other trees, if that serves the public interest. .
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