Full Moon Has Shone

Waraqah: I wish I would be still alive at the time when your people would turn you out.

Muhammad (pbuh): Will they turn me out?

Waraqah: Yes, never did a man come with the like of what you have come with but he was treated with hostility. If I were to live until your day (when you shall be turned out), I would support you strongly.1

This was the way with all his fellow Prophets from Ibrahim (pbuh) to ‘Isa (pbuh) ; they were treated with hostility. They suffered persecution while preaching the Message. Their towns rejected them, and they emigrated from them.

The infidels of Quraish were unremitting in their hostility to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). They conspired to kill him, expel him, or imprison him. Therefore, the Divine Command of Hijrah to Al-Madinah was revealed with Words of comfort, assurance, and support; a supplication for an honorable entrance to Al-Madinah and an honorable exit from Makkah2:

Upon hearing the news of the departure of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) from Makkah (towards Al-Madinah), the Muslims of Al-Madinah started going to the Harrah (a rocky land in Al-Madinah) every morning to keep watch for him (pbuh) until the blazing noon heat forced them to return home.

One day, after waiting for a long time, they returned home. Soon after they had entered their houses, a Jew who ascended to one of the forts of his people looking for something saw the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and his Companion (Abu Bakr t) dressed in white clothes, dispelling the mirage.

The Jew could not help shouting at the top of his voice, “O you Arabs! Here is your grandfather whom you have been waiting for.” The Muslims rushed to pick up their weapons and received the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) on the summit of Harrah. He (pbuh) led them to the right and alighted with them at the quarters of Banu ‘Amr bin ‘Awf, on Monday Rabi‘ I.

Abu Bakr t stood up and received the people while the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)sat silent. Some of the Ansar who came and had not seen the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) before began greeting Abu Bakr, but when the sunshine fell on the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and Abu Bakr came forward and shaded him with his garment, the people recognized him as the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).3

‘Abdullah bin Salam t, the learned Jewish rabbi, narrated, “The people hurried quickly to meet the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) when he arrived in Al-Madinah. They cried, ‘The Messenger of Allah has arrived! The Messenger of Allah has arrived!’ I came out along with the people to see him. Once his face was clear to me, I realized that his face was not that of a liar. The first thing I heard him saying was, ‘O people, spread Salam (the greeting of peace: peace be upon you), give food, join the ties of the wombs, and pray (at night) while people are sound asleep (negligent), and you will enter Paradise in peace.’” 4

Al-Bara’ t said, “I never saw the people of Al-Madinah so happy with anything as they were with his arrival. I even saw the little boys and girls saying, ‘Here is the Messenger of Allah; he has come!’” 5

Anas bin Malik t said, “When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) arrived in Al-Madinah, the Abyssinians played out of joy for his coming. They played with spears.” 6

He t further said, “I was running among the boys who were repeating, ‘Muhammad has come!’ I ran but saw nothing. Again, they called out, ‘Muhammad has come!’ so I ran but still I saw nothing until the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and his Companion, Abu Bakr, truly arrived. We were then at some rocky ground in Al-Madinah, so we sent a man from Al-Madinah to inform the Ansar. Nearly five hundreds of the Ansar went out to receive them. The Ansar said, ‘Go ahead, safe and obeyed.’ Thus surrounded by them, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and his Companion drew near, whereupon (all) the people of Al-Madinah came out, to the extent that even the maidens were on the housetops trying to catch sight of him, wondering, ‘Which of them is he? Which of them is he?’ Truly, we have never before seen a sight like the one we saw on that day.” 7

Dressed in their best clothes and filled with longing, every part of Al-Madinah was colored with joy for the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and the Ansari girls happily sang:

The full moon has shone on us from the paths of Wada’

And thanking became due on us as long as callers invite to Allah

O Messenger sent to us, you have come with the command to obey8

The Ansar were not wealthy people, yet every one of them wished that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) would be his guest. Every house of the Ansar by which the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) passed gripped the reins of his camel and said, “O Messenger of Allah, stay with us to have company, provision, and protection.” He (pbuh) kindly said to them, “Release it (i.e. the camel), for it is commanded (by Allah).”

The camel moved onward until it reached the site that is today Al-Masjid An-Nabawi [the Mosque of the Prophet (pbuh)] and knelt down. The Prophet (pbuh) did not dismount until it rose up again, walked a little further, turned back, and then returned to kneel down at the very same spot.9

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “This, by the Will of Allah, is the landing place.”10 A most blessed place:

The Prophet (pbuh) alighted in a quarter inhabited by Banu An-Najjar, his maternal uncles. The people again began inviting him to stay with them, but Abu Ayub Al-Ansary t hurried to take the Prophet’s luggage inside his house; so the Prophet (pbuh) gently excused himself by saying to the people, “The man should be with his luggage.” ‘As‘ad bin Zurarah t then stepped forward and took the reins of the Prophet’s camel and lodged it in his place.11

From that day Al-Madinah became the City of the Prophet (pbuh), a new Muslim world having the mercy that Allah has sent to mankind on its land. By his presence every corner of Al-Madinah became blessed, every corner of it just shone.

Anas bin Malik said, “On the day (Monday) the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) entered Al-Madinah, every part of it shone; and on the day (Monday) the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) died, every part of it darkened.”12