Life of the Prophet

known as Masjid-e-Nabawi. On the subject of mosques, the Prophet observed: “The mosques are the home of the Godfearing.” That is, the mosques are the training centers for a God-fearing life for the believers. After the construction of the mosque, the Prophet stayed in a room adjacent to it. Here he organized congregational prayers to be said five times in the day: Fajr (dawn prayer), Zuhr (midday prayer), Asr (afternoon prayer) Maghrib, (after sunset prayer) and Isha (evening prayer). In addition to this, the Prophet established weekly prayer on Fridays. This prayer was congregational and wider in scope, for it included a sermon, a weekly discourse for the spiritual development of the believers. In Madinah, the Prophet undertook many tasks for the organization and consolidation of the Muslim Ummah. For instance, after the emigration the small town of Madinah saw, all of a sudden, the addition of several hundred people. This was a major social problem. For its solution the Prophet adopted a strategy known in Islamic history as ‘fraternizing.’ The form it took was a bond of brotherhood established between one Ansar (a Madinan Muslim) and a Muhajir (emigrant from Makkah). Each one of the emigrants was connected with a member of the Ansari Muslims in a bond of mutual assistance. The Ansaris shared their wealth and property with the Muhajirs as if they were the members of their own families. The Ansar and Muhajirs thus fraternized, living together like real brothers, without ever quarrelling over anything. After some time, there was no further need for this fraternity. Since the Muhajirs did not feel comfortable in becoming a burden on others, they engaged themselves in different activities. Some took to farming, others to trade and yet others chose to labour in the fields owned by the Ansar. In this way after a very short period of time, everyone was able to stand on his own feet. Madinah was also inhabited by some idolaters and Jews, who were in a minority. The Prophet decided that some form of law should be established so that there would be no misunderstanding or hostility of any sort, in the future between them and the Muslims. To solve this problem the Prophet of Islam issued a charter commonly known as the covenant of Madinah. Since the Muslims were in the majority, the Prophet’s position became that of a leader, or a head of state. In this capacity he declared in this charter that all the inhabitants of Madinah would enjoy equal rights. Everyone would be free to follow the religion and culture of his or her choice: the affairs of the Muslims would be decided according to the Shariah, while the affairs of the Jews and idolaters would be decided according to their traditions, laws and customs. Unlike Makkah, Madinah proved to be very favourable to the Prophet’s propagation of monotheism. Even prior to his coming to the town, Islam had already entered Madinah. After his arrival, the dawah process was intensified and the majority of the Madinan people accepted Islam, becoming his supporters. This situation was not to the liking of the Makkans. They found it intolerable that someone they had expelled from Makkah should have found a stronghold in Madinah, for now the Prophet