Madina-tun-Nabi - City of The Prophet

express our gratitude till there are believers who pray to Allah (i.e. till the doomsday). In those joyful and exuberant moments everyone had the desire of hosting the Prophet. On seeing this love and enthusiasm, the Holy Prophet said that at whosoever‟s house his camel will stop on Allah‟s command, will be his host.

On Allah‟s order, the camel knelt in front of the house of Abu Ayub Ansari and the Prophet blessed him with the honour of hosting him.15 Prophet Mohammad along with Abu Bakr reached Madina on Monday 12th Rabi al-Awwal. That year marks the start of the Islamic calendar.

MADINA-TUN-NABI

CITY OF THE PROPHET

The people of Madina welcomed Muslims with open hearts, love, kindness and empathy. They embraced Islam in a short span of time and considered it mandatory upon themselves to help the emigrants. Prophet Mohammad entitled the Muslims of Madina as Ansar, the helpers. Ansar helped the emigrants in every possible way and proved that a Muslim is like a brother to the fellow Muslim. The Ansar and emigrants set an exemplary behaviour for the society that is unprecedented. Abu Bakr was hosted by Kharijah bin Zayd who lived in Sakh, a town of Madina.

Earlier Madina was called Yathrib but the Holy Prophet renamed it as Madina-tun-Nabi (City of the Prophet) and it was prohibited to call it Yathrib. He also started the construction of the

15 The Divine wisdom in choosing Abu Ayub Ansari‟s house is explained in chapter two of the book Celebration of Mawlid al-Nabi by the same author.