‘Ammar was the very first person to begin digging the mosque's foundation.

‘Ammar was the very first person to begin digging the mosque's foundation. Soon, a simple, unostentatious mosque was completed. Close to one side of the mosque, rooms were constructed for the Prophet and his family. On the other side, rooms were provided for the poor adherents who had no house of their own. The latter numbered about seventy at the time and later gradually increased to four hundred.

The rooms of the poor faithfuls who had no house of their own to live in were called “Suffa,’ and it was in one of them that a famous muhaddith , narrator of traditions, named Abu Hurayra used to live. He will Insha-Allah be discussed later in this book. On the completion of these rooms, the Prophet, who meanwhile was living with Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, whose full name is Khalid ibn Zayd ibn Kulayb, moved permanently into one of them.

Abu Ayyub al-Ansari was head of the Banu al-Najjar clan to whom Selma, mother of ‘Abdul-Muttalib, Muhammad's grand-father, belonged, hence Abu Ayyub was actually a distant relative of the Messenger of Allah, a maternal cousin. The doors of the houses of some of the companions opened into the mosque. The Prophet ordered the doors of all of them except that of Ali closed. The companions raised some objections against this order. The Prophet, thereupon, stood up and addressed them.

Having praised Allah, he said, “In accordance with the decree of Allah, I ordered you to close the doors and Ali to keep his open. Your wrangling is undesirable. Neither did I open nor close any door of my own accord. I only acted as I was ordered by Allah.’ The Muhajirun needed some meaningful relief.

To ensure their economic security and also to establish brotherly ties between them and the Ansar, the Prophet joined each Muhajir with an Ansar in a tie of “Brotherhood’ that became even more precious and enduring than the bond of blood relationship. The Ansar volunteered to share half and half with other contractual brothers everything they earned or possessed.

It is to this unification of interests that the Qur'an refers in the following verses: Surely those (Muhajirun) who believed and migrated and strived hard in the way of Allah with their property and souls, and those (Ansar) who sheltered and helped them, these are indeed friends (and protectors) of one another. (Qur'an, 8:72) The Muhajirun were anxious not to remain a burden on their brothers. Soon, many of them settled down to trade and do business.