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- The Prophetic Era
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The Prophet's Mosque in Medina is the mosque the Prophet ﷺ and his companions built when they arrived in 622 CE. Its first walls were mud brick and its roof was palm leaves, and in it the Prophet taught and prayed with his companions. Muslims still visit it today.
The Prophet founded his mosque in Medina in 622 CE, right after the Hijra, on land that had been a drying yard for dates, bought from two orphans of Banu al-Najjar. The first building was simple: mud-brick walls, a roof of palm fronds on palm trunks, and three doors. The mosque held prayer, teaching and the community's affairs together, and one part — the Suffa — housed poor emigrants. The Prophet and the Rightly Guided caliphs enlarged it, then the Umayyad, Abbasid and Ottoman caliphs. Today it contains the Prophet ﷺ's grave in Aisha's chamber and the Rawda between his grave and his pulpit.
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The Prophet's Mosque (al-Masjid al-Nabawi) in Medina was founded in 1 AH (622 CE) directly after the Hijra, on a date-drying yard bought from two orphans of Banu al-Najjar — tradition says the camel knelt there and the spot was chosen. The Prophet and his companions built a simple mosque of mud brick with a palm-frond roof on trunk pillars and three doors; its first qibla faced Jerusalem before being turned to the Ka'ba. The mosque was the community's whole centre — prayer, teaching, judgement and war planning — with the Suffa bench lodging the poorest companions. It was enlarged under the Prophet ﷺ and the Rightly Guided caliphs, rebuilt by al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik around 88 AH to absorb the Mothers of the Believers' chambers, and expanded again under Abbasid, Mamluk, Ottoman and Saudi patronage. The Prophet was buried in Aisha's adjoining chamber in 11 AH, with Abu Bakr and Umar beside him, and the Rawda between his grave and pulpit remains the 'garden of Paradise' of the hadith.
Overview
Its site
The Prophet's she-camel knelt at its site, and he said: "This is the dwelling, God willing." It was a drying ground for dates belonging to two orphan boys, Sahl and Suhayl, sons of Amr, in the care of As'ad ibn Zurara. 1
The Prophet refused to accept it as a gift until he had bought it. According to al-Waqidi, he bought it for ten dinars, which Abu Bakr paid. 1
In al-Bukhari's report, he told the Banu al-Najjar to name its price, and they said: "We ask for its price only from God." He ordered the graves of the polytheists to be dug up, the ruins levelled and the palms cut down, and the palms were set in rows facing the qibla. 3
Its construction
The Companions built it of mud brick on a foundation of stone about three cubits high. Its area is reported in different ways: seventy cubits by sixty, or a hundred by a hundred, making it square, or less than a hundred. 1
Its qibla was at first toward Jerusalem. When the qibla was changed, the back door was closed and a door opened opposite it. It has three doors, one known as the Gate of Atika, which is the Gate of Mercy, and the Gate of the House of Uthman. 1
It was not roofed at first. When the heat grew fierce it was shaded with palm trunks and fronds, and then plastered with mud. The report says that the Prophet said he wished for a shelter like the shelter of Moses. 1
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Connections
- Site of
- Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf's detachment to Dumat al-Jandal
- Located in
- Medina
- Mentioned in
- Muslim 1390 — Between my house and my minbar is a garden of Paradise· Muwatta 13· Muwatta 90· Muwatta 166· Muwatta 188· Muwatta 222· Muwatta 240· Muwatta 268· Muwatta 274· Muwatta 291· Muwatta 299· Muwatta 301· Muwatta 347· Muwatta 348· Muwatta 458· Muwatta 477· Muwatta 483· Muwatta 484· Muwatta 527· Muwatta 528· Muwatta 529· Muwatta 532· Muwatta 551· Muwatta 614· Muwatta 615· Muwatta 620
People and things also explored
Muwatta, Book of Prayer· Muhammad· Salah (the prescribed prayer)· Umar ibn al-Khattab· Muhammad ibn Shihab al-Zuhri· Abu Hurayra· Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab· Urwa ibn al-Zubayr
Sources
- Wafa al-Wafa bi-akhbar dar al-Mustafa — al-Samhudi (older print) , p. 334-349
- Wikidata
- Sahih al-Bukhari , 1868
- Muhammad Qabbani, The Umayyad State from Birth to Fall (Damascus: Dar Wahy al-Qalam, 2006)
- The Mosque in Islam: Worship and Culture (Part One) — Muhammad Rajab al-Bayoumi
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Prophet's Mosque”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/prophets-mosque/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.