The sojourn at Quba

The Prophet lodged at Quba on Monday 8 Rabi' al-Awwal 1 AH (23 September 622 CE) and stayed until Friday ¹.

Medina's Muslims would go out each morning to the harra watching for him until the midday heat drove them back, until a Jew sighted them from atop a fort and cried at the top of his voice: people of Arabia — here is your awaited fortune! The Muslims leapt to arms and went out to meet him ^{2 3}. They received him and greeted him with the greeting of prophethood; Abu Bakr rose before the people while the Prophet sat silently, until Abu Bakr shaded him with his cloak and the people knew him ².

The Prophet lodged with Kulthum ibn al-Hidm — the likelier view — or, it is said, Sa'd ibn Khaythama; he stayed at Quba four days on Ibn Ishaq's account, which the author chose (Bukhari has twenty-four, fourteen-odd and fourteen nights), and he founded Quba's mosque and prayed in it — the first mosque founded on God-consciousness after the prophethood ⁴.

Ali caught up with them at Quba after staying three days in Mecca to return on the Prophet's behalf the deposits people had left with him, then emigrating on foot ^{5 6}.