It Is Erected Around The
Spot Where The She-Camel, Al-Kaswa, Knelt Down By The Order Of Heaven.
At That Time The Land Was A Palm Grove And A Mirbad, Or Place Where
Dates Are Dried.
Mohammed, ordered to erect a place of worship there,
sent for the youths to whom it belonged, and certain
Ansar, or
Auxiliaries, their guardians; the ground was offered to him in free
gift, but he insisted upon purchasing it, paying more than its value.
Having caused the soil to be levelled and the trees to be felled, he
laid the foundation of the first Mosque.
In those times of primitive simplicity its walls were made of rough
stone and unbaked bricks: trunks of date-trees supported a palm-stick
roof, concerning which the Archangel Gabriel delivered an order that it
should not be higher than seven cubits, the elevation of Moses's
temple. All ornament was strictly forbidden. The Ansar, or men of
Al-Madinah, and the Muhajirin, or Fugitives from Meccah, carried the
building materials in their arms from the cemetery Al-Bakia, near the
well of Ayyub, north of the spot where Ibrahim's Mosque now stands, and
the Apostle was to be seen aiding them in their labours, and reciting
for their encouragement,
"O Allah! there is no good but the good of futurity,
Then have mercy upon my Ansar and Muhajirin!"
The length of this Mosque was fifty-four cubits from North to South,
and sixty-three in breadth, and it was hemmed in by houses on all sides
save the Western.
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