Introduction

The next major incident mentioned is the change of Qiblah and it occurred around 15/16 months after immigration. This caused a mini crisis. Why? Initially the Prophet ﷺ was immensely optimistic about the Jews who lived in Madinah and was expecting their complete support in the way of Islam . This was not a false expectation as the Jews were very similar to the Muslims in their approach and conduction of activities to the Muslims. But when the Prophet ﷺ realized the growing animosity of the Jews towards he Muslims, he realized that the Jews were never going to accept him as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. So the Prophet ﷺ began advising the Muslims to refrain from imitating the Jews in any way possible. And then he took the monumental decision of changing the Qiblah direction. But this decision was not his to be taken and he had his wish expressed to Jibril AS. In compliance with his wish, Allah revealed verses in the Qur'an that allowed for this decision to be taken by the Prophet ﷺ. This resulted in widespread confusion between the people and unwanted talk started doing the rounds. And this also led to the new concept of abrogation which was previously unheard of. The Prophet ﷺ prayed Fajr facing Jerusalem and then he prayed Zuhr facing Mecca. This shows us that the law came down in the early morning. What is the story of the Masjid al Qiblatain? Shaykh Yasir reveals explicit details about the same and how this name into existence. The Prophet ﷺ could not handle the increasing number of coverts and Muhajirun. So, a public shelter called the Suffah was constructed and the people who stayed there were known as the Ahlus-Suffah - the People of the Shelter. Much importance is given to them and great emphasis has been laid upon them. This is because they are the elite of the sahabah marked by exemplary Imaan. They had basically renounced everything to live in a public shelter in the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Hurairah RA was the most famous person of the Ahlus Suffah and a brief discussion is made about him and how he was among the prominent members of the Ahlus Suffah.