Seerah: Brotherhood Between the Muhajirun and Ansar
By MyMasjidScreen Team ·
When the Muslims of Makkah arrived in Madinah with almost nothing, the people of Madinah shared their homes and wealth. The story behind one of history's great acts of hospitality.
Imagine leaving your home, your work and most of your belongings behind, and arriving in a city where you have no house and no income. That was the situation of the Muhajirun, the Muslims who emigrated from Makkah to Madinah.
What happened next is one of the most moving stories in the Seerah.
The pairing
Soon after arriving, the Prophet ﷺ paired each emigrant with one of the Ansar, the Muslims of Madinah. They were to be brothers: sharing support, work and, for a time, even inheritance, until the later rulings of inheritance were revealed.
These were not strangers being politely tolerated. They were brought into homes, fields and families.
Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf and Sa'd ibn al-Rabi'
One of the best-known pairs was Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, from Makkah, and Sa'd ibn al-Rabi', from Madinah. Sa'd offered to give his new brother half of his wealth, and more besides.
Abdur-Rahman thanked him and asked Allah to bless him in his family and his wealth. Then he said: "Show me the way to the market" (Sahih al-Bukhari 2048). He began trading, and in time became one of the wealthiest and most generous of the companions.
The story honours both men: the one who offered everything, and the one who chose to stand on his own feet.
How Allah described the Ansar
Allah praised them in the Quran: "And those who were settled in the home and in faith before them love those who emigrated to them, and find not any want in their breasts of what the emigrants were given, but give them preference over themselves, even though they are in privation" (Quran 59:9).
Even when they themselves had little, they put others first, and they did so without resentment.
Lessons for today
Many of our communities include people who have arrived recently: refugees, students, workers, new Muslims who have lost family support. The Muhajirun and Ansar offer a model.
Welcome in practical ways. Help with housing, paperwork, finding work, learning the language, enrolling children in school.
Make people part of the family. An invitation to a home for dinner can mean more than a donation.
Protect dignity. Like Abdur-Rahman, many newcomers want opportunity more than charity. Help people find work, start businesses and build skills.
Give without keeping score. The Ansar did not remind the emigrants of what they had given. Generosity that is announced loses its sweetness.
Remember it goes both ways. The Muhajirun brought knowledge, skills and companionship to Madinah. Newcomers today bring the same.
A masjid that can welcome strangers as brothers and sisters is following one of the clearest Sunnahs of the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah.