Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
        
        
          2. The Life of the Prophet Muhammad
        
        
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          He then bought this land to build a mosque and some houses
        
        
          on it. After settling this matter, the Prophet asked who lived
        
        
          nearest to the site. Abu Ayyub Ansari said that his house was the
        
        
          nearest and requested the Prophet to be his guest. The Prophet
        
        
          stayed in his house for about seven months. In the meantime, his
        
        
          house was built.
        
        
          From the day the Prophet came to Yathrib, it came to be called
        
        
          Madinatun-Nabi or “The City of the Prophet.”
        
        
          The Prophet entered Yathrib on the 17 September 622. This
        
        
          year was later designated by Caliph Umar as the first year of the
        
        
          Islamic era, for this event was considered to be the most important
        
        
          in the history of Islam.
        
        
          BROTHERHOOD OF ISLAM
        
        
          The first problem faced by the Prophet was that of the Makkan
        
        
          refugees. They had neither homes nor money. Most of them had
        
        
          been well to do in Makkah, but they had left everything there. So the
        
        
          first important thing for the Prophet was to settle them in their new
        
        
          surroundings.
        
        
          The solution to this problem was found in the concept of
        
        
          brotherhood in Islam. The Prophet collected the Muslims and
        
        
          suggested that one Ansari (Madinan) Muslim and one refugee
        
        
          Makkan Muslim should become linked together as two brothers.
        
        
          They immediately accepted the suggestion of the Prophet. Each
        
        
          Ansari took one Makkan Muslim as his brother. This bond between