Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) tells it. The Prophet ﷺ reached Medina and first stayed in its upper part.
With a clan called Banû 'Amr ibn 'Awf: fourteen nights, Anas counts.
Then he sent for Banû an-Najjâr. They came with their swords hung from their necks, and walked all around him ﷺ.
Anas: I can still see him ﷺ on his mount, Abû Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) riding behind him.
He stopped in the courtyard of Abû Ayyûb (may Allah be pleased with him). That house would be his for a while.
He ﷺ loved to pray wherever the prayer time found him, even in sheep-folds. That was before the mosque, Anas says.
Then he ﷺ ordered the mosque to be built, and sent for the chiefs of Banû an-Najjâr.
“O Banû an-Najjâr, name me a price for this walled garden of yours.”
They answered: “No, by Allah. We seek its price from Allah alone.”
Anas describes the ground: graves of the polytheists, ruins, and date palms.
He ﷺ ordered the graves dug up, the ruins levelled, and the palms cut down.
The ground had its own story. It was a drying-floor for dates.
It belonged to two orphan boys, Sahl and Suhayl, in the care of As'ad ibn Zurâra (may Allah be pleased with him).
His ﷺ camel knelt there. He said: “This, if Allah wills, is the dwelling place.” Then he asked the boys for a price.
They said: no, we give it to you, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Then he built the mosque there.
While the mosque rose, he ﷺ lived at Abû Ayyûb's. Abû Ayyûb himself told what happened there.
The Prophet ﷺ took the ground floor; Abû Ayyûb and Umm Ayyûb, the upper.
Abû Ayyûb begged him to take the upper floor. He ﷺ said: the ground floor is easier for us and for those who visit us.
A jar broke upstairs. Abû Ayyûb and Umm Ayyûb soaked up the water with their only blanket, so no drop would reach him ﷺ.
A mosque founded on righteousness from the first day is more worthy for you to stand in.
Within it are men who love to purify themselves; and Allah loves those who purify themselves.
Abû Sa'îd (may Allah be pleased with him) asked him ﷺ which one. He threw down a few pebbles: “This mosque of yours.”
A camel knelt on a drying-floor for dates. Two orphans owned it. A whole clan refused to be paid for it.
How did the first mosque of Medina begin, and who gave its ground?
A drying-floor, two orphans, a clan that refused payment, and a host who gave up his upper floor.
Tonight, pray one prayer in a mosque if you can, and on the way think of those who gave the ground you will stand on.