The Blessings of Madinah: What the Prophet ﷺ Taught Us

❧The Name

The city's original name is Yathrib. The Prophet ﷺ changed it. Yathrib carries connotations from the root tathrīb (criticism/blame) or tharb (evil and corruption). The Prophet ﷺ disliked bad names and changed them; he applied that same principle to the city that would become his home.

He named it al-Madīnah, "The City." Capital T, Capital C. It would also be called Madīnat Rasūlillāh (City of the Messenger of Allāh).

He also called it Ṭābah and Ṭaybah, both meaning "the pure" and "the source of purity." In a hadith in Musnad Imām Aḥmad: "Whoever says Yathrib, let him say Astaghfirullāh, for it is Ṭābah, it is Ṭābah, it is Ṭābah." The Quran itself uses the name Yathrib only from the tongues of the Munāfiqūn: "Yā ahla Yathrib lā muqāma lakum farjiʿū" (33:13, the hypocrites using it to stoke fear during the Battle of the Trench). Allāh in the Quran always calls it al-Madīnah.

Scholars of Madinah's history, like al-Samhūdī and others, have listed over a hundred names for the city of Madinah. No city in early Islamic history had more names, and for the Arabs, giving a city many names was a sign of reverence.

❧The Hadiths of Blessing

All of these are in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī or Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim unless otherwise noted:

"Allāhumma ḥabbib ilaynā al-Madīnata ka-ḥubbinā Makkata aw ashadd.", "O Allāh, cause us to love Madinah as we love Makkah, or even more." (Bukhārī)

The Prophet ﷺ would become visibly excited when he saw the silhouette of Madinah returning from an expedition, he would tell his mount to go faster.

"Hādhā jabalun yuḥibbunā wa nuḥibbuhu.", "This is a mountain that loves us, and we love it", said of Jabal Uḥud. He also said Uḥud is one of the mountains of Jannah.

"Al-Madīnatu ḥaramun mā bayna ʿAyrin ilā Thawr.", Madinah is a Ḥaram between (the mountains of) ʿAyr and Thawr (north and south boundaries), and between the two lava plains (labbatayn) to the east and west.

Dajjāl will not be able to enter Madinah. Two large angels will be stationed at its entrances to turn him away. This was taught as counsel: if you hear of the Dajjāl's appearance, go to Madinah; it will protect you.

"Lā tadkhuluhā al-ṭāʿūn wa lā al-Dajjāl.", Neither plague nor Dajjāl shall enter it.

This has held across fourteen centuries, including the Black Death and the 1918 Spanish Influenza (which killed roughly one-third of the world's population, a figure that should not be minimized: millions upon millions, including entire regions of North Africa and the Middle East). The city of Madinah was untouched, despite receiving pilgrims and travelers from across the world.

"Allāhumma bārik lanā fī Madīnatinā.", "O Allāh, bless us in our Madinah." (Bukhārī)

"Allāhumma ijʿal bi-l-Madīnati ḍiʿfay mā jaʿalta bi-Makkata min baraka.", "O Allāh, make Madinah's blessing double that of Makkah's blessing." This caused scholarly discussion: does it mean Madinah is more blessed than Makkah? Imām Mālik (a Madanī) held that Madinah surpassed Makkah in sanctity, though Makkah surpasses it in prayer reward (100,000 vs 1,000). The majority hold that each city has its own dimension of blessing and they cannot simply be compared.

"Al-Madīnatu khayrun lahum law kānū yaʿlamūn.", "Madinah is better for them if only they knew." (Bukhārī)

No one leaves Madinah not wanting to leave, except that Allāh replaces them with someone better.

Whoever endures the hardships of Madinah, its extreme heat and cold, its seasonal food scarcity in the old days, the Prophet ﷺ will intercede for them on the Day of Judgment.

"Man istaṭāʿa minkum an yamūta bi-l-Madīnati fal-yamut.", "Whoever among you is able to die in Madinah, let him die in Madinah." (Musnad Imām Aḥmad) Because the Prophet ﷺ will intercede for whoever dies there.

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb would make a duʿāʾ that seemed impossible, he wanted to die as a shahīd AND die in Madinah. His son ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar said: "Father, how can you combine these two? A martyr dies at the frontier, and you're not leaving Madinah." Allāh accepted both: ʿUmar was assassinated, a shahīd, in his own mosque in Madinah.

❧Baqīʿ al-Gharqad

The graveyard of Madinah, commonly called Jannatu al-Baqīʿ, is properly named Baqīʿ al-Gharqad. Ibn Ḥajar said over 10,000 Ṣaḥābah are buried there. Nine of the Prophet ﷺ's wives are buried there (all except Khadījah bint Khuwaylid, who died in Makkah). His son Ibrāhīm is buried there. ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān is buried there (Abū Bakr and ʿUmar are in the Prophet's chamber, the Ḥujra). The Prophet ﷺ's aunt Ṣafiyyah and many of the early scholars, Imām Mālik, Imām Nāfiʿ, are buried there.

The Prophet ﷺ once left his bed in the middle of the night. ʿĀʾishah, waking and finding him absent, was worried. He returned and told her: "Jibrīl came to me and told me to go pray for the people of Baqīʿ al-Gharqad." He had walked there in the dark of night to make duʿāʾ for those buried there. The duʿāʾ he taught: "Al-salāmu ʿalaykum yā ahla diyārin min al-muslimīn wa-l-muʾminīn... Nas'alullāha lanā wa lakum al-ʿāfiyah."

❧The Two Harams

There are exactly two Ḥarams in Islām: Makkah and Madinah. No more. Jerusalem is Arḍ al-Muqaddas, a holy and blessed land, but it is not a Ḥaram in the Fiqhī sense. The rulings that apply in the Ḥarams, no weapons, no hunting, no uprooting natural vegetation, do not apply in Jerusalem. The popular Palestinian term al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf for the Aqsa compound is a colloquial usage, not a legal definition.

Prayer rewards: Makkah = 100,000 | Madinah = 1,000 | Masjid al-Aqsa = 250.

Whoever plots against Madinah, Allāh will dissolve him as salt dissolves in water. Whoever commits a crime in Madinah or helps a criminal there, upon him is the curse of Allāh, the angels, and all of mankind; none of his deeds, obligatory or voluntary, will be accepted.