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Sanctuaries · Founded on taqwa from the first day

مسجد قباء

Masjid Quba

The first mosque this ummah ever built; a Saturday habit of the Prophet ﷺ, and an umrah's reward for two rak'ahs.

The whole account

The account

On the southern approach to Madinah, the first free Muslim building rose before the city itself was reached: the Prophet ﷺ halted among Banu Amr ibn Awf, laid stones with his own hands, and prayed in the mosque whose praise came down from heaven: "a mosque founded on taqwa from the first day is more worthy that you stand within it; in it are men who love to purify themselves" (9:108).

The attachment never faded: "the Prophet ﷺ used to come to Quba every Saturday, riding or walking, and pray two rak'ahs" (Bukhari 1193, Muslim 1399), and he priced the visit for the rest of history: "whoever purifies himself in his house, then comes to the mosque of Quba and prays in it, has the reward of an umrah" (Ibn Majah 1412, sahih). The Qur'an contrasted it explicitly with the mosque of harm built near Tabuk's season to divide the believers: identical architecture, opposite foundations. Quba stands in the Codex as the standing proof that a building is judged by its founding intention, and that the cheapest umrah on earth is two rak'ahs and a short ride away for the people of one city.

The facts

The Qur'an on it

لَّمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى التَّقْوَىٰ مِنْ أَوَّلِ يَوْمٍ أَحَقُّ أَن تَقُومَ فِيهِ

A mosque founded on taqwa from the first day is more worthy that you stand within it.

Qur'an 9:108

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The words

Lights that name it

On the Path

Places

BeforeAl-Masjid al-Aqsa
On the Places page The Path