ISLAMIC MOSQUE
A HOLY PLACE OF WORSHIP
The Prophet's Mosque was the first institution to be built
following Prophet Muhammad's migration in 622 AD from Mecca, where
he was born, to the town of Yathrib, which became known as 'Al-Madina
an-Nabi", or 'City of the Prophet', and is today simply Madina.
Surrounded as it was by the shops and
stalls of all kinds of merchants, the new mosque soon became the
political and economic as well as the spiritual nucleus of the
city, and played both a practical and a symbolic role in unifying
the citizens, ultimately providing a solid foundation from which
the Prophet and his companions could set forth and establish the
Islamic state.
According to history, the manner in
which the Prophet decided on its location was to let his white
camel loose, and choose the site where it finally stopped to rest.