206 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: “A black slave-girl had a small tent in the mosque. She used to come to me and sit and talk with me …” The ḥadīth. Agreed upon. (1)

• Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
  – walīdah: a young female slave until she reaches puberty; plural walāʾid.
  – khibāʾ – with a kasrah on the khāʾ, then a bāʾ, followed by a hamzah: a tent woven from camel hair or wool, and sometimes from goat hair; plural akhbiyah, like kisāʾ/aksiyah. It normally stands on two or three poles; if it needs more than that, it is called a bayt (larger tent/house).

• Points derived from the ḥadīth:
  1 – This black walīdah belonged to one of the Arab clans. They manumitted her, so she came to the Prophet ﷺ and embraced Islam. She then had a small tent in the Prophet’s Mosque and would visit ʿĀʾishah to converse with her.
  2 – The ḥadīth shows that residing and sleeping in the mosque is permissible, even for women, especially for those who have no other shelter—just as the People of the Ṣuffah stayed continually in the portico of his ﷺ mosque.
  3 – It is permissible to pitch a khibāʾ or any tent in the mosque for someone residing there or observing iʿtikāf, provided it does not encroach upon the worshippers. If it does, it must be removed, for the community’s general need for worship takes precedence over his personal need.
  4 – The People of the Ṣuffah—an area with a shaded overhang in the Prophet’s Mosque—were a group of the poor.