Ibn Isḥāq said: When the she-camel knelt with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ upon her, he did not dismount until she suddenly rose and walked on a short distance. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ held her rein loosely, not turning her back. Then she looked behind her, returned to the very spot where she had first knelt, and knelt there again. She then shifted, settled firmly, and laid her chest on the ground; only then did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ dismount. Abū Ayyūb, Khālid ibn Zayd, picked up the Prophet’s saddle-gear, carried it into his own house, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took lodging with him.
The Prophet ﷺ asked about the date-drying yard, “To whom does it belong?” Muʿādh ibn ʿAfrā replied, “O Messenger of Allah, it belongs to Sahl and Suhayl, the two sons of ʿAmr; they are two orphans in my care. I shall satisfy them for it—so make it a mosque.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered that a mosque be built there, and he remained in the house of Abū Ayyūb until his mosque and his living quarters were completed. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself worked on the construction, as did the Muslims from among the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār.
The story of building the mosque will be related shortly, if Allah wills.
Al-Bayhaqī records in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah: Abū ʿAbd Allāh informed us—Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿUmar the ḥāfiẓ told us; Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Makhlad al-Dūrī told us; Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān ibn Ismāʿīl ibn Abī al-Ward told us; Ibrāhīm ibn Ṣirma told us; Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd narrated from Isḥāq ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭalḥah, from Anas, who said:
“When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ reached Madinah, we entered the city, and the Anṣār—men and women alike—came forward saying, ‘Come to us, O Messenger of Allah!’ He replied, ‘Leave the she-camel alone; she is under command.’ She knelt at the door of Abū Ayyūb.
Girls of Banū al-Najjār came out beating their hand-drums and chanting:
‘We are the maidens of Banū al-Najjār—
how excellent a neighbor is Muhammad!’
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came out to them and asked, ‘Do you love me?’ They answered, ‘Yes, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘And by Allah, I love you; by Allah, I love you; by Allah, I love you.’”
This ḥadīth is unusual through this chain; none of the compilers of the Sunan have transmitted it, though al-Ḥākim included it in his Mustadrak in the form related here.