Ibn ʿAbbās came out to greet Abū Ayyūb and lodged him in his own house, treating him just as he had once treated the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in that very dwelling (1). He even granted Abū Ayyūb ownership of everything encompassed by the house’s door. When Abū Ayyūb was about to depart, Ibn ʿAbbās presented him with twenty-thousand silver coins and forty servants. After Abū Ayyūb, the house passed to his freedman Aflah, from whom al-Mughīrah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Hishām purchased it for one thousand dinars. Al-Mughīrah repaired what had fallen into disrepair and then donated the house to a needy family from the people of Madinah.

In the same vein, the Prophet’s ﷺ stay in the home of the Banū al-Najjār—and Allah’s choosing that dwelling for him—is a momentous honour for them. Madinah then comprised many quarters, nine in all, each quarter an independent enclave with its own dwellings, palm-groves, farmland, and inhabitants; every clan lived together in its own quarter, and they resembled contiguous villages. Yet Allah selected for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the quarter of the Banū Mālik ibn al-Najjār.

It is authentically reported in the two Ṣaḥīḥs (2) in the narration of Shuʿbah: “I heard Qatādah relate from Anas ibn Mālik that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘The best of the quarters of the Ansār are the Banū al-Najjār, then the Banū ʿAbd al-Ashhal, then the Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj, then the Banū Sāʿidah; yet there is goodness in every quarter of the Ansār.’ Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah remarked, ‘It seems the Prophet ﷺ has favoured others above us.’ People replied, ‘He has favoured you over many.’” This is al-Bukhārī’s wording.

Al-Bukhārī and Muslim likewise transmit the report (3) through the chain of Anas and Abū Salamah from Abū Usayd Mālik ibn Rabīʿah, and through ʿAbbās (4) ibn Sahl from Abū Ḥumayd—with wording to the same effect.

The version of Abū Ḥumayd contains an additional detail: Abū Usayd said to Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah (5), “Do you not see that the Prophet ﷺ selected among the Ansār and placed us last?” Saʿd then caught up with the Prophet ﷺ and said, “O Messenger of Allah, you chose among the quarters of the Ansār and placed us last?” He replied, “Is it not enough for you that you are counted among the best?” (6)

Indeed, it is firmly established that all those of Madinah who embraced Islam—the Ansār—have been granted honour and eminence in this world and the Hereafter. Allah, exalted is He, says:

“And the foremost, the first among the Emigrants and the Helpers, and those who followed them with excellence—Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him; and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they shall abide forever. That is the supreme triumph.” (al-Tawbah 9:100)

He also says:

“And those who, before them, had settled in the city and in faith, love those who emigrated to them and find in their hearts no urge for what they have been given; and they prefer others over themselves, even though poverty be their own lot. Whoever is shielded from the avarice of his own soul—it is they who are truly successful.” (al-Hashr 59:9)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also said: