and a safe stronghold and impregnable fortress for the Muslims, an abode of guidance for all peoples. The reports extolling its virtues are exceedingly numerous; we shall present them in another section, God willing.
It is authentically recorded in both Ṣaḥīḥs (1)—through the isnād of Khubayb b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Yasāf, from Ḥafṣ (2) b. ʿĀṣim, from Abū Hurayrah—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Indeed, faith will retreat to Madinah just as a serpent retreats to its hole.” (3)
Muslim likewise narrates it (4) from Muḥammad b. Rāfiʿ, from Shabābah, from ʿĀṣim b. Muḥammad b. Zayd b. ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar, from his father, from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet ﷺ in similar words.
Both Ṣaḥīḥs also relate (5)—via Mālik, from Yaḥyā b. Saʿīd, who heard Abū ’l-Ḥubbāb Saʿīd b. Yasār—that Abū Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:
“I have been commanded to [settle in] a town that consumes other towns. They call it Yathrib; it is Madinah. It casts off people just as the bellows casts the dross from iron.” (6)(7)
Among the four celebrated Imams, Imām Mālik alone deemed Madinah superior to Mecca.
Al-Bayhaqī (8) states: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ informed us; Abū ’l-Walīd and Abū Bakr b. ʿAbd Allāh both related to us; Ḥasan b. Sufyān narrated to us; Abū Mūsā al-Anṣārī narrated to us; Saʿd (9) b. Saʿīd narrated to us; my brother related to me—from Abū Hurayrah—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“O Allah, You have brought me out of the land I loved most; therefore lodge me in the land most loved by You.”
Allah therefore caused him to dwell in Madinah.
This ḥadīth is exceedingly rare, while the well-known position of the majority is that Mecca surpasses Madinah—apart from the spot that contains—
(1) Fath al-Bari (p. 1876), Section “Virtues of Medina,” chapter Al-Imān: Y’ariz ila al-Madīnah; and Sahīh Muslim (nos. 147 [233]), chapter Al-Imān: “Clarifying that Islam began as something strange,” including the material in square brackets.
(2) In the h and t editions and in al-Dalāʾil (vol. 2, p. 520): “Ja‘far ibn ‘Asim.” This is a scribal error; the correct reading is found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. In the h and t editions it appears as “Habīb”—also a scribal error. His biography is available in Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vol. 8, p. 227).
(3) “Y’ariz”: “to unite and assemble.” Fath al-Bari (vol. 4, p. 93).
(4) Sahīh Muslim (no. 146), chapter Al-Imān: “Clarifying that Islam began as something strange.”
(5) Fath al-Bari (p. 1871), Section “Virtues of Medina,” chapter “The virtue of Medina and its expelling of people”; Sahīh Muslim (no. 1382 [488]), al-Ḥajj, chapter “Medina expels its evildoers.” Also transmitted by Malik in al-Muwaṭṭaʾ (vol. 2, p. 887), al-Jāmi‘, chapter “What has been reported concerning inhabiting Medina.”
(6) Al-Nawawī states in his Sharḥ Sahīḥ Muslim (vol. 9, p. 154): two interpretations have been offered for the phrase “eating its villages”: first, that it refers to Medina’s role as the initial base for the armies of Islam, from which they conquered villages and plundered their wealth and captives; second, that it signifies that Medina’s livelihood and portions derive from the villages it has conquered, to which the spoils are conveyed.
(7) In the t edition: “tannqi… yanqi.” The qāf here is a scribal error; the correct reading appears in the h edition and the two Ṣaḥīḥs.
(8) al-Dalāʾil (vol. 2, p. 519). Also transmitted by al-Hākim in al-Mustadrak (vol. 3, p. 3).
(9) In the h and t editions: “Sa‘īd ibn Sa‘īd,” a scribal error. The correct name appears in al-Dalāʾil and al-Hākim’s al-Mustadrak. His biography is found in Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vol. 10, p. 261). His brother is ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sa‘īd al-Maqbari.