Al-Wāqidī reports—through Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl, from Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, from ʿIkrimah—that Ibn ʿAbbās cited as evidence the verses of Ṣirmah:

“He dwelt among Quraysh a score less seven Ḥajj seasons,
ever calling—if only he might find a friend receptive.”

Ibn Jarīr relates the same (1) from al-Ḥārith, from Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, from al-Wāqidī, but with the wording “fifteen pilgrimage seasons,” a view that is exceedingly unusual. Even stranger is what Ibn Jarīr records elsewhere (2):

“I was informed by Rūḥ ibn ʿUbādah; Saʿīd narrated to us from Qatādah, who said: ‘The Qur’an was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ eight years in Mecca and ten in Madinah.’”

Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī used to say: “Ten in Mecca and ten in Madinah.”

This second opinion—that he remained in Mecca ten years—was also adopted by Anas ibn Mālik, ʿĀʾishah, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, and ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, according to Ibn Jarīr’s transmission; it likewise appears in a report from Ibn ʿAbbās recorded by Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (3) through Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from Hishām, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said:

“Revelation came to the Prophet ﷺ when he was forty-three years old, and he remained in Mecca for ten years.”

We earlier cited al-Shaʿbī’s statement (4): “Isrāfīl was paired with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for three years, conveying to him a word or two—according to another version, the Prophet heard his voice but did not see his form—after which Gabriel came.” Al-Wāqidī reports that some of his teachers rejected al-Shaʿbī’s view, and Ibn Jarīr attempted to reconcile the opinion that he stayed in Mecca ten years with the one that puts it at thirteen on the basis of al-Shaʿbī’s narration. Allah knows best.

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When the Prophet’s blessed caravan reached Madinah, his first stop was at the dwelling of Banī ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf—namely Qubāʾ, as already noted. According to the most widely cited report he stayed there twenty-two nights; other opinions say eighteen nights, and yet others “a number of nights exceeding ten.”

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, however, says: “three nights.”

The view most commonly accepted, mentioned by Ibn Isḥāq (5) and others, is that he remained with them in Qubāʾ from Monday until Friday. During this stay—whose exact length, as we have seen, is disputed—he founded the Qubāʾ Mosque.

Al-Suhaylī contends that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ laid its foundation on the very first day he arrived in Qubāʾ, basing himself on the Almighty’s words: “Indeed, a mosque….”