Al-Bukhārī records this report in several other places, and Muslim (d. 261 AH) likewise, through the chains of Abū ʿAbd al-Ṣamad and ʿAbd al-Wārith ibn Saʿīd.

Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (d. 256 AH) also relates—on the authority of al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah—that the site which became the mosque had been a threshing floor for dates belonging to two orphan boys under the guardianship of Asʿad ibn Zurārah, whose names were Sahl and Suhayl. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ negotiated with them over the land, but they replied, “By Allah, we give it to you, O Messenger of Allah!” He insisted, however, on purchasing it from them and only then built the mosque upon it. While carrying earth with the Companions he chanted:

“This burden is not the burden of Khaybar;
This is purer and more pleasing to our Lord.”

He also recited:

“O Allah, the truest reward is the reward of the Hereafter;
So show mercy to the Anṣār and the Muhājirūn.”

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah reports that Asʿad ibn Zurārah later compensated the two orphans with palm-trees he owned among Banū Bayāḍah, while others maintain that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself bought the land from them.

Ibn Isḥāq (d. 150 AH) adds that the threshing floor actually belonged to two orphan lads under the care of Muʿādh ibn ʿAfrāʾ—Sahl and Suhayl, the sons of ʿAmr—and Allah knows best.

Al-Bayhaqī (d. 458 AH) transmits—through Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā, al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥammād al-Ḍabbī, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Sulaymān, and Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim—from al-Ḥasan who said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was building the mosque, his Companions helped him while he too passed the bricks along until the dust covered his chest. He then said, “Build it as an ʿarīsh like the ʿarīsh of Moses.” I asked al-Ḥasan, “What is the ʿarīsh of Moses?” He answered, “When Moses raised his hands, they reached the ʿarīsh—that is, the roof.” This chain is mursal.

It is also related—by way of Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from Abū Sinān, from Yaʿlā ibn Shaddād ibn Aws, from ʿUbādah—that the Anṣār collected some money and brought it to the Prophet ﷺ, saying, “O Messenger of Allah, build and embellish this mosque; how long will we go on praying beneath these palm branches?” He replied, “I do not desire anything different from my brother Moses—a shelter like the shelter of Moses.”