Design and dimensions of the houses of the Companions and Prophet(peace be upon him)?

[Sunni_Student786]

As salaamu alaykum.

Does anybody have info regarding what building materials the house of the Rasul (peace be upon him) and his companions (may Allah be pleased with them all) were made from, or what their dimensions (i.e. size) were?

I would be interested in knowing anything related to the structure in which they, and the Tabi'een, lived, be it the colors used, the size of the structures, how many stories they had, etc., as well as any statements any of the aforementioned peoples may have made regarding those things.

If some of my more knowledgeable brothers and/or sisters could share some of that info insha'allah, I would appreciate it.

Jazakallahu Khair.

Wa'salaam.

[Alhumdulillah]

Assalamoalaykum...

1) Well... Abu Ayyub al-Ansari had a double story house, because remember the hadith about him and his wife not being comfortable staying on the top floor while Nabi SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam was staying on the bottom floor?

2) The house of Aisha RadiAllhu Anha... According to the Ulema, it was not a very big house at all, using as proof the hadith where Nabi SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam used to pray Tahajjud and Aisha RadiAllahu Anha had to move her feet when he wanted to do sajdah. If you think about it, they slept on their sides, facing the qibla, so their sides would be parallel to the 'length' walls - thus, when Nabi SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam was performing Salat facing the wall, and Aisha RadiAllahu Anha was sleeping parallel to the wall, Aisha RadiAllahu Anha had to move her feet up when he wanted to do sajdah, SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam. That just shows how small the house was.

3) Here are some pictures which are apparnently of the house of Khadijah RadiAllahu Anha in Makkah. Check out the plan especially. But please note, I don't know how correct these pictures are...

4) Remember the hadith about thre displeasure of Nabi SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam who saw that a certain sahabi was constructing a dome on top of his house?

5) It is not good to build houses and buildings and construct them without them being absolutely necessary.

[laughinglion]

In Ibn Rajab al-Hanbalis' commentary on the 40 of Imam an-Nawawi there is a little something on the houses of certain of the companions, as part of the commentary of one of the earlier [first ten] hadith. In this he alludes to the companions desire for inconsequential housing.

With Peace

[Alhumdulillah]

Assalamoalaykum....

Yeah, there are some nice hadith in Hayatus Sahaabah by Maulana Yusuf about the houses of the companions too...

Wasalaam.

[laughinglion]

What I have referred to above can be found in the commentary of the second hadith, the hadith of jibrail , and is as follows:

In his words, “… competing with each other in making tall buildings”
there is proof that it is blameworthy to compete boastfully,
particularly in making tall buildings. Building tall structures was not
known in the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, and his companions, may Allah be pleased with them. On the
contrary, their buildings were small according to necessity.
Abu’z-Zinad narrated from al-A’raj that Abu Hurairah, may Allah be
pleased with him, said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, said, ‘The Hour will not arise until people
compete with each in making tall buildings.’” Al-Bukhari narrated it.
Abu Dawud narrated a hadith of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him,
that, “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out
and saw an elevated dome and asked, ‘What is this?’ They said, ‘This is
so and so’s,’ naming one of the Ansar men. Its owner came and greeted
the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, but he
turned away from him repeatedly, and so the man demolished it.”
At-Tabarani narrated through another route also from Anas, and his
version has, “So the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
said, ‘Every building,’ and he gestured with his hand like this above
his head, ‘which is more than this is unwholesome.’” Hareeth ibn
as-Sa’ib said from al-Hasan, “I used to enter the houses of the wives
of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, during the
khalifate of ‘Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, and I could reach
the ceiling with my hand.”
It is narrated from ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he
wrote, “Do not make your buildings tall, because it is the worst of
your days.”
Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad said, “Hudhayfah, may Allah be pleased with him,
asked Salman, ‘Should we not build you a house, Abu ‘Abdullah?’ He
asked, ‘You are not making me a king?’ He replied, ‘No. We will build
you a house of cane, which we will roof with reeds that will almost
touch your head when you stand, and will almost touch both of your
extremities when you sleep.’ He said, ‘It is almost as if you had been
within my self [and seen what I desired].’”
‘Ammar ibn Abi ‘Ammar said, “If a man erects a house taller than seven
cubits, he is called, ‘O most deviant of the deviant, where are you
going?’” Ibn Abi’d-Dunya narrated all of it.
Ya’qub ibn Abi Shaybah said in his Musnad, “It has reached me from Ibn
‘Aishah that he said, ‘Ibn Abi Shumaylah told us, “The Muslims resided
around the mosque,”– meaning in Basrah – “in hair tents and then theft
spread among them. So they wrote to ‘Umar and he gave them permission
to use cane. They built with cane and then fire spread among them. So
he gave them permission to use clay bricks but he forbade anyone to
lift the roof above seven cubits, saying, ‘If you build your houses
with it, then build the mosque with it.’”’ Ibn ‘Aishah said, ‘Utbah ibn
Ghazwan built the mosque of Basrah from cane and he said, “Whoever
prays in it when it is made of cane is better than whoever prays in it
when it is made of adobe. Whoever prays in it when it is made of adobe
is better than whoever prays in it when it is made of baked brick.”’”
Ibn Majah narrated the hadith of Anas that the Prophet, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, said, “The Hour will not arise until people
boastfully compete with other [in building] mosques,” and a hadith of
Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I see that you will
exalt your mosques after me just as the Jews exalted their synagogues
and the Christians their churches.”
Ibn Abi’d-Dunya narrated from Isma’il ibn Muslim that al-Hasan, may
Allah be pleased with him, said, “When the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, built the mosque he said, ‘Build
it as a shelter made of palm-sticks covered with panic grass like the
shelter of Musa, peace be upon him.’” Someone asked Hasan, “What was
the shelter of Musa?” He said, “When he raised his hand he could reach
the shelter,” meaning “the ceiling.”

[Sunni_Student786]

Jazakallahu khair to everybody who has contributed! May Allah reward you all abundantly.

If anyone else has any other pertinent info to share that has not already been, such as color employed for example, or info on the dimension, size, stories, colors, etc. of houses during the time of the Tabi'een and/or the Taba at Tabi'een, then please do so as I would like as much information as possible regarding this issue insha'allah.

Once again, Jazakallahu khair.

[eTeacher]

Assalamoalaykum...
2) The house of Aisha RadiAllhu Anha... According to the Ulema, it was not a very big house at all, using as proof the hadith where Nabi SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam used to pray Tahajjud and Aisha RadiAllahu Anha had to move her feet when he wanted to do sajdah. If you think about it, they slept on their sides, facing the qibla, so their sides would be parallel to the 'length' walls - thus, when Nabi SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam was performing Salat facing the wall, and Aisha RadiAllahu Anha was sleeping parallel to the wall, Aisha RadiAllahu Anha had to move her feet up when he wanted to do sajdah, SallAllahu Alayhe Wa Sallam. That just shows how small the house was.

^^^ Some good points there. Also, those attachments were cool. I also wanted to add a point to the above point: The house was so small that it could only fit four graves: The blessed grave of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam. The grave of Abu Bakr (R.A.) and the grave of Umar (R.A.). There is still one more space left and that is for Eisa Jesus (A.S.) to buried there.

Aisha (R.A.) was asked by Umar (R.A.) to be buried there and she granted him permission. Also, Aisha (R.A.) wanted to be buried there, but after what happened between her and Ali (R.A.), she changed her mind about wanting to be buried there.

Allah Knows Best,
Sincerely,
Nazim Mangera

[Sunni_Student786]

...... Also, Aisha (R.A.) wanted to be buried there, but after what happened between her and Ali (R.A.), she changed her mind about wanting to be buried there. ...

Shaykh eTeacher,

Could you elaborate on as to why Hadhrat Aisha (R.A.) would not want to be buried in her own house after what happened between her and Hadhrat Ali (karamallahu wajhah)?

I don't see how those events would have any bearing on as to where she would want to be buried. Could you enlight me, and anyone else who has the same question, insha'allah?

[amtullah786]

I took this islamic art and architecture class last semester, we studied this and there is a lot of detail in my textbook, ill inshallah try to find my textbook and post some info up.

[hoopoe]

Assalamu alaikum,
the following site has a very good book available on line, Insha'Allah it will assist your query. Also there are many ruins in and around Madinah having been constructed of similar sand/mud as supposed to be used at the time of Rasulullah SAWS, the colours being a soft earthy brown. The roofs were of the trunks of the date palms with the dried leaves woven over this foundation. It is still possible to see places made like this ....the colours once again being the various tones of the dried trunks and leaves. One Alim who has made an indepth study of this has related that there were no doors as such, but for privacy they used the skins of animals hanging at the doors. Allahu 'Alum
www.imtiazahmad.com
The particular book is: The Houses of the Companions around the Prophet's Mosque
Insha'Allah this can assist you.
Wassalamu alaikum