The youthful faces of the Ansar, full of anticipation and joy at the arrival of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), together with the magnificent reception given to him by the majority of the Aws and Khazraj, led him (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) to undertake, before anything else, the establishment of a central place where Muslims could gather at different times and carry out educational, cultural, political, and military activities.

Worshipping the One God was also at the forefront of the programs brought by the Messenger of Islam. Therefore, he considered it necessary, before undertaking any other task, to build a place of worship for Muslims so that they could worship Allah and remember Him there during the times of prayer.

Indeed, there was a great need for such a center. There had to be a place where the members of the Islamic community (the Party of Allah) could gather every week on a designated day to consult one another about the affairs of Islam and Muslims and their interests. In addition to this weekly gathering, the general Muslim community would gather there twice each year to perform the Eid prayers. Thus, the mosque was the first building he constructed after his arrival in Medina.

During the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), the mosque was not merely a place of worship. All kinds of comprehensive Islamic knowledge and learning, including educational matters and other subjects, were taught there.

All religious and scientific teachings and subjects were taught there, even matters related to reading and writing.

Most mosques continued in this manner until the beginning of the fourth Islamic century AH. Outside prayer times, they were transformed into centers for teaching various branches of knowledge.

Perhaps the Mosque of Medina also took on the character of a literary center when leading Arab poets and eloquent speakers recited before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) poems that were consistent with Islamic teachings, moral principles, and standards. This was the case with Ka'b ibn Zuhayr, who recited his famous poem Banat Su'ad before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in the mosque. The noble Prophet rewarded him generously and honored him with a magnificent robe.

Likewise, Hassan ibn Thabit used to defend Islam and the Muslims through his poetry, and he would recite some of his poems in the mosque before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).

The study and teaching sessions held in the Mosque of Medina during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) were characterized by such remarkable excellence that when a delegation from Thaqif witnessed one of these sessions, they were deeply impressed and greatly amazed by the Muslims' strong concern for learning religious rulings and acquiring knowledge and sciences.

Judicial matters were also conducted in the mosque, including settling disputes and issuing judgments against criminals. Thus, the mosque at that time functioned as a court—in every sense of the word—performing all the functions that courts perform today.

In addition, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) delivered his passionate and exhortative sermons in the mosque to mobilize the Muslims for the struggle against the unbelievers and polytheists.

Perhaps one of the reasons for gathering in the mosque to acquire knowledge and learn the sciences was that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) wanted to demonstrate in practice that knowledge and faith are inseparable twins: wherever there is a center of faith, it should also be a place of learning.

As for carrying out judicial duties, providing social services, and making military decisions in the mosque, this was intended to make clear to everyone that his religion was not merely a spiritual matter disconnected from worldly affairs or unconcerned with the issues of life and material livelihood. Rather, it is a comprehensive and complete religion that not only encourages people toward piety and calls them to faith, but also concerns itself with their material affairs and the improvement of their social conditions. It does not, therefore, concern itself with one aspect while neglecting another; rather, it is an all-encompassing religion that takes care of both material and spiritual matters together.

This harmony and integration between knowledge and faith remained a matter of great concern to Muslims and was always before their eyes, even after educational centers and purely scientific institutions became independent in form and acquired their own dedicated places of study. They continued to build universities alongside mosques and establish institutes alongside congregational mosques, in order to demonstrate to the world that these two elements, which ensure the happiness of human life, cannot be separated from one another or allowed to drift apart.