In the early years, when the Prophet ﷺ was quietly calling people to Islam in Makkah, Suwayd ibn al-Samit came for the pilgrimage. Suwayd was a poet from Yathrib (later Madinah), of Banu Amr ibn Awf of the Aws. He had heard of the Prophet ﷺ's eloquence and went looking for him. He told the Prophet ﷺ that he had something similar of his own. The Prophet ﷺ asked to hear it, and Suwayd recited his poetry. The Prophet ﷺ said, "What you have is good, but what I have is better." When Suwayd asked to hear it, the Prophet ﷺ recited the Qur'an to him. Suwayd was stunned and said he needed to think about it. He went back to Yathrib, and he was killed that same year in the Battle of Bu'ath, a war between the Aws and the Khazraj.
The Battle of Bu'ath was the climax of a civil war between the two Arab tribes of Yathrib (later Madinah), the Aws and the Khazraj. The war had lasted more than ten years. It began as small clashes over land, water and grazing rights, which grew until they ended in this major battle. Most of the senior leaders of both tribes were killed. Those left were mostly younger men, tired of a decade of bloodshed. The one senior leader still standing was Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul.
The Prophet ﷺ reached Quba, the settlement of Madinah closest to Makkah, around high noon on a Monday. In Quba he stayed at the house of Kulthum ibn al-Hidm RA, an elderly man of the Banu Amr ibn Awf. Kulthum RA was the first companion to die in Madinah after the Prophet ﷺ arrived. Another report says the Prophet ﷺ stayed at the house of Sa'd ibn Khaythama RA. Some reports combine the two. They say he spent the nights at the house of Kulthum RA, who was a married man with children. He spent the days at the house of Sa'd RA, who was a bachelor, so that visitors could come to see him without difficulty. His companion Abu Bakr RA stayed at the house of another of the Ansar, the Muslims of Madinah.