The first pledge of al-Aqaba

In the pilgrimage season of the twelfth year of the mission, that is July 621 CE, twelve men from Yathrib came to Mecca, five of the six who had met the Prophet the year before and seven others. They gave their pledge to the Prophet at the Aqaba in Mina. ¹ Their pledge followed the pledge of women that was revealed in the year of the conquest of Mecca. ¹

Al-Bukhari relates from Ubada ibn al-Samit that the Prophet said to those who pledged: "Pledge to me that you will not associate anything with God, nor steal, nor commit adultery, nor kill your children, nor bring a slander you invent between your hands and feet, nor disobey me in what is right. Whoever keeps it, his reward is with God." ^{1 2 3}

The Prophet asked them to bring out twelve chiefs who would be over their people, with them. ⁴ The choice was made on the spot, and the book gives the names as they appear in its sources. ⁴

The Prophet sent with those who pledged Musab ibn Umayr as the first envoy to Yathrib, to teach the Muslims the laws of Islam and give them understanding of the religion, and to call those who remained in polytheism. ² Musab stayed in the house of As'ad ibn Zurara, and the two began to spread Islam with zeal and enthusiasm; he was known as "the reciter". ²

The book relates that As'ad went out with Musab to an orchard of the Banu Zafar, and Muslims gathered to them there. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh and Usayd ibn Hudayr (may God be pleased with him), the two leaders of their people of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal, heard of this, and they were still polytheists. Sa'd sent Usayd to drive them off. When Usayd came, Musab said to him: "Will you not sit and listen?" He sat, and Musab set Islam before him and recited the Qur'an to him. He became a Muslim and said: "How good and how beautiful this is!" Then Sa'd sent to his people, and by the evening there was no man or woman among them who had not become a Muslim, except one man whose conversion was delayed until the day of Uhud. ^{2 5 6}

Musab stayed in the house of As'ad calling people, until there was no house among the Helpers without Muslim men and women in it, except the houses of the Banu Umayya ibn Zayd, Khatma and Wa'il, who held back from Islam until the year of the Trench. ⁶ Then Musab went back to Mecca before the next pilgrimage season to tell the Prophet the news of Yathrib. ⁶

• The order and names of the chiefs follow the account of Ibn Ishaq, and some of the names are disputed, as noted in the margins. ⁷