At a glance
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Converts and those who leaveRefugees, migrants and diasporaBattles
Place in the story
- Victim · c. 613 CE – 622 CE · 1 BH†Historical
- Convert to Islam · c. 610 CEHistorical
- Military opponent · 624 CE · 2 AH† – 630 CE · 9 AH†Historical
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Overview
The first Muslim community — from the vulnerable companions in Mecca to Medina's society — is the kernel from which "the Muslims" became an umma with borders and sovereignty.
History
The early consensus was built on precedence: the first forerunners in the Sunni tradition are the Meccans first, then the Muhajirun, then the Ansar. In the Meccan decade the community was a persecuted minority worshipping in secret — some fled to Abyssinia, and its first martyrs fell: Sumayya and her family 1.
In Medina the community gained political form: whoever wished entered by faith and emigration; the Charter ordered it as a constitution with the independent tribes; and it stood firm at Badr, Uhud and the Trench 2.
Legacy
The very concept of "the Companions" — whoever saw the Prophet a believer and died so — seeded all the sciences of rijal, and made their collective uprightness the cornerstone of Sunni hadith doctrine; historians, for their part, read it as a term the later tradition built, with an isnad function 3.
Connections
- Has member
- Abd Allah ibn RawahaAbdullah ibn Abi BakrAbdullah ibn Mas'udAbu Burayda al-AslamiAbu Dharr al-GhifariAbu HurayraAbu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrahal-Miqdad ibn AmrAmir ibn FuhayraAsma bint Abi BakrBilal ibn RabahHamza ibn Abd al-MuttalibJa'far ibn Abi TalibMu'adh ibn Amr ibn al-JamuhMu'awwidh ibn AfraMus'ab ibn UmayrSa'd ibn Mu'adhSalman al-FarisiSumayya bint KhayyatUmm Ayman (Baraka bint Tha'laba)Zayd ibn Harithaal-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
- Persecuted by
- Abu Jahl (Amr ibn Hisham)Quraysh
- Fought by
- Abu Jahl (Amr ibn Hisham)Abu Sufyan ibn HarbAmr ibn al-AsIkrima ibn Abi JahlKhalid ibn al-WalidMalik ibn Awf al-NasriBanu NadirBanu Qaynuqa'Banu QurayzaHawazinThe Jewish communities of KhaybarQurayshThaqif
- Opposed by
- Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf
- Protected by
- the Negus of Aksum
- Lived in
- MeccaMedina
- Participated in
- The first migration to AbyssiniaThe HijraThe Battle of BadrThe Battle of UhudThe Battle of the Trench (al-Ahzab)The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)
People and things also explored
MuhammadMeccaThe Battle of BadrThe HijraQurayshMedinaThe Battle of UhudThe Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)
Sources
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Watt, Muhammad at Medina (1956)
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “The early Muslim community”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/group/early-muslims/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.