Shortly before the Hijra, men from Yathrib — the town that became Medina — heard the Prophet ﷺ and believed in him. At a rocky pass called al-Aqaba they met him twice and promised to believe him and protect him in their town. Those promises were the start of a new home for the Muslims.
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The Pledges of Aqaba
A grown-up reads you the short text; the longer one you read yourself.
At the pilgrimage season of 621 CE the Prophet ﷺ met twelve men of Yathrib at al-Aqaba near Mina, and they pledged what is called the Pledge of the Women: not to associate anything with God, not to steal, not to commit immorality, and not to disobey him in what is right. Mus'ab ibn Umayr went back with them to teach Yathrib. At the next season, in 622 CE, seventy-five men and two women came and pledged to hear and obey and to protect him as they protected their own families, and the Prophet asked for twelve chiefs among them. Through these two pledges his message gained a political refuge in Yathrib and the Hijra began.
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