After three years of trials, the loss of Abu Talib and Khadijah ﵂, the humiliation in At-Ta’if and months of searching for support among the Arab tribes, the Prophet ﷺ was still searching for nusra. Tribe after tribe had rejected him, some out of fear, others out of indifference, yet others with mockery. But Allah ﷻ had a plan that no one had foreseen. The help would not come from a powerful tribe from the south or the east, but from six young men from Yathrib, a city the Prophet ﷺ had never visited.
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The Prophet ﷺ: “Who are you?” The Khazraj: “We are the Khazraj.” The Prophet ﷺ: “You are the allies of the Jews?” The Khazraj: “Yes.”
So the Prophet ﷺ sat with them and invited them to Islam and recited a number of verses of the Quran. Although they had never met the Prophet ﷺ, they were familiar with his da’wah and with the Prophet ﷺ himself.
For years the Jews of Yathrib had warned them, or rather, threatened them. Whenever there was a conflict between the Jews and the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, the Jews would say:
A prophet will soon be sent. His day is near. We will follow him and with his help we will destroy you as 'Ad and Iram were destroyed.
These words had hung over them as a threat for years. But now, as they listened to the words of the Prophet ﷺ, that threat turned into recognition.
After the Prophet ﷺ had presented Islam to them, the men looked at one another. The recognition was immediate. One of them spoke the words that would change everything:
One of the Khazraj: “O people, by Allah, you know that this is surely the prophet with whom the Jews threatened you. Do not let them get ahead of you!”
They accepted the invitation of the Prophet ﷺ and became Muslim. They told the Prophet ﷺ about the native tribes of Madinah, namely the Aws and Khazraj, and that they were constantly at war with one another. And that they hoped that Allah would unite them through the Prophet ﷺ. After this they departed for home with the task of spreading the invitation further in their hometown.
The delegation consisted of six men of the Khazraj, each from a different clan:
- Abu Umamah ibn As’ad ibn Zurarah ﵁, from Banu al-Najjar, the most prominent among them and the first inhabitant of Yathrib to embrace Islam
- 'Awf ibn al-Harith ﵁, also from Banu al-Najjar, also known as Ibn 'Afra
- Rafi’ ibn Malik ﵁, from Banu Zurayq, a man known for his eloquence
- Qutbah ibn 'Amir ﵁, from Banu Sawad
- 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir ﵁, from Banu Sulaimah
- Jabir ibn 'Abdullah ibn Ri’ab ﵁, from Banu 'Ubayd
This was a turning point in the history of the da’wah. Through these six men, the message of Islam would reach every house in Yathrib. When they returned to their city, they spoke with such conviction and passion about the Prophet ﷺ that in the shortest time there was not a single household where the name Muhammad ﷺ had not been mentioned. The help of Allah ﷻ had come from an unexpected quarter; not from a powerful tribe with a thousand horsemen, but from six ordinary men who listened with their hearts.
The First Pledge of 'Aqabah
One year after the first meeting between the Prophet ﷺ and the delegation of the Khazraj, another delegation came consisting of 12 men (10 from the Khazraj and 2 from the Aws). The fact that there were 10 members from the Khazraj and 2 from the Aws indicated that:
- The da’wah had primarily focused on the Khazraj and less on the Aws
- Since the Khazraj had succeeded in bringing the da’wah to the Aws, after years of war, there was an indication of the beginning of harmony and unity between the two tribes.
The delegations gathered again at 'Aqabah, only this time they would take an oath: The First Pledge of 'Aqabah.
This oath would later become known as the Bay’at al-Nisa’, the pledge of women, not because women were present, but because it was a pledge without military obligation. The conditions were moral and spiritual in nature, the same conditions that would later be presented to women in Surah Al-Mumtahanah 60:12. Fighting had not yet been made obligatory at that point.
I was among those present during the first pledge of 'Aqabah. We were 12 men and gave the Messenger of Allah ﷺ the pledge of women (a pledge in which fighting is not made obligatory); and this was before fighting was made obligatory upon us.
We pledged not to ascribe partners to Allah in worship; not to commit fraud or adultery; to kill our children; not to lie; and not to disobey him in what is good.
He ﷺ said: “If you hold to this then Paradise awaits you. But if you commit these sins then the matter is with Allah ﷻ. If He wills He forgives and if He wills He punishes.”
'Ubadah ibn al-Samit ﵁, who was present at this pledge, narrated these words in Sahih Al-Bukhari.
With these twelve men, the Prophet ﷺ had for the first time a community outside Makkah that was willing to receive him. They returned to Yathrib with a promise, and the Prophet ﷺ sent with them Mus’ab ibn 'Umair ﵁ as the first ambassador of Islam, to teach them the Quran and to prepare them for what was to come.