Ka'b ibn Malik

One of the most prominent of the Anṣār, a celebrated poet, and an eyewitness to the Second Pledge of Aqabah. He narrated the event in detail: how the Muslims of Yathrib slipped out of their tents one by one in the middle of the Hajj night to avoid arousing suspicion among their pagan relatives; how they converged on the valley behind the Aqabah; how al-ʿAbbās spoke first; how the Prophet ﷺ stated his conditions in the moonlit darkness.

Kaʿb ibn Mālik is most famous as one of the Three who stayed behind from the Battle of Tabūk without valid excuse. When the Prophet ﷺ returned, Kaʿb openly confessed rather than fabricating an excuse (as others did), and Allāh revealed a social boycott of all three. After fifty days of complete isolation, no one speaking to them, Allāh revealed their tawbah: "Wa ʿalā al-thalāthati alladhīna khullifū ḥattā idhā ḍāqat ʿalayhimu al-arḍu bimā raḥubat, And He relented toward the three who were left behind, until the earth became constrained for them despite its vastness." (9:118). The lifting of the boycott was one of the most joyful moments of his life.