The First Pledge of Aqabah (Bay'at al-Aqabah al-Ula)

In the eleventh year of the Daʿwah, two years before the Hijrah, twelve people from Yathrib arrived for Ḥajj and sought a formal meeting with the Prophet ﷺ to take their oath of conversion. Ten were from the Khazraj and two from the Aws. This was the largest single group to convert from outside Makkah in the entire preceding decade, and, more significantly, it was the first time in living memory that the Aws and the Khazraj had come together for any common purpose.

The meeting took place openly in the camping grounds of Mina near the area of the Aqabah. There was no need for secrecy, the Prophet ﷺ was publicly preaching his message, and a small group of pilgrims taking an oath was unremarkable.

ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, one of the twelve, narrated the event himself in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī:

"I was of those who participated in the Bayʿat al-ʿAqabah al-Ūlā, the First Pledge of Aqabah. And we called it the Bayʿat al-Nisāʾ, the Women's Oath."

The Women's Oath was so called because it contained no political or military connotations. When women converted to Islam, the Prophet ﷺ only required them to pledge righteous living, not warfare or political alliance. The First Pledge was of this character, a pure oath of theology and morality.

The twelve swore:

• To worship Allāh alone and abandon all idols

• Not to fornicate

• Not to steal

• Not to kill their children (as was done in Jāhiliyyah)

• To live moral, upright lives

• To obey the Prophet ﷺ in all good matters

A note on context: by this time, the Isrāʾ wal-Miʿrāj had occurred and the five daily prayers had been given. But Zakāh, the fasting of Ramaḍān, the Ḥajj obligation, and the prohibition of alcohol were all still years away. To be Muslim in this period meant: worship Allāh alone and live righteously.

The reward the Prophet ﷺ described was simple and complete: "Whoever fulfills this, his reward will be with Allāh, Jannah. Whoever falls short and repents, Allāh will forgive him. Whoever does not repent may be punished."

After the pledge, the twelve requested help, someone to teach them the Quran and how to pray. From the more than 250 known Muslim converts, the Prophet ﷺ chose Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr, young, eloquent, deeply faithful, and sent him to Yathrib.