The Mu'akhah: The Prophet's Institution of Brotherhood Pairings

One of the first acts of the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah, even before the Masjid al-Nabawī was built, was the institution of al-Muʾākhah (المُؤَاخَاة): the formal brotherhood pairings between the Muhājirūn (emigrants from Makkah) and the Anṣār (the people of Madinah who had received them).

❧The Need

Despite the generosity of the Anṣār, who were giving food, housing, half of their wealth, and even offering shares in their households, the Muhājirūn were still strangers in a new city. They did not know Madinah's markets, its neighborhoods, its social customs. They did not know whom to ask for help, whom to trust, or how to navigate a completely unfamiliar environment.

The Anṣār were generous in general, but generosity in general is different from having one specific person who is your brother, someone responsible for you, someone whose door you knock on first.

❧The Institution

The Prophet ﷺ did this himself, personally. Anas ibn Mālik narrates: "Hādha fī dārinā", "He did this in our area of Madinah." He literally sat down and called people one by one, a Muhājir, an Anṣārī, and declared them brothers.

Over 100 such pairings were made. Every Muhājirī male was paired with an Anṣārī. And the Prophet's choices were not random.

From the pairings that are recorded in history:

- Abū Bakr was paired with Khārijah ibn Zayd, a nobleman of the Khazraj, matching Abū Bakr's stature

- ʿAbdur-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf was paired with Saʿd ibn al-Rabīʿ, the wealthiest of the Anṣār, matching ʿAbdur-Raḥmān's background as a businessman

- Salmān al-Fārsī was paired with Abū al-Dardāʾ, two men of spiritual depth and asceticism

- Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib (who returned from Abyssinia in the 7th year) was paired with Muʿādh ibn Jabal, both from prominent families, both with scholarship

- Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān (who accepted Islam at the Conquest of Makkah, 8 AH) was paired with Ḥaṭṭāṭ al-Taymī

In every pair that history has preserved, we find genuine compatibility, shared background, shared temperament, or complementary strengths. The Prophet ﷺ was not matching people arbitrarily.

❧The Initial Legal Status: Brotherhood in Inheritance

In this first stage of the Mu'ākhah, the pairing was so complete that the two brothers would inherit from each other. If a Muhājir died, his Anṣārī brother would inherit from him, ahead of blood relatives who had not yet emigrated.

This was a temporary ruling necessitated by an extraordinary circumstance: the Muhājirūn had left behind all family connections. Their closest relatives were in Makkah, many of them still polytheists. The Anṣārī brother was, in practical terms, their family.

This ruling was later abrogated by Allāh in Sūrat al-Anfāl 8:75, revealed after the Battle of Badr (approximately 1.5–2 years later): "Wa ūlū al-arḥāmi baʿḍuhum awlā bi-baʿḍin fī kitābillāh", "And those related by blood are closer to one another in Allāh's decree." By this time, many Muhājirūn had established families in Madinah, and the extraordinary circumstances of the early period had changed.

❧The Mu'ākhah Was Not Temporary

A crucial historical point: the Mu'ākhah was not just an early-Madinah measure. The Prophet ﷺ continued it throughout the Madani period:

- When Salmān al-Fārsī accepted Islam (a few years after the Hijra), he was paired with Abū al-Dardāʾ

- When Jaʿfar returned from Abyssinia in the 7th year, he was paired with Muʿādh ibn Jabal

- When Muʿāwiyah accepted Islam after the Conquest of Makkah (8 AH), he was still paired

This shows the practice was not emergency protocol but a recognized Prophetic institution for integrating newcomers into the Muslim community.

❧A Neglected Sunnah

Scholars identify the Muʾākhah as one of the neglected Sunnahs most urgently needed in our time. The original context was clear: strangers had arrived with nothing, needing someone who was personally responsible for them. The general generosity of a community is not the same as one person saying: "I am your brother. Come to me first."

This need is particularly acute for converts to Islam. A person who takes the Shahādah has no Islamic family. They do not know how to navigate Islamic social life. They may not even know how to perform wuḍūʾ properly. Assigning them a "Mu'akhah partner", someone of the same gender who will personally guide them, check on them, and be their first point of contact, is exactly what the Prophet ﷺ would do.

The Prophet ﷺ praised the Anṣār so highly for what they did for the Muhājirūn that he said: "Lawlā al-hijra la-kuntu imraʾan minal-Anṣār", "Were it not for the Hijra, I would have considered myself one of the Anṣār." And: "Wa law salaka al-nāsu wādiyan wa salaka al-Anṣāru wādiyan la-salaktu wādiya al-Anṣār", "If all of mankind went in one valley and the Anṣār went in another, I would take the valley of the Anṣār."

The relationship between Muhājirūn and Anṣār was also declared a sign of faith itself: "Āyatu al-īmāni ḥubbu al-Anṣār, wa āyatu al-nifāq bughḍu al-Anṣār", "The sign of Imān is to love the Anṣār, and the sign of hypocrisy is to hate them." (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Muslim)