The Second Pledge of Aqabah (Bay'at al-Aqabah al-Thaniyah)

In the twelfth year of the Daʿwah, approximately Dhul-Ḥijjah, a few months before the Hijrah, approximately 75 people from Yathrib came for Ḥajj: 72 men and 2 women. For every one who made the journey, there were likely two or three Muslims in Yathrib who could not travel that year.

The Prophet ﷺ sent them a message: "Meet me on the last night of Ḥajj, in the last third of the night, in the valley behind the Aqabah, where you camp."

Two witnesses have left detailed accounts of that night:

Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh, one of the original six Khazraj converts (still a young boy at this point), summarized the entire Makkī Seerah in one line: "The Prophet ﷺ spent more than ten years in Makkah, going to the tribes during Ḥajj season, asking who would give him support. He found only one or two converts at a time, one from Muḍar, one from Yemen, here or there. Never en masse. Until finally Allāh guided us to Islam from the people of Yathrib. We believed in him and began to recite the Quran. Within that one year, not a single sub-tribe (raht) of the Aws and Khazraj remained except that some household had embraced Islam. Then we said to one another: 'Ilā matā nadharu Rasūlallāhi ﷺ yuṭradu fī jibāli Makkata wa yukhāf?, For how long will we leave the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ being expelled from one valley to another in the hills of Makkah, living in fear?' Allāh gave us this idea."

Kaʿb ibn Mālik, who would later be one of the Three whose repentance is recorded in Quran 9:118, narrated that many of these Muslims had hidden their Islam from their pagan relatives. In the middle of the Ḥajj night, they slipped out of their tents one by one, carefully, to avoid arousing suspicion, and converged on the valley behind the Aqabah.

The Prophet ﷺ arrived with his uncle al-ʿAbbās, who was still a pagan at this time. Al-ʿAbbās came out of genuine love for his nephew, not out of Islam; he converted years later.

Al-ʿAbbās spoke first. He looked at a gathering of mostly young, unfamiliar faces, the senior Yathribi leaders he had known from his trading days had all been killed in the Battle of Buʿāth, and he said: "Yā Khazraj! You know the status of this man among us, the Banū Hāshim. We have protected him from his own people, even while sharing their religion. He has honor and protection among us. But he has chosen to leave us for you. If you are certain you can live up to your conditions and protect him from those who oppose him, take him. If not, say so now. He is honored among his people."

Al-ʿAbbās was embarrassed. The Quraysh had tried to kill the Prophet ﷺ multiple times; the major assassination plot would come just weeks after this conversation. His words were largely tribalistic bravado. But his love for the Prophet ﷺ was real.

The Muslims of Yathrib responded: "You have spoken, Abbas. Now let the Messenger of Allāh speak. Yā Rasūlallāh, state your conditions. What do you require from us?"

The Prophet ﷺ stood in the darkness, only the moon and the faint light of the night. He recited Quran to them and then gave the terms of the pledge:

"You must swear:

• To hear and obey in ease and in difficulty

• To spend of your wealth in the way of Allāh

• To command the good and forbid the evil

• To speak the truth no matter the consequences, never lie

• To help me when I come to Yathrib, as you would help your own families and children, to make me one of your own"

Al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr stood up immediately: "We are people experienced in the arts of war, we have inherited it from our forefathers. This is an easy condition. Stretch forth your hand and we will give you the allegiance."

Then Abū al-Haytham ibn al-Tayyihān stood, a more measured man: "Yā Rasūlallāh, we have political treaties with the Jews of Yathrib. By accepting you, those treaties will be broken. Once Allāh gives you victory over the Quraysh, will you then leave us and return to your people?"

Consider what he said: he assumed, as a certainty, that Allāh would give them victory over the Quraysh. There were 75 Muslims from Yathrib against a city of thousands. But he already saw it. His fear was not whether they would win, it was whether the Prophet ﷺ would stay with them afterward.

The Prophet ﷺ smiled and replied:

"Lā, bal al-dam al-dam wal-hadm al-hadm."

"No. My blood is your blood. My destruction is your destruction."

Once I leave, I am permanently yours.

Then a voice from the gathering: "What will we get in return?"

The Prophet ﷺ said one word: "Al-Jannah.", Paradise.

"I cannot give you money, fame, or political power. But Paradise will be yours."

That was all they needed to hear.

Asʿad ibn Zurārah, one of the original six, Muṣʿab's host, one of the leaders of these Muslims, reached out and held the Prophet ﷺ's hand before he could raise it, preventing the rush. He said: "Ruwaydan! Wait! Calm down, everyone. Oh people of Yathrib, we have not traveled all this distance except because we know that this man is the Messenger of Allāh. Once his people expel him and he comes to us, you will be declaring war on all of them. Your necks will meet swords. The best of you will be killed. Fathers will lose sons. If you are ready for this, give him the oath. If not, this is your last chance to step back. Perchance Allāh will forgive you for withdrawing."

They said: "Oh Asʿad, enough. Remove your hand from his hand. We want to place ours."

One by one, all 72 men gave the Prophet ﷺ their pledge, placing their hand in his and swearing to protect him as they protected their own wives and children. The two women who were present gave their pledge verbally, the Prophet ﷺ never touched the hand of a woman who was not his family.

Al-ʿAbbās watched it all with great worry and irritation. When it was over, he said: "These are all young men. I don't recognize a single one of them." If al-ʿAbbās did not know them, Allāh and His Messenger did.

Within a few months, this night transformed history. The Prophet ﷺ migrated to Yathrib, which became Madīnat al-Nabī, the City of the Prophet.

When the conquest of Makkah came, and the house of Khadījah and the home of Abū Ṭālib were before him, the Prophet ﷺ turned his back and returned to Madinah. He lived in Madinah. He died in Madinah. He is buried in Madinah. He kept his word: al-dam al-dam wal-hadm al-hadm.

❧The Voice of Shaytan in the Valley

While the pledges were being taken in the darkness of Minā, a loud voice cried out from the valley, carrying far in the dead-silent pre-dawn desert air:

"O people sleeping in the tents! Do you not know that a group of rebels, the followers of the Ṣābiʾ, have gathered together to wage war against you?"

The Arabs would call anyone who left paganism to monotheism a ṣābiʾ (one who "sabi'a", departed from the old ways). It was their word for "convert to monotheism." So the voice was crying out: "The Prophet's people are plotting against you, do something!"

The Prophet ﷺ recognized the voice immediately. He said: "This is Azab ibn Uzayb, the Shayṭān of ʿAqabah." And he called out: "Wallāhi yā ʿaduwwallāh, I swear by Allah, O enemy of Allah, I will deal with you."

Shayṭān, who normally operates in secret and through whispers, had become so overwhelmed by what he was witnessing, the political foundation of the Islamic state being laid, that he abandoned his usual concealment and screamed out loud into the human world. It was an act of desperation.

The Prophet ﷺ knew the names of the Jinn and Shayāṭīn who inhabited particular valleys. This is consistent with other hadith. The Shayāṭīn inhabit the abandoned, uninhabited places, the empty valleys, the wilderness.

When the Anṣār heard the voice, their Imān answered: "Yā Rasūlallāh, we are 70 armed men. We could launch an attack on the tents right now, before they even wake." The instinct of the warrior: preempt. They were eager to protect.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Lam umar bi dhālik, I have not been commanded to do this." This is not my method. I have not been given permission to kill people in their sleep. The covenant was for defense, not offense.

The meeting concluded quickly. The people of Yathrib slipped back to their tents one by one, just as they had left, silently, without a trace.

The next morning, a delegation from the Quraysh went to every camp in Minā. They had heard the rumors and the voice in the night. They asked: "Did any of you meet with Muhammad ﷺ? Has any of you spoken with him secretly?"

The pagan members of the Khazraj tribes who had come for Ḥajj spoke up: "No, by Allah! None of us has met him. We know nothing." The Muslim members of the group remained silent, they did not speak a lie, but they sheltered behind the truth spoken by others.

And so the covenant remained secret. The new phase of Islam was about to begin.