The Pledge of War

The next year a large group of believers came from Yathrib hidden among their tribe's pilgrims, seventy-three men and two women. In the depth of the night, in secret, they slipped away in small groups to the ravine at Aqabah to meet the Prophet ﷺ, with his uncle Abbas, not yet a believer but protective of his nephew, present to see his nephew's safety guaranteed.

This pledge was heavier than the first. Al-Bara ibn Ma'rur (ra) took the Prophet's ﷺ hand and said: by the One who sent you with the truth, we will protect you as we protect our own women and children. They pledged to hear and obey in ease and hardship, to spend in plenty and scarcity, to command good and forbid evil, to stand for Allah fearing no blame, and to defend the Prophet ﷺ if he came to them as they would defend themselves. And they asked: what is for us if we are true? He said: Paradise. They stretched out their hands and said: we accept.

One of them, As'ad ibn Zurarah (ra), made the believers count the cost out loud first: do you know what you are pledging? You are pledging war against all of mankind, red and black. If you fear that, leave him now. They answered that they would not withdraw their hands, and that they would keep the pledge though it cost them their wealth and their nobles killed.

When the pact was made, a cry went up from the dark, an enemy who had discovered them, and Quraysh roused, but the believers melted back among the pilgrims and the matter could not be proven. Yet the line had been drawn: Yathrib had bound itself to the Prophet ﷺ by oath. He chose twelve of them as leaders over their people, naqibs, and the way to the Hijrah was open. The believers of Makkah began slipping away to Yathrib in twos and threes, until almost none remained but the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr (ra), Ali (ra), and those held back by force.