The Pledges of ʿAqaba and the Hijrah
How the Prophet ﷺ and the early Muslims migrated to Yathrib
During the pilgrimage seasons a delegation from Yathrib met the Prophet ﷺ at ʿAqaba. Two successive pledges opened the way for the migration (Hijrah) that would give the young Muslim community a home in the city later called al-Madinah.
Overview
This lesson covers roughly two years, from the first meeting between the Prophet ﷺ and a small group of men from Yathrib during the pilgrimage season, through two formal pledges at a place called ʿAqaba just outside Makkah, to the migration itself: Muslims slipping out of Makkah in small groups, the assassination plot against the Prophet ﷺ, his night departure with Abu Bakr, the three days in the cave of Thawr, and the arrival in Yathrib — soon to be renamed al-Madinah.
Context
By around 620 CE the Muslim community in Makkah had endured a decade of pressure. The boycott had been lifted, the year of sorrow had passed, and the Prophet ﷺ had returned bruised from Taʾif. He continued to present Islam to visiting Arab delegations during the pilgrimage months when Quraysh's grip loosened. Yathrib, an oasis city about 450 km north of Makkah, was very different from Makkah: it was agricultural rather than mercantile, home to two large Arab tribes (the Aws and the Khazraj) that had long feuded, and to three substantial Jewish tribes (Banu Qaynuqaʿ, Banu al-Nadir, Banu Qurayẓa). The people of Yathrib had heard Jewish neighbours speak of an expected prophet, and their internal wars had left many looking for a common arbiter.
The first pledge (First ʿAqaba, c. 621 CE)
According to Ibn Ishaq (transmitted by Ibn Hisham), the Prophet ﷺ met six men from the Khazraj at ʿAqaba, a mountain pass near Mina during the pilgrimage. They accepted Islam and returned to Yathrib. The following year twelve men from Aws and Khazraj came and pledged formally at the same place. They committed themselves not to associate anything with Allah, not to steal, not to commit unlawful sexual relations, not to kill their children, not to fabricate slander, and not to disobey the Prophet ﷺ in what is right — a wording preserved in Sahih al-Bukhari on the authority of ʿUbada ibn al-Ṣamit. The Prophet ﷺ sent Musʿab ibn ʿUmayr with them as a teacher.
The second pledge (Second ʿAqaba, c. 622 CE)
The following pilgrimage season, seventy-three men and two women from Yathrib came to the same pass. Under cover of night, and with the Prophet ﷺ's uncle al-ʿAbbas present as a witness even though he had not yet accepted Islam publicly, they pledged something more: to protect the Prophet ﷺ as they would protect their own women and children, if he migrated to their city. This is often called the pledge of war, because it committed the Ansar (the 'Helpers', as they came to be called) to defend the Muslims if fighting followed. Ibn Hisham, al-Tabari and later al-Mubarakpuri preserve consistent accounts of both pledges.
What this means
Once a safe haven existed, the Prophet ﷺ instructed his companions to leave Makkah for Yathrib. Over several months small groups slipped out, often at night, leaving property behind. Quraysh grew alarmed and, according to the Seerah tradition, met at the Dar al-Nadwa council to decide how to stop the movement. The plan they adopted was to send one young man from each clan so that the responsibility for the Prophet ﷺ's death would be spread across all clans and Banu Hashim would not be able to demand blood-vengeance from any single tribe. Warned by revelation (Qur'an 8:30 later refers to this), the Prophet ﷺ left his cousin ʿAli in his bed and departed with Abu Bakr, taking the unexpected southern route. They hid three days in a cave on Mount Thawr while Qurayshi search parties passed nearby, then travelled by a coastal path with a hired guide, arriving in the outskirts of Yathrib at Qubaʾ in Rabiʿ al-Awwal (September) 622 CE.
What is firmly established
Both pledges, the emigration of a large majority of Makkan Muslims to Yathrib, the Prophet ﷺ's departure with Abu Bakr, ʿAli sleeping in the Prophet ﷺ's bed, and the arrival at Qubaʾ where the Prophet ﷺ built the first mosque are attested across Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Hisham and Ibn Kathir. The renaming of Yathrib as 'Madinat al-Nabi' (the city of the Prophet), and later simply 'al-Madinah', is well established. The Hijrah later became the starting point of the Muslim calendar under ʿUmar's caliphate (although the Hijri year is counted from Muharram of that year, not from the day of arrival).
What is reported with less certainty
The popular story of a spider spinning a web and pigeons nesting at the mouth of the cave to disguise the fugitives is not found in the Six Books; it appears in later Seerah works and its chain has been criticized. It should not be presented as authenticated fact. The exact composition of the Dar al-Nadwa council and the identity of the disguised 'old man from Najd' (traditionally identified with Iblis) come from later narrative material.
Application today
The Hijrah changed nothing about the Prophet ﷺ's message and everything about its circumstances. For the Muslims it meant leaving homes, businesses and often family. It is a founding image in Islam that faith may require you to move — physically, socially, or in habits — for the sake of practising it well. Whenever a Muslim reorganises life around prayer, honest work or safer company, an echo of the Hijrah is present.
Timeline placement
First ʿAqaba c. 621 CE; Second ʿAqaba c. 622 CE; the Prophet ﷺ arrives at Qubaʾ on the outskirts of Yathrib in Rabiʿ al-Awwal 1 AH (September 622 CE). Follows Isra and Miʿraj; precedes 'Building Madinah'.
Reflection
The Hijrah asked people to leave what was familiar for what was right. Is there an arrangement in your life today that a similar move — of habits, company or place — would improve?