The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 305
IX - Exile 305 In history, this Bai‘at is renowned as ‘The First Bai‘at at ‘Aqabah’ , because the place where this Bai‘at was taken was called ‘ Aqabah, which is situated between Makkah and Minā. The literal meaning of ‘Aqabah is an elevated mountainous pass. Whilst departing from Makkah, these twelve new Muslim converts requested, “Please send an Islāmic tutor with us, who can teach us Islām and can preach Islām to our idolatrous brothers as well. ” The Holy Prophet sa sent Muṣ‘ab bin ‘Umair ra , a very devout young man from the ‘ Abdud-Dār tribe along with them. An Islāmic preacher was referred to as a Qārī or Muqrī 1 in those days, because the majority of their work was to recite the Holy Qur’ān, as this was the best method of preaching. As such, Muṣ‘ab ra was also renowned by the name Muqrī in Yathrib. 2 Popularity of Islām in Yathrib When he arrived to Madīnah, Muṣ‘ab bin ‘Umair ra stayed at the home of As‘ad bin Zurārah ra , who was the first Muslim of Madīnah, and was a very devout and influential leader. His home was transformed into a preaching centre and Muṣ‘ab ra began to perform his duties with full attention. Since the Muslims of Madīnah lived a collective life, and Madīnah was comparatively more peaceful, upon the proposal of As‘ad bin Zurārah ra , the Holy Prophet sa instructed Muṣ‘ab bin ‘Umair ra to begin offering the Jumu‘ah Prayer , 3 and in this way the Muslims began their life as a unified community. The blessings of Allāh were such as it was not long before the religion of Islām began to find popularity in every home of Madīnah. The Aus and the Khazraj began to accept Islām very rapidly. In some cases, the entirety of a tribe would accept Islām in one day. Thus, the Banū ‘Abdil-Ashhal tribe also accepted Islām in this manner, and became Muslim at once. This was a very distinct branch of the Anṣār tribe known as the Aus, and the chieftain of this tribe was named Sa‘d bin Mu‘ādh. Not only was he the chieftain of the ‘Abdul-Ashhal tribe, but he was the leader of the entire Aus tribe as well. When Islām began to find popularity in Madīnah, Sa‘d bin Mu‘ādh disliked it, and endeavoured to stop it, but he was closely related to As‘ad bin 1 Reader or Elocutionist (Publishers) 2 * As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Malik bin Hishām, p. 310, Al-‘Aqabatil-Ūlū wa Muṣ‘ab bin ‘Umair, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001) * Tārīkhuṭ-Ṭabarī, By Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad bin Al-Jarīr Ṭabarī, Volume 2, p. 247, Bābu Dhikril- Khabri ‘ammā kāna min Amri Nabiyyillāhi sa ‘inda Ibtidā’illāhi Ta‘ālā. . . . . . , Dārul-Fikr, Beirut, Lebanon, Second Edition (2002) 3 The Friday Prayer (Publishers)