Aqaba Oaths of Allegiance

In Medina Arabs lived together with Jews. The two Arabic tribes of the city, the Avs and the Hazrach, constantly fought with one another. In order to prevent these two tribes from joining forces against them, the Jews constantly fanned the animosity between them and gained great profits from the trade they made as a consequence. The Jews constantly told the Arabs that a prophet was going to come to them who would destroy the pagans. Under the influence of the Jews, the Medina Arabs were also waiting for a prophet. Going to Mecca to get support from the Quraish against the Hazrech, Iyas Muaz met with the Prophet and became a Muslim. He was the first Muslim from Medina. Those from Medina knew about the call to Islam from the first days of the mission. In addition, the Prophet’s grandfather Hashim had married a woman from the Nejjar clan of Medina named Selma bint Amr. She gave birth to Abdulmuttalib. For this reason, the Prophet had relatives in Medina. He also had some friends and acquaintances in Medina from the time he was busy with caravan trade. In other words, the people of Medina knew Prophet Muhammad well. In the Buas battles between the Avs and Hazrach tribes they gave each other heavy losses. They finally found the hostility between them to be meaningless. Both sides had begun to think of uniting under a leader they could follow. This search for a leader played a facilitating role to an important degree in the future foundation of the Medina Government with the Prophet as head of state.

While these conditions continued in Medina, a group from the Hazrech tribe going to Mecca for the pilgrimage heard the Prophet’s call to Islam. As he did every year at the pilgrimage, Prophet Muhammad invited all the tribes from the vicinity to Islam. When those from Medina listened to the Prophet, they said, “This is the prophet the Jews have foretold. Let’s submit to him before they do.” These people were six in number. When they returned to Medina, they explained Islam to the people.

The next year twelve Muslims from Medina secretly met with the Prophet at a place called Aqaba near Mecca. The Prophet received an oath from them in regard to not practicing polytheism, committing fornication, killing their children, making slander and rebelling against legally approved issues in Islam. He indicated that if they conformed to these, they would enter heaven. Mus’ab b. Umayr’i was sent after them to spread Islam in Medina. Islam received so much interest in Medina that in a short time there at least one person in every household became Muslim, with the exception of a few houses.

Called the First Aqaba Oath, the above oath has the character of an agreement on Islam’s creed and basic principles with the Muslims of Medina, which was determined to be a center for Islam. With this oath, the Prophet registered the new religion’s ideology. In other words, this oath had the character of a declaration putting forth the principles of the state that was being planned. The seeds of the foundation of faith of an individual Islamic state were planted in the hearts of these twelve people. The activities at this new center bore fruit in a short period of time: in the pilgrimage season a year later the Prophet received an oath from seventy-three new Muslims from Medina. These seventy-three people meeting secretly with the Prophet without the knowledge of the pagans in the Medina convoy shows that the convoy was composed of those who could keep secrets, and the selection of twelve prominent representatives during the oath-making shows that representational oath was taken from those in Medina. Mus’ab b. Umayr’s being at their head makes one think that the convoy did not come to Mecca simply for the pilgrimage, but for an organized meeting. With this second agreement with local Muslims from the new Islamic base, a promise is taken from them that they will protect Islam and Muslims against every kind of danger. It indicates that they will have great responsibility for the Islamic state that is to be established, and it reminds them that they have taken great risks upon themselves with this agreement.

Even though the Aqaba oaths do not have the nature of an agreement made by a state that has gained an individual and official status with another state, matters like the terms used in the oaths and representatives giving allegiance on behalf of groups they represent show that the oath carries a character of an agreement and alliance. At that time in the Arabian Peninsula as a requirement of social status, tribes comprised individual political units and an agreement could only be made among tribes. Therefore, this oath was not just an Islamic initiation ceremony.

It is interesting in respect to the role the Aqaba oaths played in the institutionalization of Islam that immediately after this event, Surat al-Hajj, verse 39 of the Quran was revealed giving permission to Muslims for war. With this verse, the message was given to Muslims to complete their other organization that would enable them to immediately take the pagans to account. As a matter of fact, the Prophet had commanded the Muslims in Mecca to immigrate to Medina as soon as the jihad verses were revealed. It can be said that preparations for the Muslims’ first jihad, the Battle of Badr, began with this oath.

The importance of the migration in regard to tactic and strategy is a subject that needs to be taken up on its own. This much can be said: the Islamic community, which had been bound under the rule of the Quraish, who dominated the religious, cultural and economic aspects of the Arabian Peninsula, found a solid base to stand on and obtained their freedom. We can understand the strategic importance of the migration from the extremely strong reaction the Meccan pagans gave.