The Pledge Under the Tree

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān was still in Makkah, and a rumour spread — it was a time of war, so it was a time of rumours — that he had been killed. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) headed towards the camping ground of Banū al-Najjār; every clan had its own camping ground. Umm ʿUmārah (may Allah be pleased with her), a woman of Banū al-Najjār, said: I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) heading towards our tents, so I thought he needed something. He came and sat down and said, inna Allāha amaranī bi-l-bayʿah: Allah has commanded me to take the pledge. And he asked the first man to give him the bayʿah, and then the Muslims started rushing to give him bayʿah.

What was the bayʿah for? What were its terms? In one narration: to die — we pledge to die. In another narration: we pledge not to flee from battle. And in a third narration: nubāyiʿuka ʿalā mā fī nafsik — we pledge to you according to what is in your heart. This last narration is amazing: the Companions were willing to pledge to whatever. Whatever is in the heart of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), we will pledge to it, even if I do not know what it is. In fact, one might take from these three narrations — and Allah knows best — that the Companions were perhaps not sure exactly what they were pledging to, but they were still pledging, because whatever the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked of them, they would do. It can also be seen that the meaning of "to die" and "not to flee" is similar. This was the Bayʿat al-Riḍwān, the pledge of the pleasure of Allah: Allah was pleased with the Muslims after this pledge. Why did they give the pledge? It was because of the rumour that ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān had been killed.

Now, before proceeding, a few things about this pledge. The pledge was taken in the camp of Banū al-Najjār. So who are Banū al-Najjār? Banū al-Najjār belong to the tribe of al-Khazraj, and they are the maternal uncles of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), as was told in the Makkan period. They were like the close associates and the private soldiers of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made hijrah to Madīnah, he first settled with Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf, who are on the outskirts of Madīnah, and that is where he built the masjid of Qubāʾ. But when he went into Madīnah, where did he stay? He stayed with Banū al-Najjār, and the men of Banū al-Najjār surrounded the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), carrying their swords; they were the private force, the private soldiers of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). And now he came to them to take the pledge in their own camp.

Umm ʿUmārah said: my husband held out his sword in his hand, because now this was a pledge to die. So, Umm ʿUmārah said, I pulled out a pole that was holding up the tent, and I held it in one hand, and I stuck a dagger in my waist-belt, and I was ready to fight: if anybody came at me, I would stab him with the dagger and beat him with the pole. This was the preparation of Umm ʿUmārah. Even though they were only taking the pledge at that moment, she wanted to be ready to fight and to defend the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). This is how even the women of the Companions were. And because she saw herself as belonging to Banū al-Najjār, the fighters of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), she had to take part in it and be part of this fighting force. So she prepared herself to fight and die for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) — a position that many men, strong men, today refuse to take.