BAY'AHI THE PLf,DGE TO ALLAH ALMIGHTY

Introductiotr
The word bay'ah, as dealtwith in this paper,refersmainly to a pledgeone makesto Allah
Almighty, usually on the handof an authorizedintenselypious person,with regardto one's
religiouscommitmentto Him, to His Messenger($) and His Message.The pledgeis,

therefore,a deeplyreligious action involving the orientationofone's life totally for Him and
for His sake.It is asifone is saying:"O my Lord, I havedecidedto redirect,andto dedicate,
andit is supposed
my life andall its activitiesto Thee,"Ifthis is saidin all seriousness, to be
like that, andone translatesinto actionone's commitment,it canonly result in major spiritual
gants andDivine Satisfaction.The pledgethus representsthe first steptowardsservanthood
that Allah Almighty brings one to. Of cou6e, part of the pledge is th€ r€alization that
ever),thingis achievedthrough Allah Almighty, and that it is His Hand that dirccts. The
taking of the hand of the intenselypious personis one's humble submissionthat Allah
personson accountofth€ir pietyto helpin the processofreligiousdirectionfor an
authodzes
individual.Acceptingreligiousauthoity basedon piery is an expressionof deeplove and
resp€ctfor thosespeciallyblessedby Allah Almightywith suchpiety.This kind ofreligious
authoritybasedon piety was a processlaunchedby the Messengerof Allah (g), and it has

beencanied forward by thosewho haveinheritedftom him and from other Prophets(a.s.).

It is clear, therefore,that the persontaking the pledg€ must recognizethat the one whose
handhe is claspinghas beenauthorizedto grant suchpledgeto Allah Almighty. Part of the
pledgeis the promiseto acceptthat personas a guide in spiritual mattersand even affairs of
this world. And throughthis guide one is linked, througha chain of blessings,back in
history, from one guide to another,right up to the Messengerof Allah (g). Similar chainsof

blessingsare recordedin lslamic history with the regard to the tansmission of Qur'anic
memorization, PropheticTraditions,anddifferentbranches ofreligiousknowledge
Fromthis it is clearthatthe pledgeis an extremelyseriousmatter.This is because, perhaps

for the first time in one's life, one takesan important consciousstandwith regads to Islam
"O
PerhaDsfor the first time, after very seriousconsiderationand deepthought' one says: my

T
Lord, I wantto walk the pathtowardsThee,fully conscious
of my religiousresponsibilities.
My Lord, guide me in this throughThy authorizedintenselypiouspeople."

Aspectsofthe pledgein the initial history oflslan

The pledgewas introducedat the begirningof Islamby the Messenger
of Allah (*f). He
"had acceptedthe pledge
at different times and ort different occasions.He had taken such
covenantsat the time of acceptingIslam, or for performing aclions accordingto all the
commandments of Islam."' Thereare, therefore,a numberof different pledgesalthoughthis
pap€rmainly concentrateson the one form. Thesepledgesinclude the pledge for acc€pting
lslutr, for jihad, to acceptthe authority of the Khalifah, agunsl committingmajor sins,and
for performing Islamic deedst(Of coursetoday, the observingof the pledge has to a large
degreedisappearedout of Islamic practice, and just respectedwithin the confines of the
tariqah orderc.In theseorders one's hand is placedin the hand of the .riav,ti of the order
whenonepledgesto Allah Almighty).
Thereare a large numberof PropheticTraditionson how the Messengerof Allah (*) used

the pledge at all times. The Blackwell Idealist for Windows site, for example,produced
seventy-twohits. Three of the more important public demonstrationsof the pledge by the
Messengerof Allah (*f,) are the two at Aqabahandthe oneat Hudaybiya.

The first public demonstrationof the pledge took place at Aqabah, a period before the
Hijruh to MadinaJJ.This event is refened to as the First Pledge at al-Aqabah, and it
replesentsthe beginningof the openingup of Madinah for the coming of the Messengerof
Allah (g):

... twelveHelpersatlendedthefair qt al-Aqsbqh this was thertr Aqabah- vherc

they gave the Apostle 'thepledge of women'. This u,as before the duty of makihg
war was laid uponthem.
... (Accordingto) Ubadab. al-Samit: 'l t)as presenl at theJirst Aqabah. Therewere
tu'elve of us and we pledged ourselvesto the Prophel ajler lhe mdnnet ofwomen
and that was before war was enjoined, the undertaking being that we should

I Sdv ar m Srali or. hnp wr.alinaam.orq.za,/lasawwuf/bal p. 2

aL.hrm,
) tuia.pp.:-:

z.
 associatenothing with God; we shouldnot steal; ,re should not commitfornication;
nor kill our of-sprihg; we should not slander our neighbours; we should not
disobey hith ia what wds right; if tre fu$lled fiis paradise would be ours: if we
committedany of thosesinsit wasfor God to punish or forgive us as Hepleased.l
The secondpledge at Aqabah took place at the fair the following year during the Days of
Tasbiq:
... the Muslim Ansar (ftom Madinah) came to the fair with the pilgims of their
people who werepolytheists.Theymet the Apostleat al-Aqqbahin the niddle of the
days of Tashriq,when God intendedh honour themand to help HisApostleand to
strengthenIslam and to humiliate heathenismand its devotees...
(Relqting the events),Ka'b ibn Malik said: "We slept that night amongour people
in the caravan until whena third of the night hadpassedwe wentstealingsofly like
sandgrousesto out appointmentwith the Apostle asfar as the gully by al-Aqabah.
mere were seventy-thrcemenwith t$'o of our v)omen...\tre gatheredtogetherin the
gully waitingfor the Apostleuntil he camewith his xncle al-Abbaswho wasat that
time a polytheist; albeit he wantedto be present dt his nephew'sbusinessand see
that he had a /irm guaruntee.Wen he (al-Abbas)sat doulnhe was theJirst to speak,
'O people of al-Khazraj (the Arubs used
the tem to cover both Khazraj and Aus).
you kno\ewhat position Muhammadholds among us. lle haveprotected him
from
ow ownpeople who think as we do abouthim. He liyes in honoxr and safetyamong
his people, but he will turh to you andjoin you. Ifyou thinh that you cah befaithful
to whatyou hadpromisedhim andprotect himfrom his opponents,then assumethe
burdenyou have undertaken.But ifyou think that you will betray and abandonhim
after he hasgone out with you, then leavehim now. For he is safe v'herehe is.' ltre
replied, 'You speqk O Aposlle, and choosefor yourself andfor your Lord whatyou
wish.'
"The Apostlespokeand recited the
Qw'on and invited mento God and commended
Islam arul thensaid, 'l ihyiteyour allegianceon the basisthat you protect meat you

I Cuillaume,A. 1968.Thellle of Mlthanna{ a trcnslqtion of lbn lshaq's Sirct Ratul. La\ore. Oxford
UniversityPrcss.pp. 198-199.

3.
 wouldyourwomenandchildren'...A\-Bara'wastheJiNt(topledge)and,hepeople
followedhim."
Now they boundthemsebesto war againstall and sundryfor God and HisApostle,
while hepromisedthemfor faithf l servicethusthe reward ofPoradise.
... Ubada b. al-Samit telated): "lk pledged ourselyes to war in complete
obediencetu the Apostle in \|eql and in woe, in ease and hardship and eil
circumstances;thqt we would not wrong dnyone:that we would speakthe truth at
all times:and that in God's semicewe wouldfear the censureof no one."
... The lotul humber of those ptesent at the second Aqabah from the Aus ond
Khazrajawere seventy-threemen and tu)o women who they allege pledged their
obediencealso. TheApostle usednot to sffike hand with women; he merelystoted
lhe conditiohs, and if lhey acceptedthem, he would say, "Go, I haye made a
covenantwithyou."s
Of course,with permissionto fight and supportfrom someof the people of Madinah,the
Messengerof Allah (ilg) orderedthe migation to Madinah.The peopleAom Meccawent in

small groupswhile the Messengerof Allah (gq) wait€d for Allah Almighty's permissionto

do the same.
The third pledge of major historical significanceis the Ridwan Pledgeof Allegiance(the
pledgeof appoval) that took placeunder a hee at Hudaybilryahwhen about I 400 Muslims
pledgedthemselvesto the Messengerof Allah (ig). This was a year A.H. 6 when the

Messenge!(g) decid€dto go on umrah during the month of Dlul Qa'dah. This pledgeof

Xlduan followed the Treaty of Hudaybilyah negotiatedwith the Qurayshby the Messenger
of Allah (tlg), In terms ofthe treaty the Messengerof Allah (lg) could only retum to Mecca

the following year. The pledgeis describedin the following way by Salamahibn al-Akwa'
who said:
We arrived at Hudsybityah with the Messengerof A ah (*) and we werc

fourteen hundred in nurnbeL There were lifty goats wilh us ,,ehichcould not be

a.TheAus ar:dtheKhazruj were two ofth€ tribes liom Madinah.

'cuillaume,A. op.ci..pp.201-212.
 wotered (tD/ the shall quantity of wate/ in the local
well). So,rhe Messengerof
A ah (&) sqt on the b nk of the well. Either heprayed
or spdt into the well. The
water vtelledup. Il/e drahk ahd wqtered(the beasts
as |9ell).
Then the Messengerof Allah (ffi) catted us to rake
the vow of aregiance, as he
was siring at the base of a rree. I teasthe
frst man ,o rake the oath. Thehorher
people took the oath. Whenhalf the number people
of had done so, he said to me:
"you take
the oath, Salamah.,'I said: ,,1was one of those u)ho
took the vow in the
Jirst instance.,,He said: "(you
nay do it) qgaih.,, Thenthe MessengeroJAltah (*)
saw that I was without weqpons.He gqvemea big or a
small shield.
Ihen he continuedto admihister voresto the people until
it was the lastbatch of
them.He said (to the): ,,ll/on,tyou na/earollegiance,Salamah?,,
I said: ,,Messengel
of Allah, I took the oath with the
fi$t botch of thepeople and rhen again rrhenyou
were in the niddle of the people.,' He said.. ,.(t doesn
t ma er), you may (do so)
again." So I took the oath ofallegiance th ce (SahihMuslim).
This is furtherexpandedort by Abdullah ibn Umar:
Thepeople ilere ,/,ith the prophet (*) on the day of al_Hudaybiyyah,
spreadout itl
the shadeof the trces.Suddenlythepeople swroundedrhe prophet
(#) and started
looking .tt him.
Umar said: "O Abdullahf Go and see why the people are
encircling Allah,s
Messenger(S) and looking at him." Abdullah ibn [Jmarthen saw
thepeople giving
the Pledge of Allegiance to the prcphet
6S). So he also gave the pledge of
Allegianceand retumed to lJmar who went out in his turn and gave
rhe pledge of
AlleEiance(to the proprer, (ig)) (SahihBukhari).

A very interesting incident happenedwith the pledge at Hudaybiyyah

with regard to
SalyidunaUthman(r.a.) who wasnot presentat the pledge:
The incident of the Ridwonpledge of Allegiancehappenedafter IJthman
had gone
to Mecca.Allah,s Messenger(:$) hetd out his tight hand sdyiag: .,This
is Uthman,s
hand." He strokedhis (othet) hand with it saying: -This (pledgeofallegonce)
is on

5.
 the behalf of Uthman" (reiatedby Abdullah ibn Umar, Sahih Bukhari). This means
that a pledgemay be giyen to o\e in abstentia.
Anas ibn Malik (Sahih BukharD statedthat the following verse in the Qur'an refers ro rhe
Treatyof Hudaybiyyah:
h t . . . a , , i - , 4 .
L-' l*l g! L*' U!

Veril! l{e hote grunledlou a rianifest victory ('.lviii.l)

At the time also, accordihg to Ahas ibn Malik the Companions0.a.) said to the
Messekgetof Allah ($): "Congrqtulations and we wish you happinessbut what

rewani shall we get." Allah Alnighty thenrevealedthe verse:

r , . 1 . , . . . L . . r i . . . . r i ' . . ,
JW)r t{:'ti J, Jr+, :ur :'rj.J' t .4rdt t4.

That He may admit the believingmen and womento gardensbeneqlhwhich fivers

/ow (xlviii: 5).
These verses, as palt of the chapter of al-Fath (The Victory), were revealed to the
Messengerof Allah (igt) when he was on his way back to Madimh from Hudaybiyyah.This

chapter contains two important statementson the pledge at HudaybilTah. In the one
statement,
Allah Almightysays:

' , . , . . 4 . . r . 4 1 r . l ., . . ,
W tjat ..tj-t At ..rt J.6lt 14

Verily thosewhopledgedto theedo no lessahanpledge lo Allah. The Hand of Allah b over

theb hands. Then one who violales his oalh, doesso to lhe ham of his own sout, and any
one whofulih what he hqs co'enanted with Allah, will soon begrunled q grcat reward
(xlviii: l0).
h the otherstatement,Allah Almighty says:
. .:, --2,. ..,r:. . i: . .,.: -.. ..".. .. .-'i. \.
H; Cqr' Jiii ;er'! Cn * |;i ,tLrg" tt ,*'|*Jt i :'t $:i'rd
l';JjlJt
q-i'6i'&;$('t

1.
 AIIah's Satisfaction wason the believe6 when theypledgedto thee under the bee. He
k rew N,hstwasin their heartt, and he fent dawn tranqaility to them, ond Ee rcx'atded
them N'ith a speedyvictory (xlviii: l8),

Lessonslearnt
Thereare a numberof lessonsabout the pledgethat one leams from this historical account,
andfrom other traditionson the matter.
'Although one placesole's hand in the handof a personauthorizedto take the ptedge,
the
pledge is made to Allah Alnighty. During the time of the Messengerof Allah (i*), he

acceptedthe pledgebut affer him it was acceptedby thosewho succeededhim and inherited
ftom him andthe other Prophels(a.s.),or thosepersons'representatives.6
*Allah Almighty placesHis authodty andapproval(His Hand, accordingto the verse)on the
pledgebeingtaken,of course,if it is takenin termsof the Divine Law.
rThe pledgeis of such a highly sensitivespiritual nan[e thal one's soul is comrptedif one

do€snot carry out the terms of the pledge.There is also for ole considerablereward if one
abides faithfully to its terms. If one sees the pledge as a "promise" or a "special
commitrnent"one makesto Allah Almighty with regardto one's faith and religious practice,
thenit is easyto understandits importance
+Ultimat€lyAllah Almighty is Witness,He seesand He knows, and He judgesvalidity ofthe
pledgeandits faithfi.rlness.He wimesseswiat is in the heads.
rwhen one pleasesAllah Almighty, He placesHis Satisfactio[ on that p€rson and pours

DivineTranquilityon him.
rThe pledgecan also be rcpeated.This was in fact very corrmon. A\r{ ibn Malik al-Ashja'i

reDorted;
lle, nine, eight or sevenmen,were in the companyof the Messengerof Allah (*)

and he said: "l(hy don't you pledge qllegianceto the Messengerof Allah?" lle had
recentlypledged allegiance. So we said: "Messengerof Allah, we hwe already
pledgedallegianceto you." He again said: "llhy don't you pledge allegianceto the
Mexenger of Allah?" And y,e said: "MessengerofAllah, we h,ovealreadypledged

u In SouthAfrica, I acceptthe pledgebut it is actuallyto MawlanaShaykhN6zim of Cyprus,anduhinately

to Allah. I alsohav€ari.r in the other provinceswho acceptth€ pledge,andso the linfts becomelonger.

7.
 He qgain said: ,.Wy don,t you pledge allegtance to the
allegiance to you."
Messengerof Allah?" Westretchedout our handsand said: .,Messenger
oJAttah,
we havealreadypledgedallegianceto you. Nowrell us (for what
we) shouldpledge
allegianceto you.,' He said; ,'(you mustpledge allegiance) that you
u,ill worship
Allah only and will not associateanythingwith Him, (observe)the
Jiveptayers, and
obey- (and he said onethihg in qn undertone)_ that you would not
begJor anything
jlom other people.,' (As o consequence of that) I sow that someofthese people did
not ask aq)one ro pick up the whipfot themif it
fell dowa (SahihM$lim).
*It also appearsthat the
Messengerof Allah (ig!) was reluctant to allolv a pledge to be

withdrawn.Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansarireponed:

A bedouintook an oath of allegianceih Isldm with the Messehger
of Allah (*t). A
fe,ret befell the bedouinat Madinqh. He cdmeto the MeEsengerof Altah, and said,
"Messenger
of Allah, release meftom my pledge.,, The Messengerof Allah (ffi)

refused.
Thenhe cameto him again snd said, ,,Releaseme
from ny pledge.,, TheMessenger
of Allah (,5) refused.

Thenhe came again and said, ,,Releasemefrom my pledge:, He (again) refused.

The bedouih lef. The Messengerof A ah (S) said, ,,Madinah is tike
fie
blacksmith'sfurhace. It /emoveEthe impurities dnd pwilies the good, (Al_
Muwatta).
*P€rhapsthe importanceofthe pledge
is bestsurnmed-upin the fadilion in which lbn Umar
reported:
I head the Messengerof Allah (ffi) sa)/: ,'Ohe who absolves his hand
from
obediencefty pledging) will meet Allqh on the Da)) of Judgemehtwithout any
ercuse, and one who dies without having takihg a pledge will die in a stateof
ignorunce(iahiliryah)" (SahihMuslim)

The pledgeby women

Allah Almighty statesin the Qu'an:

8.
 ) tij\ic;"'! .t"e ti1'o$
i \* nui jzl.t'uig |:tt,,i.c,(.;3$t Q-i.
t|Av o.rV 4 k1;-) j W )ti U-f-f;;; Af. :w.:ir|- | j,;,Lrrji.i,tk-

e:t';*A,\,bt;fr'$a"t
O Prophet! Whehthe believing womencometo theeto pledge to thee, that
the! ,iU nor
asrocialein x'otship aq) othet whqterer with A ah, that the! wilt not steal,
that ,hey will
,tot commit adurtery,that they wi not kilt theif childrcn, that rhq, i'ill
not utter slarrder,
intentionallylorgirrgfalsehood, ard they wilt not diEobeythee i| an! maaer,
thel accept
theh pledge,and pm! to Attah for forgiveners (for them)
for Allah is Most Forgirirrg,
Most Mercifd (lxt 12\
In a report,A'isha(r.a.)statesl
ll/hen the believing womencameto the prcphet
e&) as emigrants,he usedto lest
them in accordancewith the otder of AIIah: O you who beliere! When beliaing
vomen come to you .tEentigrants,examinethem ... (lx|. lO,),So if any one of
those
believing women accepted the above mentioned conditions, she acceDtedthe
conditionsoffaith.
Whenthey agreed on those conditionsand confessedthat verbally Allah,s Apostle
(W) would say to them:,,Go,I hqeeacceptedyour oath ofallegiance.,,By Altah,
the
hakd of Allah's Apostle g8) neyertouchedthe hand of any woman,but he only used

to take [heir pledge ofallegiance orully.

By Allah, Allah's Apostledid not takz thepledge of allegianceof the womenexcept
in accordancertith what Allah had ordered him. Wen he acceptedtheir pledge of
allegiahcehe would say to thern: ,,1hqve acceptedyofi oath of allegiazce,,(Sahih
Bukhari).?

7I fonnd the,following
tra drtior in Riyadh as-Satihinby Imam Nawawi (transtatedby S.M. Madni Abbasi,
vol. I, p. 346):Anasibn Matik )r.a.)relares lhat,..A maidseflant,tiom amongst$e;aids€rvanrsof
Madinah,would calchhold oflhe handof the propher({g) andrakehirn whereshedesied (to sotveher
grievance) (Bukhari).

?.
 Th€ Messengerof Allah (1S) also took the pledge in other ways, other than just doing it

orally. In a reportfrom Amir ash-Sha'bi,it is narratedthat:

Wen the Prcphet (*) receivedallegiancefrou vomen, his hand,ras coveredwith

a cloth."
A third methodusedby rhe Messengerof Allah (1S) is reponedin a radirion narated by the

gandfatherofAmr ibn Shu'ayb:

Whenthe Messengerof Allah ($) emigrated to Madinah, some womenwho had

becomeMuslim went to him and sqid: .,Messengerof Altah, our men have given
allegianceto you and we also want to giye you our allegiance." The Messengerof
Allah ($) calledfor a vesselof water andput his hand in ir and then eachwoman

put her hand ih it. This washoyl her allegiancetookplace_e

The pledgeby children

The Messengerof Allah (49, "according to the books of Nisa,i and Tirmidhi gave

initiation to Umayymah bint Ruqiyyah (when she was not seven yet). It was related by
Tabaranithat lzza bint Khalyil took initiation from the Messengerof Allah (ig) when she

was not yet seven. It wzts also narated by Tabarani in an authentic tadition that the
Messengerof Allah (1$) gave bay'ah to al-Hasan,al-Hussain, Abdullah ibn Abbas and

Abdullahibn Ja'farwhentheyweresevenyearsofage."'o
Thereis, however,a reportfrom Abdullahibn HishamthattheMessenger
ofAllah (ig)

refusedto gant the pledgeto him becausehe wastoo young.The report states:
Abdullah's motherZaynabbint Humaydtook him to the Prophet (#) and sqid:',O

Allah's Messenger!Takethepledgeof allegiqacefrom him."

But he said: "He is still too youngfor the pledge," and he passed his hand on his
(i.e. Abdullah's)headand invokedforAllah's blessingfor him.

'Ibn Sa'd,M. 1995.TheWonen

of Madina.London:Ta Ha Pubtishers,
p. L
'lbid. p. 6.
rornew.naoshbandi-ore/lopics/takine.htm,
p. 2

lo.
 Zuhrah ibn Ma'bad skned thst he used to go with his grandfather, Abdullah ibn
Hisharn, to the markct to buyfoodstuf. Ibn Umar and ibn az-Zubayrwould meet
him and say to him: "Be our partner, as the Prcphet (M\ invokedAllah to bless

you." So,he would be their partner, and wry often he would get a camel'sload (of
goods)and sendit hon e (SahihBukhari).

The dy'd& itr someof the differentsuli orden rt the C.pe

*The NaqshbandiOrder

The head of the NaqshbandiOrder in the world is Mawlana ShaykhNazim al-Haqqaniof

Lefke, Clprus. The author is his SouthemAfrican reFesentative.Of course,when one is in
Lelke one pledgesdirectly to Mawlana ShaykhNazim al-Haqqanibut anywhereelse in the
world the pledgeis receivedon behalf of him by his repres€fiatives,or othersappointedby
In a lette! to me MawlanaShayk:hNazinm explains:
him or by his representatives.rr

rr In SouthAfrica thereare quite a numberof individualsauthorizedto give ,a/'4, to MawlanaShaykh

Nazin. At the Capeis the authorandMuhammadSalih Salaam,in Gau&ngis ShahzadCovinder' in Kwa
Zulu-Natal Dr Y;suf Salejee,and in the EastemCapeShaykhMaj€die Jardine.The pledgeis also giv€n
lelephodicallyto thosewho cannotbe r€achedotherwise Sometimesa pledgemay be given without the
usualcontactbetweenthe personsinvolved in the Pledgeas wasthe caseofNabi Muhammad's(*) pledge
for SayyidatunaUthman(r.a.) at the pl€dgesat Hudaybilyah