The Second Pledge of Aqabah (Bay'at al-Aqaba al-Thaniya)

The covenant of protection and allegiance given secretly at Aqabah, on the last night of hajj about a year before the Hijra, by roughly 73 men and 2 women of Yathrib to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Unlike the First Pledge, it included a pledge of defensive military protection — the invitation for the Prophet ﷺ to migrate and become their leader.

Context (EP 025–026)

Within a year Mus’ab ibn Umayr (ra) had converted 250–300 people; the mass conversion of Sa’d ibn Mu’adh and Usayd ibn Hudayr, the young Aws leaders, brought whole sub-tribes in. The Ansar resolved: “For how long will we let the Prophet ﷺ be driven from valley to valley?”

The pledge

Held in secret in the last third of the night. al-Abbas — still a pagan — came to vouch for the terms, wary of these “young faces.”
Al-Bara ibn Ma’rur pledged to protect him “like our own.” Abu al-Haytham ibn al-Tayhan noted their ties with the Jews would break and asked if the Prophet ﷺ would later abandon them; he smiled: “My blood is your blood, my destruction is your destruction” — and kept it, dying and being buried in Madinah.
As’ad ibn Zurarah twice warned that this pledge meant war and death; they insisted. All 72 men pledged (to hear and obey, spend, enjoin good, speak truth, and protect him) in return for Jannah; the 2 women pledged verbally (he ﷺ never took a non-mahram woman’s hand). The two women: Asma bint Amr and Nusaybah bint Ka’b (Umm Umarah).
“Shaytan’s cry” (Ibn Hisham): a voice exposed the meeting; the Ansar offered to attack the sleeping Quraysh, but the Prophet ﷺ refused — “I have not been commanded to do this.”

Significance

The political birth-charter of the first Muslim community: an entire city inviting the Prophet ﷺ to lead it. Yasir Qadhi notes it was defensive, which is why the offensive of Badr later required the Ansar’s fresh consent. The pledge triggered the Hijra.

Cross-references

The First Pledge of Aqabah (Bay'at al-Aqaba al-Ula) · The Hijrah (Emigration to Madinah) · The Ansar (the Helpers of Madinah) · Mus'ab ibn Umayr (ra) · Sa'd ibn Mu'adh (ra) · Usayd ibn Hudayr (ra) · As'ad ibn Zurarah (ra) · al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (ra) · Madinah (Yathrib) · Muhammad ﷺ · Seerah Timeline

Sources

S005 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 025–026. Draws on Sahih Bukhari & Muslim (Jabir, Ka’b ibn Malik), Ibn Ishaq/Ibn Hisham.