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Ubada ibn al-Samit — The Man Who Gave Two Pledges: First Bay'a at Aqaba, First Teacher Sent to Medina

عُبَادَةُ بنُ الصَّامِت — الرَّجُلُ الَّذِي أَعطَى بَيعَتَين: أُولَى بَيعَةِ العَقَبَةِ وَأَوَّلُ مُعَلِّمٍ أُرسِلَ إِلَى المَدِينَة
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Ubada ibn al-Samit al-Ansari (عُبَادَةُ بنُ الصَّامِت الأَنصَارِيّ; c. 585-654 CE; from the Khazraj tribe; chief of Banu Awf; one of the Ansar who gave the first Bay'a al-'Aqaba; fought at Badr; narrated over 180 hadiths; qadi of Jerusalem) is remembered for two firsts: he was among the twelve who gave the First Pledge of Aqaba — the pre-Hijra pledge where the people of Medina accepted Islam — and after the Hijra, the Prophet appointed him as the first teacher to instruct the people of Medina in the Quran and the fundamentals of the faith, before the Prophet himself had arrived. The Quran's verse about the Aqaba pledge — *'Indeed Allah was pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you under the tree'* — encompasses his earliest commitment.

The First Pledge of Aqaba

The First Bay’a al-‘Aqaba (621 CE) was a turning point in Islamic history: twelve men from Medina came to Mecca at the Hajj season and met the Prophet secretly at night in the mountain pass of Aqaba. They pledged:

Ubada ibn al-Samit was among the twelve. The following year (622 CE), 73 men and two women gave the Second Pledge of Aqaba — the military protection pledge that made the Hijra possible.

First Teacher of Medina

After the First Pledge, the Prophet sent Mus’ab ibn Umayr to Medina as teacher — and also, according to some accounts, sent Ubada with him. Together they established the first Islamic educational presence in Medina before the Prophet arrived: teaching Quran, purification, prayer, and the basics of faith.

Standing Against Power: The Syria Incident

When Mu’awiya (then governor of Syria) attempted to conduct commercial transactions that Ubada considered contrary to the Prophet’s explicit prohibition of certain exchanges, Ubada publicly rebuked him and refused to comply. When Mu’awiya complained to Umar, Umar sided with Ubada.

See also: Seerah Abu Al Darda, Seerah Abu Bakr, Seerah Umar Ibn Khattab, Hijra, Prophet Muhammad, Quran Sciences

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