from his father, from Kaʿb ibn Mālik—within the account of his remaining behind from the expedition of Tabūk—who said:
“I was present with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the night of al-ʿAqabah when we pledged ourselves mutually to Islam, and I would not trade that for having attended Badr, even though Badr is spoken of more among the people.” (1)
Al-Bayhaqī (2) said: “Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn Bushrān informed us; Abū ʿAmr ibn al-Sammāk informed us; Ḥanbal ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; Abū Nuʿaym (3) narrated to us; Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah narrated to us, from ʿĀmir al-Shaʿbī, who said:
‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ, accompanied by his uncle al-ʿAbbās, went out to the seventy men of the Anṣār at al-ʿAqabah beneath a tree and said,
“Let one of you speak and keep the address brief, for idolaters have their spies upon you; if they discover you, they will expose you.”
One of them—Abū Umāmah—replied, “Ask of your Lord, O Muḥammad, whatever you will; then ask for yourself whatever you will. After that, tell us what reward we shall have with Allah and with you if we do so.”
He said, “I ask you, for the sake of my Lord, that you worship Him and associate nothing with Him; and I ask you, for my own sake and that of my Companions, that you give us shelter, support us, and defend us just as you defend your own selves.”
They said, “What shall we have if we do that?”
He replied, “Paradise.”
They said, “That is yours.”’
Ḥanbal also transmitted it from Imām Aḥmad (5), from Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā, from Mujālid, from al-Shaʿbī, from Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī, and he mentioned it, saying that Abū Masʿūd was the youngest of them.
Aḥmad (6) likewise said—through Yaḥyā, from Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, from al-Shaʿbī—that neither the elders nor the youths had ever heard a sermon like it.
Al-Bayhaqī (7) further said: “Abū Ṭāhir Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mamḥash informed us; Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Faḍl al-Faḥḥām informed us; Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā al-Dhuhlī informed us; ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān al-Raqī narrated to us; Zuhayr narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUbayd (8) ibn Rafāʿah, from his father, who said: ‘A caravan carrying wine arrived, whereupon ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit went to it, ripped the containers open, and said, “We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to listen and obey in times of vigor…”’