Bay'at al-Ridwan (Pledge Under the Tree)

# The Pledge of Ridwan (Bay'at al-Ridwan)

The Moment Under the Tree

The Pledge of Ridwan occurred at Hudaybiyyah in Dhul-Qa'dah 6 AH, at a moment of acute crisis. The Prophet ﷺ had sent Uthman ibn Affan to Mecca as his envoy during the treaty negotiations. Uthman's return was delayed and a rumor circulated through the Muslim camp that he had been killed by the Quraysh. The Prophet ﷺ, when he heard this, announced: "We will not leave until we have fought them." He called the companions to come and pledge.

He sat under an acacia tree at Hudaybiyyah and extended his hand. The companions came, one by one, and pledged — pledging to fight to the death, to stand with the Prophet ﷺ and not flee the battle. Jabir ibn Abdullah, who was present, narrated: "We were not pledging to die — we were pledging not to flee." The distinction is important: it was a pledge of steadfastness, not a death wish, but it carried the gravity of a commitment made under the expectation of mortal combat.

When they came to the pledge for Uthman himself — the man whose apparent death had prompted the pledge — the Prophet ﷺ placed his right hand in his left and pledged on Uthman's behalf, saying "This is the hand of Uthman." In a moment of deep symbolism, the companion who was absent had his pledge offered by the Prophet ﷺ himself. Uthman's hand was the Prophet's ﷺ own hand.

The Divine Response

The Quran's response to this pledge is among the most direct divine honors given to any group of companions in the entire Quran. Surah al-Fath (48:18): "Allah was pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you under the tree. He knew what was in their hearts, and so He sent down tranquility upon them and rewarded them with an imminent conquest."

The phrase "Allah was pleased with the believers" (radiya Allahu 'an al-mu'minin) is the foundation of the Islamic formula for companions — "radiyallahu 'anhu" (may Allah be pleased with him) — that Muslims attach to the names of companions whenever they mention them. This phrase, when used for the companions of Hudaybiyyah specifically, refers to a divine satisfaction expressed in the Quran at a specific moment: Allah was pleased with these specific people who pledged at that specific tree. The hadith literature identifies those who participated in the pledge as approximately 1,400 in number, and records the Prophet's ﷺ statement that none of them would enter the Fire.

The Number and the Identity

The exact number who pledged — approximately 1,400 in most narrations, though some sources say 1,200 or 1,500 — is significant because it represents the entire Muslim community that had made the march from Medina. No one who had come was excluded from the pledge. Women who were present also pledged; the female pledge, according to the narrations, was verbal rather than through handshake — the Prophet ﷺ did not shake hands with women in the pledge. The companions who participated in Bay'at al-Ridwan held a special status for the rest of the Medinan period: to have been present at Hudaybiyyah and to have pledged under the tree was a permanent mark of distinction.

Umar ibn al-Khattab, during his caliphate, would sometimes receive news of a companion's death and say: "Was he of the people of Hudaybiyyah?" — meaning, had he pledged at Bay'at al-Ridwan? The answer affected the degree of mourning.

The Tree

The tree under which the pledge was taken was, according to later reports, subsequently cut down during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab. The reason given in the narrations is that companions were beginning to visit the tree and pray near it — behavior that Umar feared could develop into an innovation or a form of veneration that would become problematic over time. He ordered the tree removed. The exact location of Hudaybiyyah and the acacia tree is commemorated in the Saudi city of Ash-Shumaysi, at the edge of the haram boundary near Mecca.

The pledge itself — the moment, the tree, the Prophet's ﷺ extended hand, the companions' unanimous commitment — has been commemorated in Islamic memory as one of the greatest collective acts of the Medinan community. Fourteen hundred people, dressed for pilgrimage, their sacrificial animals ready, camped outside the city they had been prevented from entering, pledging to die together in obedience to their Prophet ﷺ. Allah was pleased with them.

Its Place in Islamic Memory

Bay'at al-Ridwan occupies a unique position in Islamic theology and spirituality because it is one of the very few events in Islamic history where divine pleasure is explicitly stated in the Quran for a specific group at a specific moment. The phrase "Allah was pleased with the believers" in 48:18 is understood by Islamic scholars as a statement of permanent, not conditional, divine satisfaction — not a satisfaction contingent on subsequent behavior, but a recognition of what was in those hearts at that moment under the tree.

This is why the formula "radiyallahu 'anhu" — may Allah be pleased with him — carries particular theological weight when applied to the companions: it invokes the same divine pleasure expressed in 48:18. To say it for Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, and the thousands of companions who pledged under the tree at Hudaybiyyah is to express hope that Allah's pleasure with them, declared in the Quran, continues. The companions who were present at Bay'at al-Ridwan represent the outer circle of those most distinguished in Islam — present at the moment the Quran itself says Allah was pleased. They pledged under a tree that no longer stands, in a place that is now inside a city, on a day they expected to die — and Allah said He was pleased with what was in their hearts at that moment. That is the theological weight of Bay'at al-Ridwan, and why it has been remembered and honored in every generation since.

Sources: Sahih al-Bukhari (Kitab al-Maghazi, Kitab al-Shurut); Sahih Muslim (Kitab al-Imarah); Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah; Surah al-Fath (48:18)