Sent ahead to Madinah
Yathrib, in the year or two before the Hijrah.
Moment 1 of 2Yathrib, later called MadinahShortly before the Hijrah1 min read
A group from Yathrib had met the Prophet ﷺ during the pilgrimage season and pledged allegiance. They went home and asked for someone to be sent back with them to teach.
The Prophet ﷺ sent Mus'ab.
He was young, and he was going alone into a town he did not come from, divided between two large tribes with a long history of fighting each other. His task was to teach the Qur'an and explain Islam to people who had every reason to be sceptical of a stranger from Makkah.
The best-known report from that year has a tribal leader coming at him with a spear, telling him to leave. Mus'ab's response was to invite him to sit and listen, and to leave if he did not like what he heard. He sat, listened, and accepted Islam — and much of his tribe followed.
By the time the Prophet ﷺ made the Hijrah, there was a functioning Muslim community waiting in Madinah. That is Mus'ab's work.
In this moment: The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Quick recall
Why was Mus'ab ibn Umayr sent to Yathrib, the city later known as Madinah, before the Muslims' migration there (the Hijrah)?
Sources & review
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As-Sirah an-Nabawiyyahالسيرة النبوية
Classical biography · Ibn Hisham, from the recension of Ibn Ishaq
Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabirالطبقات الكبرى
Classical biography · Ibn Sa'd
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