The first sword drawn
Makkah, in the earliest days, when the Muslims numbered only a handful.
Moment 1 of 1MakkahThe earliest days in Makkah1 min read
A rumour went round Makkah that the Prophet ﷺ had been seized.
Zubayr was very young at the time — the sources describe him as a boy or barely more than one. He heard the rumour, drew his sword, and went out into the streets of Makkah to look for him.
He found the Prophet ﷺ, unharmed, at the upper part of the city. Asked what he was doing, he said he had heard the news and had come.
It is reported as the first sword drawn in Islam, and it is worth being precise about what it was and was not. There was no battle. There was no plan. There was a child with a weapon he was in no position to use, running towards trouble because someone he loved might be in it.
That instinct — being the first to step forward — is what the sources keep noting about him for the rest of his life.
In this moment: The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
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Sources & review
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Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabirالطبقات الكبرى
Classical biography · Ibn Sa'd
Al-Isabah fi Tamyiz as-Sahabahالإصابة في تمييز الصحابة
Classical biography · Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani
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