As we spoke of the pledges given by the early Muslims to the Prophet (peace be upon him), we mentioned that such pledges spelled out the commitment new Muslims were making for the rest of their lives. This was a new aspect introduced in their life. Hence, it was necessary that they should know to what they were committing themselves. We also made clear that the difference between the pledges given by men and women was that men were additionally committing themselves to fight for God’s cause and be ready to give the ultimate sacrifice for it. Women’s pledges did not include this condition. They committed themselves to espouse no partners with God, and never to steal, commit adultery, kill their children, perpetrate any falsehood with regard to the parenthood of their children and never to disobey the Prophet in anything reasonable.
A question arises about the age a person must attain before making such a pledge. In other words: Did any children give pledges to the Prophet? And if so, what was their age? A report by Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Al-Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet’s grandson, states: “The Prophet accepted the pledges of Al-Hasan, Al-Husayn, Abdullah ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn Jaafar when they were young, none of them having attained puberty. He never accepted pledges from a child other than those belonging to us.” (Related by Al-Tabarani.) This report mentions four young people. The first two were the Prophet’s own grandsons, born to his daughter Fatimah. The third was his cousin, and the fourth the son of another cousin of the Prophet. This is the meaning of the comment included in the report that the Prophet only took pledges from children belonging to his own household.
Another report, however, mentions that the Prophet once saw Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr and Abdullah ibn Jaafar when they were only seven years of age. He smiled when he saw them and put out his hand to them. They shook hands with him indicating that he accepted their pledges. Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr did not belong to the Prophet’s household, but his mother, Asma’ was Aishah’s sister.
Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman also accepted people’s pledges of loyalty. Al-Bayhaqi relates the following report by Yazeed ibn Al-Afeef, who belonged to the generation that followed the Prophet’s companions: “I saw Abu Bakr with people coming to give their pledges to him when he succeeded the Prophet as ruler of the Islamic state. A group of people would gather and he would say to them: ‘Do you give me your pledges of complete obedience to God, His Book and then to the ruler?’ They invariably answered in the affirmative and he accepted their pledges. I was then just about the puberty age or a little over. I stayed for sometime until I grasped the conditions he spelled out, and then I said to him: ‘I pledge to you my complete obedience to God, His Book and then to the ruler.’ He looked up to me and then looked down, and I felt that he was pleased with me. He then accepted my pledge.”
Such then were the terms of the pledge of loyalty that the first caliph who ruled the Muslim state after the Prophet wanted to have from all people. The pledge may be compared today to voting in elections, since no ruler can take personal pledges from all his people. What the pledge makes clear is that obedience to God takes precedence over everything else. When obedience to God’s Book is mentioned it signifies abiding by all orders contained in the Qur’an. Obeying the ruler’s orders takes a secondary place to that, because no one may be obeyed in what constitutes disobedience to God. This is the reason why Abu Bakr phrased the pledge carefully so that obedience to God remains paramount.
The same terms were used during Umar’s reign, although the wording might differ a little. Anas ibn Malik reports: “I arrived in Madinah after Abu Bakr had died and Umar had assumed his position as caliph. I said to him: ‘Put out your hand so that I give you my pledge in the same terms as I pledged to your predecessor: To obey you as far as I can.” Umayr ibn Atiyyah Al-Laythi reports: “When I went to Umar I said to him: ‘Put out your hand - may it always remain highly placed - so that I give you my pledge in accordance with what God and His Messenger have ordained.’ Smiling, he put out his hand, and said: ‘You owe it to us to obey us, and we owe it to you to give you good counsel in all matters.’”
When Muslims speak of obeying their ruler, they signify compliance with all orders and regulations he may issue or promulgate. Needless to say, a Muslim ruler is bound to make all his orders compatible with the teachings of the Qur’an, and never to deviate from God’s message. Only then is he worthy of being obeyed. Therefore, a pledge given to a ruler could be made in very general terms, as was the case with Abu Bakr and Umar in the example quoted above. On the other hand, a pledge could specify some of the major points of the Islamic system. An example of the latter is related by Ahmad who mentions that a Persian delegation arrived in Madinah during Uthman’s rule. They gave their pledges to him specifying that they would never associate any partners with God, and that they would attend regularly to their prayers, pay their zakah, fast in Ramadan and abandon the festive occasions marked by the Zoroastrians. When they expressed readiness to fulfill these terms, he accepted their pledges.
A ruler also makes a pledge to the community, which is similar to the oath made today by rulers at the time when they assume power. When Umar died, the choice of a new caliph was assigned to a committee of six of the Prophet’s companions. Abd Al-Rahman ibn Awf soon relinquished his right and undertook the task of gauging public opinion to determine who was the most acceptable of the five to the Muslim community. His efforts led to the choice of Uthman as the third caliph. When this was announced Abd Al-Rahman ibn Awf took Uthman by the hand and said to him: “I give you my pledge in accordance with God’s law and the practice of His Messenger and the two caliphs who ruled after him.” Then all people followed suit and pledged their loyalty to Uthman.
