- "Pledge allegiance to me on listening and obedience in times of activity and laziness, spending in times of hardship and ease, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and that you will speak for Allāh without fearing the blame of a critic. And that you will support me and protect me when I come to you as you protect yourselves, your wives, and your children, and for you is Paradise." Narrated by Aḥmad (3/322, 323-339) through various chains from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym from Abū al-Zubayr Muḥammad ibn Muslim, who reported from Jābir: "The Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) stayed in Mecca for ten years, approaching people in their dwellings at ʿUkāẓ, Majannah, and during the seasons at Miná, saying: Who will shelter me? Who will support me so that I can convey the message of my Lord, and for him is Paradise? Even a man would come from Yemen or Muḍar — as he said — and his people would say to him: Beware of the young man from Quraysh lest he mislead you. He would walk among their tents while they pointed at him with their fingers, until Allāh sent us to him from Yathrib, and we sheltered him and believed in him. A man from among us would go out, believe in him, learn the Quran from him, and return to his family, who would then accept Islam through his conversion, until there was no house among the houses of the Anṣār except that it had a group of Muslims openly practicing Islam. Then they all conspired together, saying: How long shall we leave the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) to be expelled in the mountains of Mecca and be in fear? So seventy men from us traveled to him during the season, and we made an appointment with him at the ravine of al-ʿAqabah. We gathered around him, one or two at a time, until we all met. We said: O Messenger of Allāh, shall we pledge allegiance to you? He said: (and mentioned the ḥadīth). We stood up to pledge allegiance to him, and Ibn Zurārah, who was among the youngest of them, took his hand and said: Wait, O people of Yathrib, for we did not travel the bellies of camels except knowing that he is the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) and that taking him out today means parting with all the Arabs, the killing of your best men, and that swords will bite you. So if you are a people who can endure that, your reward is..