al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr
al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr (d. 1 AH/622 CE) was one of the foremost leaders of the Anṣār and among the earliest inhabitants of Yathrib to embrace Islam. A member of the Banū Salamah of the Khazraj tribe, he played a pivotal role in establishing the connection between the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and the people of Yathrib before the Hijrah. The sīrah tradition remembers him as one of the principal participants in the Pledges of al-ʿAqabah and as a respected tribal leader whose acceptance of Islam helped pave the way for the emergence of the Muslim community in Madīnah.
al-Barāʾ was among the delegation from Yathrib that met the Prophet ﷺ at Makkah and accepted Islam. He subsequently participated in the Second Pledge of al-ʿAqabah in 13 BH/622 CE, during which the representatives of the Aws and Khazraj pledged to protect the Prophet ﷺ as they would their own families. The sources portray al-Barāʾ as one of the most influential figures among the Anṣār at this gathering. During the discussions preceding the pledge, he urged his companions to recognize fully the responsibilities they were undertaking and to remain steadfast in their commitment. His leadership and conviction contributed significantly to the success of the agreement that opened the way for the Hijrah.
A well-known episode associated with al-Barāʾ concerns the direction of prayer before the Hijrah. According to the reports, while traveling to Makkah he became convinced that he should pray facing the Kaʿbah rather than Jerusalem, even though the Prophet ﷺ had not yet received instruction to change the qiblah. When he later informed the Prophet ﷺ of what he had done, the Prophet ﷺ indicated that the prescribed direction at that time remained Jerusalem. The incident is frequently cited in the sīrah and ḥadīth literature as an illustration of al-Barāʾ’s devotion and his deep attachment to the Sacred House in Makkah.
al-Barāʾ did not live to witness the full establishment of the Muslim community in Madīnah. He died shortly before or soon after the Prophet’s ﷺ arrival during the year of the Hijrah, making him one of the earliest prominent Muslims of Yathrib to pass away. The Prophet ﷺ visited his grave and prayed for him, and the Anṣār remembered him as one of their most distinguished pioneers. In the sīrah tradition, al-Barāʾ ibn Maʿrūr is honored as a leader whose faith, foresight, and support helped prepare the way for the Hijrah and the founding of the first Muslim society in Madīnah.
## References
1 W. Montgomery Watt, “al-Barāʾ b. Maʿrūr,” in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., ed. P. Bearman et al. (Leiden: Brill, 1960). 2 Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya, trans. Alfred Guillaume as The Life of Muhammad (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955), 200–213, 230–31. 3 Ibn Saʿd, Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-Kabīr (Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1968), 3:617–20. 4 Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, The History of al-Ṭabarī, vol. 6, Muhammad at Mecca, trans. W. Montgomery Watt and M. V. McDonald (Albany: SUNY Press, 1988), 125–34. 5 Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, al-Iṣāba fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥāba (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1995), 1:146–48.