Seerah - The Life of the Prophet (pbuh)

Second Pledge of `Aqabah
The following year, again during the season of pilgrimage, Mu]`ab ibn
`Umair t returned to Makkah with seventy new recruits to the faith.
They arranged a secret meeting with the Prophet r near the same
hillock. In this meeting they swore to protect the Prophet r in that
manner which they would protect their own families.
Hijrah (Migration)
Following this second pledge, the Prophet r announced that the
Muslims of Makkah were to migrate to Mad|nah. Leaving everything
behind, Muslims made their way to a city that promised them
protection. They travelled individually and in groups. The Prophet r
himself, however, had not yet left.
Emigration was a matter which Makkah would not tolerate. They knew
very well what that meant. Apart from guaranteeing the Muslims
deliverance from oppression at their hands, emigration carried the
spectre of expansion of the Muslims’ religion, and they could not
tolerate this. They decided to end Isl\m and its propagating in the only
way they knew how, and that was to assassinate the Prophet r.
The Arabs were a tribal community, so any damage done to an
individual meant facing the vengeance of an entire tribe and their
allies. This was one reason why assassination of the Prophet r had
never been easy. Here too, although the moment was right, it was not
an easy task. Conscious of the volatile nature of the matter, the leaders
of the Quraysh hatched a plot with great ingenuity.
It was decided that a group, comprising of individuals from each tribe,
would collectively carry out the assassination. This way there would be
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