The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had now stepped into the earliest days of his mission. His family stood before him as his first audience. He said to them with sincerity:
“No leader deceives his own household. If I were to lie to the whole world, would I lie to you? If I were to cheat all of humanity, would I cheat you? Allah, the One, is Truth. And I am His Messenger, sent to you and to all people. Allah is Truth. Just as you fall asleep, so too will you die. And just as you awaken from sleep, so too will you be resurrected. Good deeds will bring their reward, while sins will bring punishment. Before you lies either everlasting Paradise or eternal Hellfire.”
His words stirred sharp criticism among many of his relatives. But a few drew close, sensing the sweetness of this path. They embraced the Prophet’s ﷺ call at the very outset. The Qur’an itself praises these earliest believers:
“The foremost of the Emigrants (Muhājirūn) and the Helpers (Anṣār), and those who followed them with excellence—Allah is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. He has prepared for them Gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the supreme triumph.” (Qur’an 9:100)
Among the very first to accept Islam were four people, representing four categories:
- Khadījah (the first woman), the Prophet’s ﷺ noble wife.
- Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (the first man), later the first Caliph.
- ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (the first child), the Prophet’s ﷺ cousin, later the fourth Caliph.
- Zayd ibn Ḥārithah (the first servant), the Prophet’s ﷺ freed companion and adopted son.
Thus, the first Muslim woman, man, child, and servant all gathered around the Messenger ﷺ. Later, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — who would become the second Caliph — entered Islam as the fortieth believer.
The First Seventy-Three Muslims
By the early phase, Islam had attracted seventy-three believers. Their names have been preserved in history:
- Abū Bakr
- Khadījah
- ʿAlī
- Zayd ibn Ḥārithah
- Bilāl
- ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah
- Abū Fukayhah
- Shukhrān
- ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir
- Sumayyah
- Yāsir
- Umm Ayman
- Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ
- ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān
- Āminah bint Khalaf
- Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ
- Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydillāh
- al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām
- ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf
- Ayyāsh ibn Rabīʿah
- Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr
- Suhayl ibn Sinān
- ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn
- Miqdād
- Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam
- Umm al-Faḍl
- Abū Rāfiʿ
- Abū Salamah
- Umm Salamah (Hind)
- Abū ʿUbaydah
- Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt
- Qudāmah ibn Maẓʿūn
- Saʿīd ibn Zayd
- Fāṭimah bint al-Khaṭṭāb
- ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd
- ʿUmayr ibn Abī Waqqāṣ
- ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith
- Qudāmah ibn Maẓʿūn
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Maẓʿūn
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Qays
- Khunays ibn Ḥudhāfah
- Asmā’ bint al-Ṣiddīq
- Salīṭ ibn ʿAmr
- Ibn Khuzaymah al-Khārri
- ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd
- ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah
- ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah al-Anasī
- Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī
- Māzin ibn Mālik
- Ḥāṭib ibn al-Ḥārith
- Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib
- Asmā’ bint ʿUmays
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Jahsh
- Anīs ibn Junādah al-Ghifārī
- al-Muṭṭalib ibn Azhar
- al-Sā’ib ibn ʿUthmān
- al-Khaṭṭāb ibn al-Ḥārith
- Maʿmar ibn al-Ḥārith
- Fāṭimah bint Mujallal
- Abū Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Mughīrah
- Ḥāṭib ibn ʿUmar
- Ibn Mulayḥ
- Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbdillāh
- Ramla bint Abī ʿAwf
- Khālid ibn Bukayr
- ʿĀmir ibn Bukayr
- Masʿūd ibn al-Qārī
- Iyās ibn ʿAbd Yālīl
- Wāqid ibn ʿAbdillāh
- ʿĀqil ibn Bukayr
- Asmā’ bint Salāmah
- Fakhī bint Yasār
Glossary
- Muhājirūn (Emigrants): Those who migrated from Makkah to Madinah by Allah’s command.
- Anṣār (Helpers): The people of Madinah who welcomed and supported the emigrants.
- Khulafā’ (Caliphs): The four rightly guided successors after the Prophet ﷺ — Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī — who carried forward his mission.
- Radiyallāhu ʿanhum (“May Allah be pleased with them”): A phrase of prayer said after the names of the Prophet’s companions, affirming Allah’s eternal pleasure with them.






