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:

1. Abū Bakr
2. Khadījah
3. ʿAlī
4. Zayd ibn Ḥārithah
5. Bilāl
6. ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah
7. Abū Fukayhah
8. Shukhrān
9. ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir
10. Sumayyah
11. Yāsir
12. Umm Ayman
13. Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ
14. ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān
15. Āminah bint Khalaf
16. Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ
17. Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydillāh
18. al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām
19. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf
20. Ayyāsh ibn Rabīʿah
21. Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr
22. Suhayl ibn Sinān
23. ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn
24. Miqdād
25. Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam
26. Umm al-Faḍl
27. Abū Rāfiʿ
28. Abū Salamah
29. Umm Salamah (Hind)
30. Abū ʿUbaydah
31. Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt
32. Qudāmah ibn Maẓʿūn
33. Saʿīd ibn Zayd
34. Fāṭimah bint al-Khaṭṭāb
35. ʿUtbah ibn Ghazwān
36. ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd
37. ʿUmayr ibn Abī Waqqāṣ
38. ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith
39. Qudāmah ibn Maẓʿūn
40. ʿAbdullāh ibn Maẓʿūn
41. ʿAbdullāh ibn Qays
42. Khunays ibn Ḥudhāfah
43. Asmā’ bint al-Ṣiddīq
44. Salīṭ ibn ʿAmr
45. Ibn Khuzaymah al-Khārri
46. ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd
47. ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah
48. ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah al-Anasī
49. Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī
50. Māzin ibn Mālik
51. Ḥāṭib ibn al-Ḥārith
52. Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib
53. Asmā’ bint ʿUmays
54. ʿAbdullāh ibn Jahsh
55. Anīs ibn Junādah al-Ghifārī
56. al-Muṭṭalib ibn Azhar
57. al-Sā’ib ibn ʿUthmān
58. al-Khaṭṭāb ibn al-Ḥārith
59. Maʿmar ibn al-Ḥārith
60. Fāṭimah bint Mujallal
61. Abū Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Mughīrah
62. Ḥāṭib ibn ʿUmar
63. Ibn Mulayḥ
64. Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbdillāh
65. Ramla bint Abī ʿAwf
66. Khālid ibn Bukayr
67. ʿĀmir ibn Bukayr
68. Masʿūd ibn al-Qārī
69. Iyās ibn ʿAbd Yālīl
70. Wāqid ibn ʿAbdillāh
71. ʿĀqil ibn Bukayr
72. Asmā’ bint Salāmah
73. 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.