Knowledge › History & Heritage

Al-Muslimun al-Awwalun — The First Muslims: A Community of Remarkable Diversity

المُسلِمُونَ الأَوَّلُون — المُسلِمُونَ الأَوَّلُون: جَمَاعَةٌ مِن التَّنَوُّعِ الرَّائِع
2 min read · 287 words

Al-Muslimun al-Awwalun (المُسلِمُونَ الأَوَّلُون — the first Muslims; approximately 610-615 CE, the secret and early open period of Islam in Mecca) formed a community of striking social diversity that itself constituted Islam's first theological argument: the message transcended every social category. The first believers included: a wealthy independent businesswoman (Khadijah), a teenage boy (Ali ibn Abi Talib), a prosperous merchant of great social standing (Abu Bakr), an enslaved African man (Bilal ibn Rabah), a Persian freedman (Salman al-Farsi, slightly later), a former swordsman of Quraysh who became a poet of faith (Khabbab ibn al-Aratt), and a woman from a competing tribe who would become the first martyr of Islam (Sumayyah bint Khubbat). Their diversity was not incidental — it fulfilled the Quran's repeated teaching that *'the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you'* (49:13).

The First Five Converts (Traditional Ordering)

  1. Khadijah bint Khuwaylid: First of all. She heard the Prophet’s account of the first revelation, immediately believed, and comforted him. Her faith established Islam before anyone else.

  2. Ali ibn Abi Talib: First young male. He was approximately 9-10 years old, living in the Prophet’s household. When the Prophet asked the family to pray with him, Ali immediately agreed.

  3. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq: First free adult male outside the household. His conversion brought several others: ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf, Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, Talha ibn ‘Ubaydallah, Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam — each significant in their own right.

  4. Zayd ibn Haritha: First freed slave. He was the Prophet’s adopted son (before the Quran clarified adoption does not create legal lineage).

  5. Bilal ibn Rabah: An Abyssinian slave owned by Umayyah ibn Khalaf — among the most severely tortured of the early Muslims. Umayyah laid him on burning sand in the Meccan midday heat with a boulder on his chest, demanding he recant. Bilal repeated: “Ahad! Ahad!” (One! One!) Abu Bakr eventually purchased and freed him. He became the first Mu’adhdhin (prayer-caller) of Islam.

The Social Structure of the Early Community

The Quraysh opposition was specifically class-based: they asked why the Quran was not revealed to “a great man from one of the two cities” (43:31) — meaning a wealthy aristocrat. The response from the Quran (49:13): distinction before Allah is through taqwa (God-consciousness), not lineage or wealth.

This theological claim was embodied in the early community’s composition: slaves stood in prayer beside their masters; Abyssinian and Persian freedmen sat with Arab nobles; the young with the old.

See also: Sahaba, Prophet Muhammad, Seerah Early Mecca, Seerah Hijra Abyssinia, Bohra History, Ali Ibn Abi Talib

← All articles
← Previous
Surah al-Muzzammil — The Enwrapped One: Night Prayer, Heavy Words, and Prophetic Formation
Next →
Mafatih al-Khazain — The Keys of the Treasuries: Divine Knowledge and the Inexhaustible Quran
✦

More in History & Heritage

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) — The Seal of Prophets

The life, mission, and legacy of Sayyidna Muhammad ibn Abdullah (SAW) — the Seal of Prophets, the beloved of Allah, the Natiq of the final divine dispensation, and the one through whose lineage the Imamate continues in the Ahl al-Bayt. This is the foundation of every Bohra belief and practice.
Sayyidna Ibrahim al-Khalil (AS) — The Friend of Allah

Sayyidna Ibrahim ibn Azar (AS) — the Prophet Abraham — is the father of monotheism, the builder of the Ka'ba with his son Ismail (AS), and the ancestor through whom both the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) via the Ishmaelite line and a vast number of Prophets via the Israelite line descend. He is called Khalilullah (the Friend of Allah) and his trials are among the greatest in prophetic history. Hajj itself was established by him and restored by the Prophet (SAW).
The Fourteen Masumeen — Prophet and Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt

A reference guide to the 14 Ma'sumeen — Rasulullah (SAW), Syedatona Fatema (AS), and the 12 Imams — whose names, lives, and legacy form the devotional and theological core of Bohra and wider Shia Islamic tradition.
← Back to all articles