Twelve Deputies

the prophet [pbuh] then asked the group to appoint twelve deputies to preach islam to their people in madinah, to shoulder the responsibility of implementing the articles of this pledge and to guide the respective men of their own tribes in matters relating to the propagation of islam. the deputies elected were nine from al-khazraj: as‘ad bin zurarah bin ‘ads, sa‘d bin ar-rabi‘ bin ‘amr, ‘abdullah bin rawahah bin tha‘labah, rafi‘ bin malik bin al-‘ajlan, al-bara’ bin ma‘rur bin sakhr, ‘abdullah bin ‘amr bin haram, ‘ubadah bin as-samit bin qais, sa‘d bin ‘ubadah bin dulaim and al-mundhir bin ‘amr bin khunais. three others were from al-aws: usaid bin hudair bin sammak, sa‘d bin khaithamah bin al-harith and rifa‘a bin ‘abdul mundhir bin zubair. once again, those twelve men were sworn to act as surety over the affairs of their people just as the christ’s disciples did, and the prophet would act as surety over his people, meaning all the muslims.