Hijra (Islam)

The "Hijra" (Arabic: هِجْرَة‎ hijrah), also Hijrat or Hegira, is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina between June 21 and July 2 in 622 CE.^[3]

Hijra of Muhammad

In June 622 CE, warned of a plot to assassinate him, Muhammad secretly escaped out of Mecca with Abu Bakr.^[4] Muhammad and his followers immigrated to the city of Yathrib, north of Mecca, in several steps. Yathrib was soon renamed Madinat un-Nabi, literally "the City of the Prophet", but un-Nabi was soon dropped, so its name in English is Medina, meaning "the city".^[5] The Muslim year during which the Hijra occurred was designated the first year of the Islamic calendar by Umar in 638 or 17 AH (anno hegirae = "in the year of the hijra").^[5] In the following chronology^[5] the city will be referred to as Medina, and the region surrounding it as Yathrib.

NB, Al-Biruni alone is in disagreement with Alvi, Ibn Sa'd, Abu Ja'far and Ibn Hisham on the above dates.^[6][7] The hypothetical dates in the retro-calculated Islamic calendar extended back in time will differ from the actual dates as they would have been be on the modern international Gregorian calendar. The Hijra is celebrated annually on 1 Muharram, the first day of the Muslim year, causing many writers to confuse the first day of the year of the Hijra with the Hijra itself, erroneously stating that the Hijra occurred on 1 Muharram AH 1^[5] (i.e. ) or even the hypothetical Gregorian date from retro-calculating on the Hijri calendar even though it actually occurred on (i.e. ).

Thus it is important to remember that whenever the tabular Islamic calendar invented by Muslim astronomers is extended back in time it changes all these dates by about 88 days or three lunar months as the first day of the year during which the Hijra occurred, , would be mistaken from Monday 19 April 622 to . The Muslim dates of the Hijra are those recorded in an original lunisolar Arabic calendar that were never converted into the purely lunar calendar to account for the three intercalary months inserted during the next nine years until intercalary months were prohibited during the year of Muhammad's last Hajj (AH 10).

First Hijra

The Hijra and other earlier Muslim migrations.

Technically, the first Hijra occurred in 615 when a group of Muslims was counseled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia (Abyssinia at the time), which was ruled by a Christian king, the Negus. Muhammad himself did not join this emigration. In that year, his followers fled Mecca's leading tribe, the Quraysh, who sent emissaries to Ethiopia to bring them back to Arabia. The nascent movement faced growing opposition and persecution. When Muhammad and his followers received an invitation from the people of Yathrib, they decided to leave Mecca.

Muslim account of Muhammad's Hijra

Context

In Mecca, at the pilgrimage season of 620, Islamic Prophet Muhammad met six men of Khazraj tribe from Medina, propounded to them the doctrines of Islam, and recited portions of Quran.^[8][9] Impressed by this, the six embraced Islam,^[10] and at the Pilgrimage of 621, five of them brought seven others with them. These twelve informed Muhammad of the beginning of gradual development of Islam in Medina, and took a formal pledge of allegiance at Muhammad’s hand, promising to accept him as a prophet, to worship none but one God, and to renounce certain sins like theft, adultery, murder and the like. This is known as the "First Pledge of al-Aqaba".^[11][12][13] At their request, Muhammad sent with them Mus`ab ibn `Umair to teach them the instructions of Islam. Biographers have recorded the considerable success of Mus`ab ibn `Umair in preaching the message of Islam and bringing people under the umbrella of Islam in Medina.

The next year, at the pilgrimage of 622, a delegation of around 75 converted Muslims of Aws and Khazraj tribes from Medina came, and they not only restated the formal promises, but also assured Muhammad of their full support and protection if the latter would migrate to their land. They invited him to come to Medina as an arbitrator to reconcile among the hostile tribes.^[14] This is known as the "Second Pledge of al-`Aqaba",^[15][16] and was a 'politico-religious' success that paved the way for his and his followers’ immigration to Medina.^[17] Following the pledges, Muhammad encouraged his followers to migrate to Medina, and in a span of two months, nearly all the Muslims of Mecca migrated to Medina.

During the early seventh century, Medina was inhabited by two types of population: the Jews and the pagan Arabs. The Jews there had three principal clans – Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nazir, and Banu Qurayza. The Arab pagans had two tribes – Aws and Khazraj. At that time, the Jews there had the upper hand with their large settlement and huge property.^[10] Before the encounter between Muhammad and the six men from Medina in 620, there ensued a terrible battle between Aws and Khazraj, known as the Battle of Bu'ath, in which many leading personalities of both the sides died and left Yathrib in a disordered state.^[18] Traditional rules for maintaining law and order became dysfunctional, and, without a neutral man with considerable authority over things, stability seemed unlikely.^[19] As the pagan Arabs of Medina lived in close proximity of the Jews, they had gained some knowledge about Scripture, and had heard the Jews awaiting the arrival of a future prophet. It is because of this knowledge, taken together with their need for an adjudicator, that the six men who met Muhammad at the pilgrimage season of 620 readily accepted his message, lest the Jews should steal a march over them.^[10][15]

The Migration

Upon receiving divine direction to depart from Mecca, Muhammad began taking preparation and informed Abu Bakr of his plan. On the night of his departure, Muhammad’s house was besieged by the appointed men of Quraysh in order to do away with him next morning. Muhammad had certain deposits of Quraysh who used to do so because of Muhammad’s honesty. Muhammad handed them over in the charge of Ali and directed him to return the deposits to their owners, and asked him to lie down on his bed assuring him of God’s protection. It is said that when Muhammad emerged from his house, he recited the ninth verse of sura Ya-Seen of the Quran and threw a handful of dust at the direction of the besiegers, with result that the besiegers were rendered unable to see him.^{[20] [21]} Soon Muhammad joined Abu Bakr, left the city, and the two took shelter in a cave outside the city. Next morning, the besiegers were frustrated to find Ali in Muhammad’s place. Fooled and thwarted by Muhammad’s plan, they rummaged the city in search for him,^[22] and some of them eventually reached the threshold of the cave, but success eluded them. When the Quraysh came to know of Muhammad’s escape, they announced heavy reward for bringing Muhammad back to them, alive or dead. Unable to resist this temptation, pursuers scattered in all directions. After staying for three days, Muhammad and Abu Bakr resumed their journey and were pursued by Suraqa bin Malik. But each time he neared Muhammad’s party, his horse stumbled and he finally abandoned his design of capturing Muhammad.^[10] After eight days’ journey, Muhammad entered the outskirts of Medina around June 622 CE,^[23] but did not enter the city directly. He stopped at a place called Quba, a place some miles from the main city, and established a mosque there. After fourteen days’ stay at Quba, Muhammad along with Abu Bakr started for Medina, participated in his first Friday prayer on the way, and upon reaching the city, was greeted cordially by its people.

See also

• Battle of Badr
• List of Islamic terms in Arabic
• Prophetic biography

References

External links

• Incident of the cave
• IslamiCity.com article on the Hijrah
• Articles, audios on the Hijrah