By IMAM MOHAMAD BASHAR ARAFAT
Linguistically, the term hijrah refers to a “departure†or “migration,†and most commonly refers to the migration of the Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslim community to escape years of persecution and violence at the hands of the Meccan idolaters and finally establish a community of their own. The inability of the Muslims in Mecca to practice their faith freely led to God’s instruction to perform hijrah to another land, and so hijrah has always been about a journey to further one’s spirituality and faith and thus help in building a more just society.
Among extremist groups, however, hijrah represents the idea that it is obligatory for all Muslims to leave “lands of disbelief†and take up residence in the “true lands of Islam†(as defined by the extremists), and carry arms and fight non-Muslims and Muslims who disagree with their ways. Today, hijrah has been manipulated and stripped of its true significance and context, and has become a major propaganda tool used by Daesh and other extremist groups. They try to convince vulnerable individuals living in non-Muslim-majority countries that they are persecuted and don’t belong, and thus should emulate the Prophet’s hijrahand travel to the so-called Caliphate. Consequently, Muslims must stand against these distortions of Islam and revive the true meaning of hijrah spiritually and socially.
In order to evaluate the claim that Muslims must leave their households and perform hijrah, one must analyze the circumstances that led to the Muslims’ migration from Mecca in the time of the Prophet. After receiving the revelation of prophethood, the Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslim community became targets of relentless harassment from the Meccan community. They were enslaved, starved, and beaten because they believed in One God. The Meccans’ resistance to the Prophet’s message became so great that members of his community were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in foreign lands. The Prophet urged those who has no one to protect them, such as slaves and the weak, to migrate to Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) and seek protection from its Christian king. Even members of the Prophet’s family were forced out of Mecca, a journey known as the first Muhajirun, to Abyssinia. However, the Prophet Muhammad remained in Mecca and continued to spread the Word of God to those who would listen.
For thirteen years, the Prophet Muhammad continued to spread the message of Islam throughout Mecca, and endured constant persecution and harassment that limited his ability to freely practice his religion because of it. Despite these hardships, he neither raised his hands in retaliation, nor did he flee when his task as God’s Messenger seemed impossible. He remained steadfast in his service to God and freed the downtrodden from the oppression and subjugation of the Meccan idolaters. It was only when the Prophet Muhammad learned of the Meccans’ plot to murder him that he undertook to journey to Medina to spread God’s message of global mercy, peace, and justice.
This marks the second and most significant hijrah. It was in 622 CE that the Prophet Muhammad received God’s blessing and called upon his community to follow him on a daunting, 300-mile journey in search of religious freedom and, ultimately, belonging. And that is exactly what they found when they arrived in Medina. Hijrah was first and foremost for religious freedom, and it was in Medina that the Prophet Muhammad established the first Muslim community under the banner of Islam and forged an authentic Muslim identity. The importance of this hijrah is so great that it came to designate the first year of the Muslim calendar.
Those who migrated in both hijrahs were praised in the Qur’an 24 times in various chapters: “Those who believe, and have immigrated, and have struggled in the way of God with their possessions and their lives are greater in degree with God; and those, they are the triumphant. Their Lord gives them good tidings of mercy from Him and beatitude; for them shall be gardens wherein is enduring bliss, therein they shall abide forever. Surely with God is a tremendous reward†(9:20–22).
It is important to note also that when the Prophet Muhammad was able to return to Mecca eight years after his migration to Medina, forgiving and pardoning all those who fought him for 20 years and killed many of his disciples and family members, he said to all the people, “No hijrah after the return to Mecca, except the struggle in the path of God with good intentions†(Bukhari). This Hadith clearly shows that the purpose of hijrah was the pursuit of religious freedom. Since the Muslims were able to learn and practice their religion freely once they had returned to Mecca, there was no need for them to migrate anymore to Medina.
For the Meccan Muslims who migrated to Medina, it was more than just a migration to find a free and more secure place to call home. It was a chance for them to grow closer to Almighty God by being close to His Beloved Prophet Muhammad, the physical embodiment of Islam. Seeking knowledge purely for the sake of God is what is believed to be the true or ultimate form of hijrah, a belief echoed by the Prophet Muhammad in one of the most inspiring Hadith known to Muslims around the world: “Actions are judged by intentions, and everyone will get what was intended. Whoever migrates with an intention for Allah and His messengers, the migration will be for the sake of Allah and his Messenger. And whoever migrates for worldly gain or to marry a woman, then his migration will be for the sake of whatever he migrated for†(Bukhari and Muslim).
This saying of the Prophet Muhammad brings us to the crux of the issue facing the Muslim world today: Daesh is attempting to manipulate the purpose of hijrahand present it as a religious duty for “true†Muslims to travel to the so-called Caliphate and join the militant fight against the so-called kuffar (non-believers). There are serious flaws in this representation of hijrah. For one, the Prophet Muhammad was recorded as saying: “The true immigrant is the one who migrated from all the vices, bad behavior and actions. The true Muslim is the one who the people are safe from his tongue and his hand†(Bukhari). Although Daesh may paint the picture that their call for hijrah includes a departure from impure “Western†vices and behaviors, they will never be “true†Muslims by the Prophet’s definition, for all their actions jeopardize the safety and livelihood of those who cross their path. They paint the picture that the “Western kuffar,†who are hosting millions of Muslims in Europe and in America today, are actively trying to rid the world of Islam and persecuting Muslims to the point of extinction. By doing so, they are able to recruit whom they call the “true believers†of Islam to make their own hijrah to the so-called Caliphate and rebuild the community (ummah) of believers that was established after the Prophet Muhammad’s hijrah.
In its true form, hijrah is a movement forward, a migration toward a brighter, more just future where all believers are able to practice their faith freely with mutual respect to those who may differ in faith. The true hijrah of the Prophet Muhammad was a new dawn for humanity to prosper through these ideals and values that push wars and conflicts away and replace them with compassion, peace, and respect for God’s Will in this universe of cultural and religious diversity. His hijrah showed that the only difference God sees among the sons of Adam and Eve is their taqwa (piety), not the color of their skin, ethnicity, or wealth. The Prophet Muhammad’s hijrah began with freeing the oppressed. His hijrah was a declaration of women’s rights—their equality and equal responsibility with men in shaping the community of Islam, the religion of Abraham and all the prophets who followed. His hijrah was to tell the Muslims that the word of God starts with respect for human dignity. The Prophet Muhammad’s hijrah was truly an event that changed the course of history forever and declared to the world that God’s word is mercy, compassion, and love for all.
