IN the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Almighty Allah declares in Holy Qur’an Rum, 30:9: “Do they not travel through the earth and see what the end of those before them was? They were superior to them in strength. They tilled the soil and populated it in greater numbers than these have done. There came to them their apostles with clear (signs) (which they rejected to their own destruction). It was not God Who wronged them, but they wronged their own souls.”
A discussion and examination of the holy flight of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Makkah to Madinah in 622 A.D. in the heat of persecution by idolaters, humiliation and near death, actually demonstrates Islam as religion of peace, and never a religion of terrorism as being falsely presented in the media. Almighty Allah attests in Holy Qur’an 9:100: “The vanguard (of Islam), the first of those who forsook (their homes) and of those who gave them aid, and (also) those who follow them in (all) good deeds, well-pleased is God with them, as are they with Him. For them hath He prepared Gardens under which rivers flow to dwell therein forever. That is the supreme felicity.”
But beyond the holy flight from his birthplace, Makkah, to Madinah with his lieutenants, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) notes that the best Hijrah is flight from sins, i.e., to eschew what God forbids and embrace what Almighty Allah commands. More so, Qur’an 3:110 says: “Ye are the best of peoples evolved for mankind enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong and believing in God. If only the people of the book had faith it were best for them; among them are some who have faith but most of them are perverted transgressors.”
Abdullah ibn Amr reported: A man asked, “O Messenger of Allah, which emigration is best?” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘To emigrate away from that which Allah disapproves. Emigration is of two kinds: the emigration of the resident and the Bedouin. As for the emigration of the Bedouin, he responds when he is called and he obeys when he is commanded. As for the emigration of the resident, its trial is more severe and its reward is greater. Also, a Muslim is someone who spares people the harm of his tongue and hand and a migrator is someone who migrates from what God has forbidden.’” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
This Hadith further admonishes us to abstain from committers of sins, the places of sins, and purveyors of sins through backbiting, gossips, curses, abuses, spying, and the likes. The Holy Qur’an, Hujurat 47:11-12, says: “O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others. It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former). Nor let some women laugh at others. It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former). Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames. Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness (to be used of one) after he has believed. And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong. O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible) for suspicion in some cases is a sin. And spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay ye would abhor it… But fear God for God is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.”
The Hijrah also teaches us to have holy flights from what may not be favourable to us in our work, and embrace a better career where necessary. The Holy Qur’an, Jum’a, 62:10, says: “And when the prayer is finished, then may ye disperse through the land, and seek of the bounty of God and celebrate the praises of God often (and without stint) that ye may prosper.”
Moreover, the Hijrah teaches us to have holy flight from our places of abode or place of origin and seek the bounties of God in unknown regions, especially when we are not appreciated by our own people or being made to denounce Islam. This is what the emigrants (Muhajiruun) did with Prophet Muhammad (SAW) on Hijrah day from Makkah to Madinah. The emigrants are given the highest honour and praise for having made a great sacrifice in the cause of God. He says in Qur’an 16:41: “And those who emigrated for [the cause of] God after they had been wronged, We will surely settle them in this world in a good place; but the reward of the Hereafter is greater if only they could know.”
Even the ultimate reward awaits such emigrants in this life and Hereafter. Qur’an 9:20-22 says: “The ones who have believed, emigrated and striven in the cause of God with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of God. And it is those who are the attainers [of success]. Their Lord gives them good tidings of mercy from Him and approval and of gardens for them wherein is enduring pleasure. [They will be] abiding therein forever. Indeed, God has with Him a great reward. O you who have believed, do not take your fathers or your brothers as allies if they have preferred disbelief over belief. And whoever does so among you, then it is those who are the wrongdoers.”
God also promises mercy and forgiveness to those who suffered hardships and exile and fought in His cause with patience and constancy. God Almighty says in Qur’an 2:218: “Those who believed and those who suffered exile and fought (and strove and struggled) in the path of God, they have the hope of the mercy of God. And God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.” And, “Then, indeed your Lord, to those who emigrated after they had been compelled [to renounce their religion] and thereafter fought [for the cause of God] and were patient. Iindeed, your Lord, after that, is Forgiving and Merciful” (Quran 16:110).
The promise of provisions and paradise is another grant to those who migrated for God’s cause. Almighty Allah says in Qur’an 22:58-59: “And those who emigrated for the cause of God and then were killed or died, God will surely provide for them a good provision. And indeed, it is God Who is the best of providers. He will surely cause them to enter an entrance with which they will be pleased, and indeed, God is Knowing and Forbearing”.
God encourages Muslims to migrate for comfort and prosperity. God says in Qur’an 4:100: “And whoever emigrates for the cause of God will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to God and His Messenger and then death overtakes him, his reward has already become incumbent upon God. And God is ever Forgiving and Merciful”.
God praises the people of Madinah who accepted Islam and who took in the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the emigrants who came to them as refugees. They did not welcome the refugees as a duty; but their generous hospitality was out of devotion, affection and love. God says in Qur’an 59:9: “And [also for] those who were settled in al-Madinah and [adopted] the faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them and find not any want in their breasts of what the emigrants were given but give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul – it is those who will be the successful”.
However, if we are being persecuted and oppressed in our places of origin, and we refused to emigrate by forsaking our home and brethren, and died in such oppression, God promised to punish such in the Hereafter. The Holy Qur’an, 4:97, says: “When angels take the souls of those who die in sin against their souls, they say: ‘Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves, [the angels] will say, ‘In what [condition] were you?’ They will say, ‘We were oppressed in the land’. The angels will say, ‘Was not the earth of God spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?’ For those, their refuge is Hell – and evil it is as a destination.’”
The Quran does not only mention the term Hijrah and its derivatives in reference to the physical Hijrah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his followers. It goes beyond this to the metaphorical scope of the concept of Hijrah. God the Almighty orders men to suspend sexual relations with their wives as a means of punishment to disobedient wives. God says in Qur’an 4:34, “Men are in charge of women by [right of] what God has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband’s] absence what God would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance, [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, God is ever Exalted and Grand”.
A similar meaning is found in the next verse wherein the Prophet Abraham’s father rejects his message and invitation to Truth. The spiritual lesson from this is that even if the father rejects the light, the son will never do so even if has to forfeit his father’s love and renounce his home. There is no sanctity associated with a particular place just because it is the place of one’s birth. The most important thing is religion and the freedom to practise it. Qur’an 19:46 states: “[His father] said, ‘Have you no desire for my gods, O Abraham? If you do not desist, I will surely stone you, so avoid me a prolonged time”. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is instructed to put spiritual and emotional distance between him and the disbelievers, though he must not do so grudgingly. He must, at all times, deal with them kindly and with mercy, and dissociate himself from them in a dignified manner. God tells him: “And have patience with what they say, and leave them with noble (dignity)” (Qur’an 73:10).
May Almighty Allah continue to guide us aright in our journey of life, Ameen.
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