After 5 years of Da’wah in Makkah, the first 3 years of which were characterised by the secret approach, the last 2 years saw the message of Islam being proclaimed in public by prophet Muhammad and his companions. However Islam was still largely confined to Makkah. The situation in Makkah was deteriorating day by day. It was becoming quite clear to the ruling elite of Quraish that Islam was gaining followers from all clans and all sectors of society. They started to escalate their campaign of repression, violence and torture.
Those of the Prophet’s companions who were weak and lacked tribal protection were subjected to a merciless campaign of persecution. It was in this context that the Prophet encouraged his companions to migrate to Abyssinia, where Negus, the Christian King was known for his love of justice and fairness. Most historians explain the Hijrah to Abyssinia as a means by which the companions were fleeing to save their lives.
Although not disagreeing with this thesis, Adil Salahi the author of Muhammad Man and Prophet suggests – quite convincingly – that apart from wanting to spare his companions from persecution and the loss of life, the Prophet had other definitive and more important objectives. These other objectives of the Hijrah to Abyssinia made it one of the first major political stratagems of the Prophet and a shrewd one at that.
Examining the list of migrants reveals that hardly any of the weak and vulnerable companions actually undertook the journey to Abyssinia. Had the prime objective been to escape torture and persecution, it would have been expected that the likes of Bilal ibn Rabah, Khabab ibn al-Arrat and others like them who had been subjected to unbearable torture, to join the travellers. But historians are certain that neither of these two travelled. Those who did make the Hijrah to Abyssinia included prominent members of famous clans who were afforded protection.
It is unacceptable to think that in tribal Arabia the likes of Uthman ibn Affan from the Ummayyah, Zubair Ibn Al-Awwam of Asad, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf of Zuhrah or Jafar ibn Abi Talib of Bani Hashim, belonging to highly placed families would be subjected to the level of persecution which would have forced them to emigrate. Highly significant to this point is that fact that even the noble Abu Bakr had embarked on this journey only to be persuaded otherwise by Malik ibn al-Dughunnah, who found it unacceptable that a man of his stature should leave Makkah! Salahi asks, “Why would he (Abu Bakr) travel when Bilal, a former slave whom he had set free did not find it necessary to do so?”
Amongst the other more important and definitive objectives of the Hijrah to Abyssinia identified by Salahi are:
1. Realignment of loyalties – the Hijrah to Abyssinia enabled the noble companions of the Prophet to realise that belonging to Islam meant putting loyalty to faith over all other loyalties including loyalty to tribe or clan.
2. Creating an impression of weakness – reliable reports suggest that in total 83 men and 19 women actually migrated to Abyssinia, historians say that those who remained in Makkah were less in number than those who emigrated. This impression of weakness meant the Quraish would somewhat dismiss the Muslim presence, particularly as those who remained with the Prophet belonged to the weaker and more vulnerable members of society. How could Islam be seen to present a real danger?
But for me the most profound and significant objective is what Salahi calls the objective of creating a “second base for Islam” and “establishing a new Muslim community”. The migration to Abyssinia afforded the fledgling Muslim community the opportunity of breaking out of an imposed confinement. The scope for Da’wah had now become broader, and the carriers of the Da’wah had the chance to take their message further afield.
The Community of believers were taught a vital lesson, that “it is possible to establish a Muslim society which implemented Islam without the presence of God’s Messenger to supervise that society and conduct its affairs.” Thus Da’wah, and presenting the universal nature of Islam’s message were the paramount reason for the migration of some of the most noble and influential companions of the Prophet to the far away land of Abyssinia. And it was the circumstances of the mission which dictated their return. They were on a mission to carry the message of Islam, to present its universal nature and to strengthen Islam by creating a second base.
This was no quick task. When Jafar ibn Abi Talib and those who were with him arrived in Madinah (signifying the last of the Muslims to have returned), he had spent around 15 years in Abyssinia. So important was this mission that the ‘Da’wah carriers’ were not asked to return even when Madinah was established as the capital of the Islamic State. When Madinah was in need of men, to fight in battles such as Badr or build civil infrastructure the Da’wah carriers had a more pressing job which kept them away from Madinah.
Nor was it a mission which was carried out in the absence of the Prophet’s knowledge and instruction. Historians confirm that contact with the ‘Da’wah carriers’ in Abyssinia was maintained throughout their stay. ‘Amr ibn Ummayah al-Damri who became Muslim in the 3rd year of Hijrah went to visit Abyssinia 3 times. On his 1st visit he requested the Negus to arrange the Prophet’s marriage to Umm Habibah. Amr’s last trip was to request Negus to send the ‘Da’wah carriers’ back to Madinah.
Neither was the stay of the ‘Da’wah carriers’ characterised by comfort and ease. Their mission was met with strong opposition. Asma bint Umays – Jafar’s wife was deeply hurt by Umar’s claim that, “We have a better claim than yours to the companionship of God’s Messenger.” She responded by saying, “We were in the land of hostile strangers, staying there only for the sake of Allah and His Messenger…We were abused and often experienced fear…” Of course the Prophet confirmed Asma’s assertion and replied to her saying, “He does not have a better claim to me than you”.
So important was the mission of the ‘Da’wah carriers’ that their leader, Jafar ibn Abi Talib, persuaded Abu Musa al-Ashari and a group of Muslims who intended to travel from Yemen to Madinah to join the Prophet but arrived in Abyssinia instead to stay. “Jafar would not have contemplated asking the Yemeni group to stay on in Abyssinia, had it not been for the fact that he was under specific instructions to fulfil a certain task”, writes Salahi. On their part the Yemeni group realised that the task which was to be done was important.
The task performed by the ‘Da’wah carriers’ was equivalent to Jihad for the sake of Allah. The Prophet gave Jafar and his group a share of the spoils of war. Salahi explains, “Those emigrants to Abyssinia were entitled to their shares because they came from one mission of Jihad and started another immediately”.
Salahi concludes: “Jafar and his fellow emigrants were asked by the Prophet to propagate the faith of Islam in Abyssinia. Their efforts were clearly met with opposition as is clear from Asma’s report. Of course, there was a favourable response from some people otherwise there would have been no need for them to stay in Abyssinia when Muslim forces in Madinah needed strengthening.
“The question here is how far were they successful? A report mentioned by Al-Qurtubi in his commentary on the Qur’an states that Jafar and his companions brought with them from Abyssinia 62 people who met the Prophet and believed in him, another report mentioned by Muqatil and al-Kalbi two prominent scholars in the early period of Islam suggest that those who came with Jafar included 40 people from Najran, 32 from Abyssinia and 68 from Syria. The very fact that such a delegation of Abyssinian Muslims came to see the Prophet is enough to clarify the nature of the mission undertaken by Jafar and his group in Abyssinia.”
Perhaps we too, here in the UK are ‘Da’wah Carriers’, with a mission and task at hand?
Excellent post. I think Salahi may have alluded to it but another reason why the Prophet sent the delegation to Abyssinia may have been to investigate whether that land was suitable for establishing the Islamic state.
Allah knows Best
The purpose of making hijrah, as your article nicely outlines is not merely to flee torture…
In fact, the sahaabah were looking to make islaam ‘dominant over all other ways of life’ (i.e. islamic state), or ‘the word of allaah supreme’ (all of which are quranic injunctions).
Clearly, this was not possible in Ethiopia as Negus maintained that christianity would be the law of the land, resigning Islaam to only a secondary place.
In madeenah, in stark contrast, the Prophet of allaah prepared the grounds so that the tribes, muslim and jew/mushrik would all pledge there allegiance/blind loyalty and even their lives in obedience to Allaah and his messenger. This is ONE of the reasons why the migration to Ethiopia was recalled.
And Allaah knows better.
Some quilliamites would have you believe that so long as there is freedom to preach Islaam, we may abandon our pursuit for khilaafah. They present ‘freedom of religion/da’wah’ as the maqsad of hijrah and khilaafah.
In the above example laid out by br Kalam, we see that Allaah’s messenger was not satisfied that Allaah’s deen be merely a religion under the rule of other religions such as christianity, even if there was relative ease for preaching and da’wah.
This was because the prophet saws and the sahaabah understood that ‘laa ilaaha illallaah’ had a universal application, from individual fasting to state level implementation of Allaah’s prescribed way of life.
The quilliamites and many others these days are only arguing a very old idea, that the texts only suggest that islaam is private, religious only and has no place on a state level. This used to be known as secularism… today many Islamists abuse lofty principles such as maqaasid assharee’ah to make the same arguments as them.
“an aqimuddeena walaa tatafarraqoo feeh…”
@mawdudi
Assalamu Alaikum Mawdudi,
The premis of my blog is to suggest that despite knowing that the Muslims in Abyssinia could not establish Islam in it’s entirety even when the ruler of that land was a Muslim (Negus) and when the Prophet (saw) had already achived political authority in madina with the signing of the constitution of madinah by all parties and when the community of believers were in need of additional man power, he (saw) did not demand the immediate return of the Abyssinian Muslims. Jafar (ra) and his group arrived during the battle of khaybar – many years afyer the establishment of the Islamic governance in Madina.
They, were workign to spread Islam amongst the people, to do the work of Dawah despite the difficulties that was hindering their work they knew this has fi sabilillah, even though they longed to be in the company of the Prophet (saw)
The reason why the Messenger of Allah (saw) did not recall the Muslims immediately after establishing the State in Madinah was because the state had not reached full stability and was under constant threat of attack from jews/hypocrites within, the Quraysh and allies outside, unruly arab tribes in the desert etc Therefore, the Messenger of Allah (saw) made the extremely wise strategic decision of not bring Jafar’s (ra) group from Abyssinia until Madinah was strong and well established. In an event that the opponents of the Prophet (saw) create such a disruption (or even coup) then the Muslims will always have a secondary base to rely upon and the Ummah can try again from there, Islam would not be wiped out
The Abyssinia example shows how the Sahaba saw their primary homeland and and HQ as with the Muslims in Madinah, and not that they were Abyssinian-Muslims and the rest were Madinan Muslims. They saw themselves on a specific mission rather than to go and simply ’settle’ in Abyssinia forever cut off from the rest of the Sahab. Rather the link between Abyssinia and Madina was very strong and clear.
This understanding is getting lost and blurred in discussiona and talks of hijra and citizenship in the West. While Muslims are largely unable to do hijra whether that be due to the lack of a better land to migrate to or to stay and propagate Islam and create a Muslim/Islamic community here, the prevailing notion amongst western Muslins has gone away from the ‘daw’ah carrying’ spirit as you put it to forgetting totally about the goal or aspiration – even mentally/spiritually – of an Islamic land that was was the Prophet’s primary goal. Rather, perhaps western Muslims are beginning to show that they are ‘cut off’ from the rest of their ummah, that their loyalty, aspirations, and duties are towards the west, that they will live here with a ‘no-matter-what’ attitude, regardless of what develops in the rest of the world. I fear that Muslims in the west have restricted themselves to their borders, forgetting that this ummah is but one ummah and in reality there are no borders in the sight of Allah when it comes to our loyalty and duties towards each other…
Our opponents are very happy with allowing and even promoting a ‘western Islam’ as practiced by the ‘Western Muslim’, one which inclines increasingly towards secularism/quillamism, but they will draw all their might against you if they see you prefer to be feel part of a global Muslim brotherhood.
Wow, Hijra is an obligation as we have learned. But it takes some effort and strength to do so. Leave your country behind and you friend and family. You used to live in luxory, etc.
I made Hijra almost 1 year ago from the lands of the West to Yemen. Alhamdulilaah, Yemen is a good land to live if you are serious about making Hijra. But you need to be prepared!