Hijra (Islam)

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For other uses, see Hijra (disambiguation).
Hijrah

The Hijrah and other earlier Muslim migrations

Sunday 9 May - Monday 24 May 622
Date
Julian Calendar[1]
Location
Arabian Peninsula
The Flight of Mahomet;[2][3] The
Also known as Migration of Mohammad; The
Migration; Hijrah; Hegira
Participants Muhammad and his followers
Renaming Yathrib as "the City (of the
Prophet)" (Medina); Enmity between
the Aus tribe and Khazraj tribes
Outcome
dampened (tribes converted to Islam);
Muhammad made political leader and
united the new Muslims
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The Hijra (Arabic: hijrah), also Hijrat or Hegira, is the migration or journey of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in June 622 CE.[4]

Contents

1 Hijra of Muhammad

2 First Hijra

3 Muslim account of Muhammad's Hijra

o 3.1 Context
o 3.2 The Migration

4 Aftermath

5 See also

6 References

7 External links

Hijra of Muhammad
In 622 CE, warned of a plot to assassinate him, Muhammad secretly escaped out of Mecca
with Abu Bakr.[5] Muhammad and his followers immigrated to the city of Yathrib, 320
kilometres (200 mi) north of Mecca, in several steps. Yathrib was soon renamed Madinat unNabi, literally "the City of the Prophet", but un-Nabi was soon dropped, so its name in
English is Medina, meaning "the city".[6] 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").[6] In the following chronology[6] the city will be referred to as
Medina, and the region surrounding it as Yathrib.
Islamic Date
(Julian equiv.)
Day 1 24 Safar AH 1
Monday (10 May 622)
Day 9 1 Rabi' I AH 1
Monday (17 May 622)
Day 16 8 Rabi' I AH 1 [7]
Monday (24 May 622)
12 Rabi' I AH 1
Day 20 [8]
Friday
28 May 622)
Day 30 22 Rabi' I AH 1
Monday (7 June 622)
Day

Notes
Left home in Mecca. Hid three days in the Cave of Thawr south of
Mecca.
Left the environs of Mecca. Traveled north to the region of
Yathrib.
Arrived at Quba' near Medina.
First visit to Medina for Friday prayers.
Moved from Quba' to Medina.

NB, Al-Biruni alone is in disagreement with Alvi, Ibn Sa'd, Abu Ja'far and Ibn Hisham on the
above dates.[9][10] The hypothetical dates in the retro-calculated Islamic calendar extended
back in time differ from the actual dates as they would be on the Julian 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[6] (i.e. 18 April 622) or even the hypothetical Julian date
from retro-calculating 26 Rabi' I in AH 1 to 11 June 622 even though it (Hijra) actually
occurred on 12 Rabi' I (i.e. 28 May 622).
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, 1 Muharram
AH 1, would be mistaken from Monday 19 April 622 to Friday 16 July 622. 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
Main article: Migration to Ethiopia
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, Muhammad met six men of the Khazraj tribe from
Medina, propounded to them the doctrines of Islam, and recited portions of the Quran.[11][12]
Impressed by this, the six embraced Islam,[13] 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 such as theft, adultery, and murder. This is known as the "First
Pledge of al-Aqaba".[14][15][16] 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 Muslims of the Aws and
Khazraj tribes from Medina came, and in addition to restating the formal promises, they 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.[17] This is known as the "Second Pledge of al-`Aqaba",[18][19] and was a 'politicoreligious' success that paved the way for his and his followers' immigration to Medina.[20]
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.[13] 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.[21] Traditional rules
for maintaining law and order became dysfunctional, and, without a neutral man with
considerable authority over things, stability seemed unlikely.[22] As the pagan Arabs of
Medina lived in close proximity of the Jews, they had gained some knowledge about their
scriptures,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.[13][18]