Hijrah: A Celebration of Light


although muslims do not actually celebrate the muslim new year in the way other people celebrate their respective new year, the first day of the lunar month of muharram is a legal holiday in many muslim countries.

the islamic calendar is counted from the year of prophet muhammad’s flight from makkah to madinah in september 622 ce, known as the hijrah (or hegira in english from latin from arabic). this journey is one of the most important events in islamic history.

the early muslims in makkah were harshly persecuted and tortured by the ruling pagan quraysh tribe. the muslims were few in number and many of them were slaves. with no power to repel their persecutors, they could only wait patiently until allah (god) opened a way for them.

in the twelfth year of the prophet’s mission, 12 men from the city of yathrib (later to be known as madinah) came to makkah during the hajj season and met with muhammad at al-`aqabah. having heard of his mission, they became muslim and pledged their faith in the first covenant of al-`aqabah. the prophet sent mus`ab ibn `umayr back to yathrib with them to teach them the religion. mus`ab succeeded in converting many of the people of yathrib to islam. the following year, in june 622 ce, 73 men and 2 women from yathrib came to the prophet during the hajj and pledged allegiance to him in the second covenant of al-`aqabah. they promised to protect him and help the muslims of makkah to resettle in their city.


 

this delegation was the core of what came to be known as al-ansar, the helpers, the muslims who were natives of yathrib, later known as al-madinah al-munawwara—the illuminated city—or madinah. the muslims gradually left makkah a few at a time so as not to attract the attention of the quraysh. eventually the quraysh realized what was happening and tried to stop many of them from leaving. history tells many stories of these men and women who gave up their homes, wealth, and families to be able to freely practice their religion in madinah.

only after several months did allah grant the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permission to leave makkah. shortly before his departure, jibreel (angel gabriel) told muhammad that the quraysh had devised a plot to stab him while he was sleeping. on the night of the planned assassination, his cousin `ali ibn abi talib slept in muhammad’s bed while the latter escaped with his friend abu bakr as-siddiq to a cave south of makkah, opposite the direction to madinah. fortunately for `ali, the assassins looked at his face before stabbing him and left him alone when they realized they had been outwitted.

muhammad and abu bakr hid in the cave for three days while the quraysh searched all around makkah. at one point, their enemies were only a few feet away outside the cave, but allah protected them by simple everyday “miracles.” a spider spun its web across the mouth of the cave, pigeons nested and laid eggs in front of it, and the branches of a small tree blocked it. thus the pursuers assumed no one had entered the cave recently and did not search it.

the two then made their way, led by a pagan guide, to madinah via a coastal route to throw off the pursuit. when they finally arrived in madinah, muhammad let his camel wander where it willed until it sat in one place. the owners of the land where the camel sat were paid, and the prophet’s mosque and living quarters were built on the site while the prophet and abu bakr lived as guests of the ansar.

the hijrah, at last, gave the muslims a place where they could openly declare their islam and worship in peace. it was the beginning of the islamic state. the qur’anic verses revealed in makkah had dealt mainly with the nature of allah and man’s relationship to him. in makkah, there had been very few households in which all of the members were muslims. at the time, islam appeared to be concerned only with the individual and the hereafter. in contrast, the verses revealed in madinah dealt more with man’s relationships with others—the social, political, and economic aspects of islam that could not be developed under persecution.


 

the hijrah was also significant for the unselfish brotherhood demonstrated by the ansar towards the muhajirun (immigrants from makkah). the ansar were not wealthy, yet they took in the muhajirun, shared their food and homes with them, and helped to establish them in trade or work. further, the ansar were well aware that by doing so they were challenging the quraysh and all the pagan tribes of the whole arabian peninsula. indeed, the pagans did launch several battles in an attempt to snuff out the nascent muslim state. but the ansar remained faithful followers of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and were always loved and praised by him.

 


it was the second caliph, `umar ibn al-khattab, who chose the year of hijrah to be the starting point of the muslim calendar. before that, each province marked the years as the nth year in the reign of so-and-so, or the year when such-and-such happened. `umar standardized the chronology, and it is significant that he chose the hijrah—rather than the birth or death of muhammad or the first revelation of the qur’an—as the starting point. the hijrah was the beginning of islam as a complete way of life affecting all aspects of man’s existence

the time to celebrate is due. the hijrah, or emigration from makkah, of the prophet muhammad—beloved by more than a billion muslims worldwide—has come to remind the tired souls of muslims that their faith is not only luminous light that takes them out of the darkness of misguidance; the more faith, the more light in the hearts. writing about the hijrah as a muslim, i often find myself at a loss for words to express my feelings. our celebration is that of optimism. ours is a state of optimism which, in nature, is the warmth and liveliness with which dark objects receive illumination; its poem—even in a literary sense—is related to the sparkling and thrill of the breaking of light:


o the full moon rose over us from the valley of wada` and we owe it to show gratefulness where the call is to allah


its timing is also related to light, that of the revival of the astronomical crescent. its significance is of the division between two stages: the darkest times and the better ones, the story of all faiths and specifically that of islam. blessed is `umar ibn al-khattab, the second rightly guided caliph, for making the islamic lunar calendar start with this event. it was the tightest and heaviest of times. after the death of the prophet’s uncle and protector, abu talib, the quraysh council decided to scatter the blood of the beloved prophet among the arab tribes by getting a knight from every tribe to kill him. even banu hashim, his clan, could not protect the prophet anymore. the muslims were experiencing the hardest of times. then the angel gabriel went at an unusual time to relay divine guidance, to tell the prophet what to do. the qur’an describes how allah helped the prophet escape from his murderers as a blocking of light: [and we have made before them a barrier and a barrier behind them, then we have covered them over so that they do not see] (ya-sin 36:9).


as our faith, or authentic “insight”, tells us, it will all be all right, even in the darkest moments of our worldly life. better times are always due!

from imminent physical danger to the prophet’s life and the darkest moments, allah guided his messenger to the nucleus of the everlasting radiance of the islamic being and civilization in al-madinah al-munawwarah, the luminous city! during the physical hijrah, one more existential end was approached closely. even then, optimism, the effective expression of our faith, was revealed on the tongue of our beloved prophet in front of abu bakr’s momentary fear of the enemies’ near discovery of their hiding spot, a scene described in the qur’an:


[if you will not aid him, allah certainly aided him when those who disbelieved expelled him, he being the second of the two, when they were both in the cave, when he said to his companion: grieve not, surely allah is with us. so allah sent down his tranquility upon him and strengthened him with hosts which you did not see, and made lowest the word of those who disbelieved; and the word of allah, that is the highest; and allah is mighty, wise.] (at-tawbah 9:40)


the narrative of faith in our personal lives should be no different than that of the prophet and his hijrah. iman, or faith, is light. iman is optimism. the hijrah reminds us of that. the situation of the ummah could be at a bad moment, that of agony, melancholy, grief, tragedy, wherever one looks. so be it. still, everything is under allah’s absolute control. everything is happening in accordance to his plan. as our faith, or authentic “insight,” tells us, it will all be all right, even in the darkest moments of our worldly life. better times are always due! if a lesson is to be drawn from that optimism, it is that of patience and forgetting haste and anger. looking inward to ourselves and see where we were wrong and try to change it ourselves:


[whatever benefit comes to you (o man!), it is from allah, and whatever misfortune befalls you, it is from yourself, and we have sent you (o prophet!), to mankind as a messenger; and allah is sufficient as a witness.] (an-nisaa’ 4:79)


that which comes from allah is to be met with gratitude. and even all the mistakes done by us are to be dealt with through both our self-examination—not blaming others—and, more importantly, our absolute reliance on allah to help us. rage, vengeance, paranoia, dismay, ideology, zealousness, political rumpling, puritanism, and hatred will only harm us; by this, we are making more veils—more veils that will hinder us from receiving light, light from the light.

for more on the hijrah, check our special page, a migration of the hearts.


it is difficult. it is meant to be so. the actual hijrah as the qur’an narrates it is that of doing what is difficult in a disciplined, faithful, mature, cautious, and sincere manner:


[lo! i suffer not the work of any worker, male or female, to be lost. ye proceed one from another. so those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and suffered damage for my cause, and fought and were slain, verily i shall remit their evil deeds from them and verily i shall bring them into gardens underneath which rivers flow—a reward from allah. and with allah is the fairest of rewards.] (aal `imran 3:195)


let us not forget that. if we all just focus on one, simply one, bad character trait or thing around us and work on changing it for a year or longer—this is the way that brings us closer to lighting our souls. as for the ummah, the genuine and faithful existence of the ummah of the beloved prophet should be an echoing of his words to abu bakr: “what do you think of two when allah is their third?”  what do you think of a people when allah is with them?


the hijrah, the migration of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions from makkah to madinah, is one of the greatest landmarks in the history of islam. it is a unique event in the history of humankind. the hijrah that marks the beginning of the construction of an ideal islamic society in all aspects of life, contains several lessons. it also gives us the message of hope.

the hijrah teaches the believers about advanced preparations and adequate planning, which are highly essential for the propagation of the islamic system of life. it highlights the total submission of the believers to the will of almighty allah as they leave behind everything that is dear to them including their family, wealth, homes and parents. this is only possible for those who have strong faith and commitment to the cause of islam.

when we analyze the events leading up to the migration of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) we find that he spent a few days hiding from the quraysh to return the things that had been entrusted to him and hand over what remained to a responsible person. here we have to understand that a believer should be very careful with regard to entrusted responsibilities and property and that he should return it to its owners at any cost. this is a very important aspect of the islamic personality.

another observation in the migration of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is that even on this decisive journey he selected an unbeliever as his guide. there are many lessons for the believers in the wise actions of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

when the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) left the blessed city of makkah, he might have yielded to the hope of returning successfully to the place defeating all the powers of ignorance and establishing the reign of almighty allah there.

he hoped to see the flag of islam raised high over the most blessed house of allah in makkah (the ka`bah). we may note that the hope of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was fulfilled within a short period of time and he saw the powers of disbelief and arrogance surrendering before him during the historical event of the liberation of makkah. at that time, the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) managed to win over the powers of jahiliyyah through a bloodless revolution, which is a unique incident in the history of man on earth.

when we pass on to a new tear of the islamic calendar, which is based on the hijrah of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the hopes of islamic revivalism make us courageous to proceed in the way of almighty allah. the islamic calendar contains several lessons and reminds us about the marvelous lessons from the life mission of the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

it is relevant to take a look at the historical background of the hijrah and to draw certain important lessons from it. it is a well-known fact that the conditions of arabia, especially those of makkah, were very deplorable and the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) found it very difficult to continue his mission. even after propagating and sincerely calling the people for more than ten years the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) felt insecure to live in makkah, and hence, there was a need for hijrah.


the significance of hijrah (the migration of prophet muhammad (peace be upon him) from makkah to madinah) is not limited to the islamic history or to the muslims. the hijrah not only reshaped — socially and politically — the arab peninsula, but also had its impact on worldwide civilizations.

throughout the history of islam, the migration was a transitional line between the two major eras, regarding to the message of islam; the era of makkah and the era of madinah. in its essence, this signified a transition from one phase to another, as follows:


transition from the position of weakness, where the non-believers of makkah — particularly the people of quraish — humiliated, tortured and killed muslims, to the position of strength. this is where muslims were allowed to defend themselves and were able to defeat their adversaries.


transition form spreading islam through individual dawah (inviting others to islam) to the spreading of islam through institutionalized dawah, initiated by the state.


transition from a position where muslims represented a small group of people, surrounded by enemies and threatened by death, to the position of a regional power with a strong central leadership. this was one that was surrounded by a large number of followers and allies.


transition of dawah from regionalism, in which the focus was only on quraish and the tribes surrounding makkah, to the phase of universalism. this is where the muslim state began reaching out to persia, egypt, and the byzantine empire.


transition from being a simple islamic group of believers, to being the islamic ummah (nation). this is which was an organized islamic state, with a central leadership and other organizations.


transition, which is most significantly for early muslims, to the phase in which islam was not only the act of worship, but a way of life. this was encompassing politics, economy, social interactions and every other aspect of life. this was the first time when islam was looked upon as a comprehensive religion.


this contrast between the two periods is clearly noticeable in the quranic discourse. muslim scholars describe the part of quran that was revealed in makkah as the makkan quran, and that which was revealed in madinah as the madani qur'an.

although both parts are intermingled in the quran and constitute one divine script, the discourse of both parts is clearly distinguishable. whereas the part revealed in makkah concentrated on tawhid (the oneness of allah/monotheism), the part revealed in madinah covered rules regarding islamic life in general.

there is no doubt whatsoever that the migration of prophet muhammad to madinah was the crucial event, which established the islamic civilization. this was a civilization that thrived for many centuries.