The first term is “hijra”1, translated as “migration”.

1.1: Lexical Meaning

“Hijra” – According to the Arabic dictionary Al-Qamoos Al-Muheet (المحيط القاموس) - is defined as the departing from one land to another. Ie – He migrated, and this is repeated in other Arabic dictionaries.

Migrate – According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary2:

Definition of migrate

1: to move from one country, place, or locality to another:

- Thousands of workers migrate to this area in the summer.

2: to pass usually periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding:

- The whales migrate between their feeding ground in the north and their breeding ground in the Caribbean.

3: to change position or location in an organism or substance:

- filarial worms migrate within the human body

The Oxford Dictionary3 is similar but also includes the following definition:

Computing

Change or cause to change from one system to another.

• ‘customers are migrating from mainframes to client-server environments’

• ‘save time by efficiently migrating data to secondary storage systems’

Transfer [programs or hardware] from one system to another.

• ‘the system will allow users to migrate applications across environments’.

1.2: Practical Meaning

Almost all the above definitions are relevant and applicable in our Islamic discussion of Migration. A geographical migration would be when one moves from a country where they are restricted from practicing their Islamic rituals, for example, to a country where they may practice freely. One example of this is when the early Muslims migrated to The Holy City of Medina, where the Prophet established an Islamic Government.

A non-geographical migration, such as in the example of computing, given in the Oxford dictionary, would be when a positive change is made from a life of ignorance and disbelief to a life that upholds the values of Islam.

1.3: Migration in the Holy Qur’an

The Holy Qur’an states:

وَمَن يُهَاجِرْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ يَجِدْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُرَاغَمًا كَثِيرًا وَسَعَةً وَمَن يَخْرُجْ مِن بَيْتِهِ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى اللَّـهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ الْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّـهِ وَكَانَ اللَّـهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

Whoso emigrates in the way of God will find in the earth many refuges and plenty; whoso goes forth from his house an emigrant to God and His Messenger, and then death overtakes him, his wage shall have fallen on God; surely God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate. (Holy Qur’an, 4:100).

This verse describes two issues regarding migration:

Firstly – “Whoso emigrates in the way of God will find in the earth many refuges and plenty” – This is a reference to migration in the worldly life, and that once an intention is made and acted upon, there will be plenty of safe and possible options on the map of the world that one can migrate to4.

Secondly - “whoso goes forth from his house an emigrant to God and His Messenger, and then death overtakes him, his wage shall have fallen on God; surely God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.” – This is a reference to the hereafter and the spiritual benefits of migration. Regardless of whether or not the emigrant reaches the destination intended, the victory is theirs. And despite the obvious reality that it is Allah (SwT) that will be giving the reward, the verse emphasizes this with “his wage shall have fallen on God”5.

History describes two major geographical migrations that took place during the time of the Prophet (S). One from Mecca to Habasha and the other from Mecca to the holy city of Medina6. A third one also took place after the agreement of Hudaibiyah7,7 where another migration took place again from Mecca to Medina until the time of the Liberation of Mecca. Once Mecca was liberated and came under the control of Muslims, migration from Mecca to Medina stopped. This explains the narration of the Prophet (S):

ولا تعرب بعد الهجرة، ولا هجرة بعد الفتح

“There is no Migration after the Liberation”8

This hadith does not mean that there is no longer a need to migrate – but rather that the temporal need to migrate from Mecca to Medina has now ended. Whenever there are circumstances that reflect the scenario in which the Muslims found themselves while in Mecca, under the governance of polytheists, the issue of migration re-opens. The traditions of the Prophet do not only apply to Muslims in the beginning stages of the Islamic world; rather, they are a role model for us today and always, and this is no different. What resulted from the migration of the prophet (S) is a practical example for us in today’s world, since his is indeed the Final Message and he is the best of role models.

In the book, “Uloom Al-Qur’an” by Mohammad Baqir Al Hakeem9, the Muslim migration from Mecca to Medina is described as a pivotal point between two stages of the Islamic propagation - the Meccan stage, under the rule f a non-Islamic government, and the Medinian stage – ruled by an Islamic Government. This migration had such a significant impact that its effects extended from the prophetic era to the lives of Muslims in every age and in every place.

The lessons learnt from the migration can easily be applied to our current modern-day life. This migration was not only a physical migration from one land to another, but also a moral migration from one state to another. That is, the Muslims migrated from a state of weakness to one of strength, from a state of minority to one of majority, from a state of differentiation to one of unity, from a state of stagnation to one of development, and - most importantly - from a state of ignorance to one of enlightenment.

• 1. Al-hijjra, الهجرة
• 2. Migrate, Definition by Merriam Webster Dictionary
  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/migrate - cited 26/03/19.
• 3. Migrate, Definition of Migrate by Oxford Dictionary
  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/migrate cited 26/03/19.
• 4. Shirazi, Al-Amthal Fi Tafseer Kitab Allah Al-Munzal. Vol. 3 p. 272.
• 5. Shirazi. Vol. 3 p. 272.
• 6. ‘At-Ta’arrub Badul Hijra - Series 14 for the Series of Repentance Week’.
• 7. Shirazi, Al-Amthal Fi Tafseer Kitab Allah Al-Munzal. Vol. 5 p. 131.
• 8. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, Man La Yahduruhu Al-Faqih. Vol. 3 p. 359 h.4273.
• 9. Sayyid Al-Hakeem, Uloom Al-Qur’an. p. 76.