Migration to Abyssinia
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Part of the diplomatic career of Muhammad | |
Native name | الهجرة إلى الحبشة |
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Date | c. 613-615 CE (9-7 BH) |
Also known as | Hijrah Habshah ʽUla (الهجرة الأولى إلى الحبشة) or Hijrah il-al-Habshah (الهجرة إلى الحبشة) |
Motive | To escape persecution by the Quraysh |
Participants | The early Sahabah: Eleven men and four women |
Outcome | Some of the early Muslims settle in Aksum |
Departure location | Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia |
Destination | Aksum, Kingdom of Aksum |
Part of a series on |
Muhammad |
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The migration to Abyssinia (
Background
According to the traditional view,[
When the apostle saw the affliction of his companions, [...] he said to them: "If you were to go to Abyssinia (it would be better for you), for the king will not tolerate injustice and it is a friendly country, until such time as Allah shall relieve you from your distress." Thereupon his companions went to Abyssinia, being afraid of apostasy and fleeing to God with their religion. This was the first hijra in Islam.
Another view, grounded in the political developments of the time, suggests that following the capture of Jerusalem in 614 by the Sasanian Empire, many believers saw a potential danger to the community as they were not the partisans of the Persians who practiced Zoroastrianism and had earlier supported the Jews of Arabia in Himyar. The acceptance of these Muslims into the Kingdom of Aksum at precisely a moment of Persian triumph in the Levant recalls the Aksumite foreign policy of the previous century, which saw Aksum and Persia compete for influence in Arabia.[6]
The migration(s)
According to
The first group of
Some Western historians such as Leone Caetani (1869–1935) and William Montgomery Watt (1909–2006) questioned the account of two migrations.[5] Although Ibn Ishaq provided two partially overlapping lists of migrants, he did not mention that the first group returned and went back a second time.[5] Watt argued that the word used by Ibn Ishaq (tatāba‘a, transl. 'followed one after another') and the order of the names on the lists suggests that the migration may have taken place in a number of smaller groups rather than two large parties, while the appearance of the two lists reflected the controversies surrounding the assignment of priority on official registers during the reign of the second Rashidun caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab.[5]
In Aksum
Much of the coverage of this event comes from the historian Ibn Ishaq.[11][12]
When the Quraysh learned that the early Muslims were planning to move to the Aksumite kingdom, they sent a delegation to the Negus to demand the surrender of the fugitives. They selected two envoys: ‘Amr ibn al-‘As and Abdullah bin Rabiah. The Meccan envoys were given gifts for the Aksumite king Najashi and his generals. The gifts were made up of leather and prepared by fine skin.[11][12] The Meccans appealed to the generals, arguing that the Muslim migrants were rebels who had invented a new religion, the likes of which neither the Meccans nor the Aksumites had heard of, and that their relatives were asking for their return. The king granted them an audience, but ultimately refused to hand over the migrants until he heard their defence.[11][12]
The Sahaba were later brought in front of the Negus and his bishops. Jaʽfar ibn Abi Talib, who acted as the leader of the exiles, spoke in their defence:
O king, we were a wicked and ignorant people who
prophetic biography by Ibn Hisham[citation needed]
The Christian king requested their revelations from God. Jaʽfar then recited a passage from the Quran's Surah Maryam (lit. 'Chapter of Mary'). When the king heard it, he wept and exclaimed: "Verily, this and what Jesus brought (the Gospel) has come from the same source of light (miškāt)".
However, one of the envoys, ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, thought of an alternative tactic. On the following day, he returned to the king and told him that the Muslims had disrespected Jesus. When the Muslims heard that the king had summoned them again to question them about their view of Jesus, they tried to find a diplomatic answer, but ultimately decided to speak according to the revelation they had received. When the king addressed Jaʽfar, he replied that they held Jesus to be "God's servant, His prophet, His spirit, and His word which He cast upon the virgin Mary". Muslim accounts state that upon hearing these words, the Negus declared that Jesus was indeed no more than what he had said; he turned to the Muslims and told them: "go, for you are safe in my country". He then returned the gifts to the envoys and dismissed them.[11][12]
End of the Muslim exile
Many of the exiles in
First migration list
The first list of emigrants reported by Ibn Ishaq included the following eleven men and four women:[4]
- Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
- Jahsh ibn Riyab[14]
- Abd-Allah ibn Jahsh
- Ja'far ibn Abi Talib leader of the group
- Ruqayyah, and the third rightly guided caliph.
- Ruqayyah bint Muhammad, the wife of Uthman and daughter of Muhammad.
- Abu Hudhayfa ibn 'Utba
- Sahla bint Suhail, wife of Abu Hudhayfa
- Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
- Mus'ab ibn Umair
- Abdur Rahman bin Awf
- Abu Salama Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Asad
- Umm Salama, wife of Abu Salama
- Uthman bin Maz'oon
- Amir bin Rabiah
- Layla bint Abi Asmah – wife of Amirbetter source needed]
See also
- Diplomatic career of Muhammad
- Mosque of the Companions in Massawa, Eritrea
- Negash
- Second migration to Abyssinia
- Timeline of 7th-century Muslim history
References
- ISBN 9781317649151.
- ISBN 9789231017094.
- ^ ISBN 9780198810780.
- ^ Ibn Ishāq (2004). Sīratu Rasūlillāh (tr. Alfred Guillaume). Oxford University Press. p. 146.
- ^ a b c d e W. Montgomery Watt (1980). Muhammad at Mecca. Oxford University Press. pp. 110–111.
- ISBN 978-0-19-973932-5
- ^ a b "The Two Migrations of Muslims to Abyssinia". Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780199757268.
- ^ ISBN 0-14-014423-4
- ^ "First Hijrah: Migration to Abyssinia". Madain Project. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
- ^ Ibn Ishāq (2004). Sīratu Rasūlillāh (tr. Alfred Guillaume). Oxford University Press. pp. 150–153.
- ^ a b c d Martin Lings (2006). Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. Inner Traditions. pp. 81–84.
- ISBN 9781617973505.
- T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, 294n8.
- ^ "Authentic History of King Negash of Abyssinia (Currently Ethiopia)". tripod.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-18. Retrieved 2010-12-02.