Migration to Abyssinia
| Part of the diplomatic career of Muhammad | |
.jpg) 1314 manuscript illustration by Rashid ad-Din depicting the Negus of Abyssinia declining a Meccan delegation's request to surrender the early Muslims. | |
| Native name | الهجرة إلى الحبشة |
|---|---|
| Date | 9 BH (613 CE) or 7 BH (615 CE) |
| 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 |
|---|
The migration to Abyssinia (Template:Lang-ar), also known as the First Hijra (Template:Lang-ar), was an episode in the early history of Islam, where the first followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (they were known as the Sahabah) fled from Arabia due to their persecution by the Quraysh, the ruling Arab tribal confederation of Mecca. They sought and were granted refuge in the Kingdom of Aksum, an ancient Christian state that was situated in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea (also referred to as Abyssinia),[1] in 9 BH (613 CE) or 7 BH (615 CE). The ruling Aksumite monarch who received them is known in Islamic sources as Najashi (Template:Lang-ar), the Negus of the kingdom; modern historians have alternatively identified him with the Aksumite king Armah and Ella Tsaham.[2] Some of the Sahabah exiles returned to Mecca and made the migration to Medina with Muhammad, while others remained in Aksum and arrived in Medina in 628.[3]
Background
According to the traditional view,[clarification needed] members of the early Muslim community in Mecca faced persecution, which prompted Muhammad to advise them to seek refuge in Aksum. The earliest extant account is given in the sirah of the eighth-century Muslim historian Ibn Ishaq:[4][5]
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 historians of Islam,[which?] there were two migrations, although there are differences of opinion with regard to the dates.[7][5][8][9]
The first group of migrants, which comprised twelve men and four women, who fled Arabia in the year 7 BH (615 CE) or 9 BH (613 CE) according to other sources,[8] and was granted asylum by Najashi, the Negus of the Kingdom of Aksum, a Christian state that existed in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. This group included Muhammad's daughter Ruqayyah and his son-in-law Uthman ibn Affan, who would later become the third caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate after Muhammad's death. Prior to the exile, Muhammad chose Uthman ibn Mazʽun, one of his most important companions, as the leader of this group. According to Tabqat Ibn Saʽd, the group boarded a merchant ship from the sea port of Shuʽaiba and paid a half-dinar each to cross into East Africa via the Red Sea.[10] After a year, the exiles heard rumours that the Quraysh had converted to Islam, which prompted them to return to Mecca. Confronted with the opposite reality, they set out for the Aksumite kingdom again in 6 BH (616 CE) or 7 BH (615 CE) according to other sources,[9][clarification needed] this time accompanied by other newly-founded Muslims, with the migrant group comprising 83 men and 18 women in total.[7]
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
hi
End of the Muslim exile
Many of the exiles in Aksum returned to Mecca in 622 and made the hijra to Medina with Muhammad, while a second wave went to Medina in 628.[3][11]
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[12]
- Abd-Allah ibn Jahsh
- Ja'far ibn Abi Talib leader of the group
- Uthman, son-in-law and companion of Muhammad. Husband of Ruqayyah.
- 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 Amir[13][better source needed]
See also
- Diplomatic career of Muhammad
- Mosque of the Companions, Massawa
- Negash
- Second migration to Abyssinia
- Timeline of 7th-century Muslim history
References
- ^ E. A. Wallis Budge (Aug 1, 2014). A History of Ethiopia: Volume I: Nubia and Abyssinia. Routledge. pp. vii. ISBN 9781317649151.
- ^ M. Elfasi, Ivan Hrbek (1988). Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. UNESCO. p. 560. ISBN 9789231017094.
- ^ a b William Montgomery Watt (1961). Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press. p. 66. ISBN 9780198810780.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Bowersock, G.W (Dr). The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam. Oxford University Press, 2013. 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.
- ^ a b John L. Esposito, ed. (2003). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 351. ISBN 9780199757268.
- ^ a b Rafiq Zakaria, 1991, Muhammad and The Quran, New Delhi: Penguin Books, pp. 403-4. ISBN 0-14-014423-4
- ^ "First Hijrah: Migration to Abyssinia". Madain Project. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
- ^ Timothy Power (2012). The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500 - 1000. I.B. Tauris. p. 87. ISBN 9781617973505.
- ^ He is father of Zainab and a father-in-law of Muhammad. In some accounts relating to Sahabahs in China, he (Jahsh) is noted as Geys. Muslims of Chams (Cambodiya) trace ancestry to a father-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, who is none other than Jahsh (Geys). See 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.