This series of classes will explore the philosophy, goal and purpose of the concept of Hijrah, as well as the different types of hijrah and their rulings, Allah willing.
In this first quarter the following topics are scheduled: Definition of the word Hijrah. Hijrah through the years. Hijrah in the Quran. Hijrah in the Sunnah. The Types of Hijrah.
Time: Sundays after Isha Prayer (8:15-9:15 PM PDT; March 11: TBA)
Winter 2012: January 8 - March 11, 2012
2012-01-08 Class Notes
Ibn Al Qayyim has two books. The “Zaad al Muhajir” (provisions of the muhajir) and “Tariq al hijratayen wa bab al saadatayen”.
In these books at no point does he talk about the hijrah from non muslim lands to muslim lands and does not talk about the Prophet (sallAllah u alayhi wasallam)’s hijrah.
We want to broaden our horizon on what hijrah is all about with this class. There are many things that we want to cover in this series. One of the main things is really what it is the basic concept of hijrah all about. At an individual and an national or ummah level and also at a spiritual level. Have you heard of hijrah to Allah and His Messenger (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam). We want to speak about hijrah in the widest sense. We are going to be covering all of the diff aspects. Hijrah is just more then the fiqh of moving from dar ul harb to dar ul islam.
Moving from one land to the other requires us to define what is dar ul harb (D.H.) and what is dar ul islam (D.I.) before we start talking about migrating from former to the latter. Also we need to ask is it obligatory or mustahabb or mubaah to move from D.H. to D.I.? There are a number of publications that give a very biased view on this issue. We want to understand hijrah in the history of Islam. And we should know when hijrah was abused. Having the word hijrah used and being used in a wrong way.
Then we want to talk about to the hijrah from dar ul islam to dar ul kufr. Is it permissible. If it is allowed then what are Muslims supposed to do in dar ul kufr. That’s quite a bit. Thats why it is going to take more then one quarter.
Goals for this quarter:
For this quarter we want to cover the definition of the word hijrah. Speak about hijrah through the years. What does the Quran say about the Hijrah, what is said about it in the SUnnah and different types of hijrah.
How important is hijrah?
Our calendar is based on the hijrah of the Prophet(SallAllah u alayhi wasallam). Its not based on when he was born, when he was given the first revelation rather it is based on the hijrah of the Prophet (sallAllah u alayhi wasallam). Umar al-khattab was the first who started this and he thought it to be the most significant event in the history of not only Muslims but the whole humanity. So people have taken this concept of hijrah and they have derived from it many meanings. Any sufi tareeqah is going to have a large disussion on this topic. If you buy a book on hijrah mostly they are sufi books.
One book entitled “Hijrah a stage in the stages of changing a human being”. is he talking about the hijrah of the Prophet (sallAllah u alayhi wasallam)? You can tell he is not. One Pakistani author he wrote “today all of us should make hijrah not in a physical sense but in a spiritual sense …...we can overcome these miseries we should move from jahiliyaah to…....didnt get this!
Author is mehmood al ghazi in his book “The spirit of HIjrah and its revival in modern times”. Prety strong. He is talking about a spiritual hijrah. People have written about hijrah as an extremely important point both from a spiritual and physical point of view.
So we will try to understand both and apply it inshaAllah.
What does hajara mean?
The root is “hajara/yahjur”, masdar is “hajrun”: Hajara means he cut him off from any love and affection. he abandoned him. In the Quran this is one of the stages when advising the wife it is after she is making nushoz (arrogance). Surah Nisa. v:34
Sahih International
Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard. But those [wives] from whom you fear arrogance - [first] advise them; [then if they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally], strike them. But if they obey you [once more], seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.
Allah (swt) says: in surah Muzammil v:10
Sahih International
And be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance.
Allah speaking to the Prophet (sallAllah u alayhi wasallam). al-Muddathir v:5
Sahih International
And uncleanliness avoid
Idolatry you must stay away from.
So the word hajara is quite common. You can find it in the Quran. And the Prophet (sallAllah u alayhiw aslallam) said: “It is not permissible for a Muslim to cut ties off from his Muslim brother for more then three days”
This is in general. Hajr is also kind of punishment. Like you make hajr from a mubtadi. Or you might cutoff from the one who is a fasiq. For example the three sahaba who didn’t go to tabuk expedition, for 50 days the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam), sahabah and their wives made hajran from them.
So the base word yahjur gives a clear understanding. i.e. to cut off, giving up something.
The second (actual) root of hijrah is:
Haajarah,yuhajiru, (form III verb) muhajarah, hijrah (masdar) also has the meaning cutoff,forsaking and also gives the meaning to give up one place and move to another place.
So the word hijrah means all of the above things. Not associating with, cutting off ties, moving from one land to other, giving up, all of those things. You can make hijrah from a person who makes bidah (mubtadih) and hijrah from one land to another.
One author he noted that this alif in muhajarah shows a reciprocal relation (characteristic of form III verb) i.e. you are leaving a place and they are fine (or happy) that you are leaving . That is the linguistic definition of the word hijrah.
What about a shariah definition?
A more specific def. We are gong to leave it till the appropriate time. When we talk about the types of hijrah. But the general meaning is cutting off, abandoning something, and leaving one land for another.
What is the earliest hijrah that Allah refers to in the Quran? How many hijrahs are you aware of? Adam’s descending from heaven to earth. That was seen by shaykh in a book, but he is not impressed by it. Ibrahim left from mesopotamia to shaam.
Is hijrah just like moving from one place to another? Or is it abandoning? Is the hijrah done for the sake of Allah or can be done for personal benefit? But if you flee for your life would that be called hijrah as sanctioned by the shariah? Even if you are doing it for your sake to save your life and not for Allah? Hijrah from what the class described, hijrah was not something unique with the Prophet(sallAllah u alayhi wasallam). in fact it is one of the sunan (normal occurence) of Allah swt with respect to the earlier prophets.
Hijrah is not unique to Prophet Mohammed (saw):
When the first revelation came to Prophet (saws), then Khadijah took Prophet (saws) to waraqah bin nawfal. Waraqah was old man. What was one of the things he told him? He said: I wish I were alive at the time your people would drive you out. The Prophet(sallAllah u alayhi wasallam) asked him, are my people going to drive me out? he told him no one came with a message like this except his people drove him out. This is an established sunnah of Allah.
Hijrah throughout Quran:
In particular in the Quran. We have clear examples of hijrah for the sake of Allah. Ibrahim (alayhi salam). What is the background of his hijrah? He tried to show his people the truth of what they were worshipping other then Allah. and he received a very negative response. And this kind of response is not an uncommon thing. Were they able to defeat his logical arguments? What was their response? Violence. That’s very typical. Big bullies do this. They threaten him and try to kill him. He therefore made hijrah.
As-saffat v:99
Sahih International
And [then] he said, "Indeed, I will go to [where I am ordered by] my Lord; He will guide me.
Surah Al-Ankaboot verse 26
Sahih International
And Lot believed him. [Abraham] said, "Indeed, I will emigrate to [the service of] my Lord. Indeed, He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise."
Surah Al-Anbiya verse 71
Sahih International
And We delivered him and Lot to the land which We had blessed for the worlds.
Prophet Ibrahim was not alone. Lot was also with him. So both of them made hijrah. They left their lands completely. They tried to spread the message when they got to a point there was no benefit and their lives were threatened they left. Probably you could argue that he went probably to shaam or misr or makkah. For his first leaving the ruler there was also part of the process. He left all of this. He left his father. They are clearly described in the Quran as making hijrah.
Hijrah of Musa (AS):
In the case of Musa (alayhi ssalam). When did he make hijrah? His life was being threatened when he killed the copt and he left to save his life. So its not the kind of hijrah of leaving for the sake of Allah. In the case of Ibrahim they wanted to kill because of this faith. In the case of Musa they wanted to kill him because of his killing one of the Egyptians. This is not the kind of hijrah we are talking about. When he came back to make dawah to firaun and he finds no positive response from him. Then he is commanded by Allah to take bani israel with him to protect them from hardship due to their beliefs. and this is now a hijrah for the sake of Allah. So Musa (as) also made hijrah.
Ashabul Kahaf. All of the mufassireen state that these youth were from the upper class. They were from the ruling family. but they turned their back on that way of life on worshipping other than Allah. How does Allah describe them? What did they do? they said move to a place where Allah is going to give them mercy and guidance. After sometime they awake from their sleep. Before doing that was their life threatened? is there any sign in their story that they were threatened before leaving? What seems to be the case is that they took it upon themselves to leave that land of kufr. probably people saw that they did not approve the way of life that the people were living. However, their lives were not at risk like Musa, Ibrahim. So they said to themselves we need to leave. we cannot live like this. And since they were form the upper class they are in a difficult situation. Then after they rise form their sleep they want to send someone out to get food they say try not be recognized. If they are able to recognize you they will either stone you or you will be returned to their deen and then you will not be successful.
Sahih International
Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion. And never would you succeed, then - ever."
Some of the ulema in the tafseer say that in the previous ummah there was no such thing as the law of necessity. Either you are going to be stoned or you will be returned to their way.
So these are some of the hijrah mentioned in the Quran before the Prophet(SallAllah u alayhi wasallam). So it is not something new with the Prophet (sallAllah u alayhi wasallam).
Hijrah in the life of Prophet Mohammed (SAW):
When we come to the time of the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhiw asallam), the first hijrah was the hijrah to abbysinia. There is a verse in the Quran in Surah An-Nahl.
And those who emigrated for [the cause of] Allah after they had been wronged - We will surely settle them in this world in a good place; but the reward of the Hereafter is greater, if only they could know. 16:41
according to qatadah this is in reference to those who made hijrah to habasha.
And Allah also says: Surah Rum? (Az-Zumar)
Sahih International
Say, "O My servants who have believed, fear your Lord. For those who do good in this world is good, and the earth of Allah is spacious. Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account."
According to ibn Abbas this was in reference to Jafar ibn Abi Talib and those who emigrated to Habasha
What was the context of sahabah leaving Makkah for Habasha?
In Arab society there was a concept of protection, if you are under protection of an influential individual or a tribe no one is going to touch you. Some people did not have protection like other sahaba. Like bilal and other slaves and poor individuals. Khabab. For them the persecution was getting very bad in makkah. Its interesting at that time in makkah, there is no record of any of the sahabah apostasizing even when they were tortured. However the situation was getting very bad for them. So the Prophet (sallAlah u alayhiw asallam) said that you people should go to the land of Habasha. As in that land there is a king who does not wrong anyone. It is a land of sincerity so stay in that land till Allah (swt) provides a relief for you from that situation. At that time the first immigration to habasha took place in the fifth year after he was given Prophtehood. ten men and four women first made hijrah.
So the first immigration to abyssinia was not that large of an immigration. So in this case we see the Prophet the only reason these people are persecuted because of their deen. And these verses are saying ardullah i wasia. IF you want to worship Allah and you look for another place then you can find another place. So there is no excuse. Being weak was not an excuse to not make hijrah. There is a difference between being weak and being incapable. Ruler was not a Muslim. But he was just. He is not going to allow any kind of wrong to come to you. That is the main characteristic for them to go to that land.
Now after sometime, umm Salamah said we safely practiced our religion and we were not harmed in any way. There were two immigrations to Habasha. After sometime they came back. (the ones who made the first immigration). Why?
There is an incident that took place and it has false narrations in it. When the Prophet is reading surah najam and reading lat and uzza, shaytan makes the Prophet read (or the kuffar hear) that their (the idol’s) intercession can be sought. The kufar fall in prostration at the end of this surah. The habasha Muslims left and came back after hearing this.
These reports are fabricated. There was an incidence when the kuffar made prostration but that had nothing to do with the people returning back from habasha.
The purpose of this discussion is by the way to get lessons of hijrah. What kind of guidance can we get form this concept?
2012-01-15 Class Notes
Class cancelled as Shaikh Jamaal is not feeling well. Please make dua for him.
2012-01-22 Class Notes
We are highlighting the role of Hijrah in the lives of Prophets. Hijrah has been sunnah of prophets. We are discussing the hijrah in the life of prophet and after the life of prophet (saw) and the lessons that can be learnt from it. And then discuss what role if any it plays in our life.
We discussed the first Hijrah to Abyssinia. We will not discuss the satanic verses.
Most likely two individuals embraced Islam that led them to come back from Abyssinia. One was Hamza who was the uncle of Prophet and in general nobody would dare harm him physically. And another individual was Umar ibn Khattab. After he converted, the early Muslims were able to come and show their Islam publicly. This gave the early migrants to Abyssinia an indication that they would be able to come back and practice their deen in Makkah. There is no evidence that the Prophet invited them back to Makkah.
In these early years, we did not see any specific instructions from the Prophet. But we have evidence that after Fatha Makkah, there were instructions from the prophet to the migrants not to come back to Makkah from Madinah.
Opposition to Islam become stronger after the conversion of Hamza and Umar as a backlash, but there was personal safety. There was an embargo on the prophet and this led to the second immigration with a larger population to Abyssinia.
What is the main reason why people migrated from Makkah to Abyssinia?
Who would you expect to migrate to Abyssinia, would it be poor and the slaves. But they did not migrate, it was Uthman and the prophet’s daughter. So Bilal and others did not make the hijrah. It was a group of people who were not oppressed or tortured. What does that tell you? They are going there in order to practice their deen. They were in hiding in Makkah and not being able to practice their deen. With respect to Bilal and other poor people it may be the case that they did not have the means to migrate.
Was there also some aspect to spread Islam outside the land of the Arabs?
Sayid Qutb says it was to spread Islam outside of Makkah. Shaikh does not know whether this was a sound reason or not.
Let us discuss the choice of Abyssinia. Prophet describes this land with a king in whose presence no one is wronged. If you can find a ruler who is just and will not harm anyone, then you can make hijrah. That is a point specifically mentioned by the prophet. Also the Quraysh had no authority in Abyssinia, which would make it difficult to extradite the Muslims from Abyssinia. They did try but were not successful.
What about the fact that the ruler was Christian? Did it have an impact on the Muslims. A Christian ruler and community meant that Muslims felt closer to them than the Mushrikeen.
Abyssinia was known to be a rich land and the Arab traders had contact with them and knew the land of Abyssinia.
During the second Hijrah, there were 82 or 83 men and maybe 18 women who migrated. When this large group left, the Quraysh saw the Hijrah as a threat to them, since Abyssinia was outside their control. And this would be problem for their authority in Arabia. They tried to go to Abyssinia and appealed to the leaders in order to extradite them back to Makkah.
Umm Salamah described the time in Abyssinia We were living in safety, we practiced Islam without being harmed, we did not hear anything back from our neighbors.
Quraysh send people to Abyssinia and sent gifts to the ministers of Najashi. They appealed that some foolish people have left us and come here, and they have started a new religion which is strange to us and you, and we would like for you to send them back. The Quraysh said that we know these people and we know how best to deal with them. The ministers bribed by the gifts appealed to the ruler.
The ruler was very just and he said that they have not done anything wrong and we will not send them back. He asked one of the Muslim emigrants to come and meet him. This person was Jafar bin Abi Talib.... who was not a politician but was honest and spoke about his religion and he did not say anything bad about the Quraysh. So he let him go.
Quraysh went back to najashi and told him what these Muslims say about Isa and Mary. So Najashi calls Jafar to ask about their belief about Isa and Maryam. Jafar decided to recite the verses of Surah Maryam without any fear or hesitation. Jafar was unsure how the Christian ruler would handle the narration of Maryam from the Quran. (Side note: Najashi was not the name of the ruler, rather all of the rulers of Abyssinia were called Najashi, it has been reported in hadith that one of the Najashi became Muslim and Prophet (saw) prayed his Janazaa in absence, but it is not sure whether it was the same Najashi)
Important Lessons from the Hijrah of Abyssinia:
1. Answer lies with truth about Islam: Here you can see the extent to which the kuffar would go to slander and spread rumours and false ideas about Islam. And this has to be answered by the truth as we see in the case of Jafar with the Najashi.
2. Right to remove oneself from hardship: One of things that we can see is that it is not part of the shariah to bring harm and hardship for the Muslims. Going through these trials is not a goal in itself. We have to work hard to face difficulties. But a Muslim has a right and sometime it becomes an obligation to remove himself from the trials if he cannot handle it.
3. Permissiblity of entering into the protection of non-Muslims.
Falling under the protection of non-Muslims, we see this in a few cases in the life of the Prophet saas. In Makkah, there was a system of protection, similar to a kind of mafia system. He was under the protection of Abu Taleb and when he left Makkah for Taif he could only enter back into Mecca as Abu Taleb had died. So he had to search for the people who can give him the protection. He could only enter under the protection of Mu’tam ibn Adi (a mushrik).
4. The choice of Abyssinia
It was the Prophet saas who advised going to this place; he was the leader of the community as we all know. His choice, among the contemporary scholars, highlights that the leader of Muslims as a whole should have some idea of current affairs and to know what is going on. To protect yourself, you must know what is going on because either you or some one else who needs to be advised will need this information and it is of benefit to the Muslims as a whole.
5. Role of Jaffar in Abyssinia
Many Ulimah also speak of the role of Jaffr in Abyssinia. They highlight his understanding of the deen and his intelligence. Now of course, when they talk about intelligence, they mean how to deal with people but also having a good knowledge of things in general (which are all important as a leader). if he had gone to Najashi and behaved in a different way, there could have been major consequences and Najashi may have thought there was something wrong with these people and they should not be protected.
6. Why did the prophet not migrate to Abyssinia?
The Prophet saas himself did not emigrate to Abyssinia. This is something that Muslim scholars (mostly conjectures) have debated. It seems like the Prophet saas saw Abyssinia as a place to make Hijra but there was no sign that the Prophet saas considered going to Abyssinia on Hijra, it seems that he knew that his place of hijrah was Madinah. One of the things that the sheikh noticed that had a good point to highlight the difference between Abyssinia and Madina was that if you think of the Qur’an and the magnificence of the Qur’an and the impact of the Qur’an; if he had emigrated to Abyssinia, where the people did not speak Arabic, the impact would have been far less than if the place of hijrah was Madinah as they spoke Arabic there. Understanding the language of the Qur’an was vital to create the first outpost of Islam. You needed a community who would be greatly affected by Quran.
7. The return from Abyssinia
There were three times in which the muhajireen of Abyssinia returned from their hijrah; three different groups at three different times.
1.) After the time of the embracing of Islam by Hamza and Umar, most returned from Abyssinia
2.) After the news that the Prophet saas was going to make hijrah or at the time of the hijrah to Madinah. They returned to Makkah and then emigrated to Abyssinia.
3.) In the 7th year of the hijrah
There is a story in Saheeh Bukhari, Abu Musa Al-Ashari said Asma bint unais came to Hafsa the wife of Prophet (saw). Hafsa’s father Umar came and asked who is she, Hafsa said she is Asma bint unais. He said Oh’ the …. Umar said we migrated first to Madina so we have more right over Prophet (saw)
Asma became angry and said no by Allah. .... We were far away and detested (not liked) and we were in that situation for the sake of Allah swt and His messanger, by Allah I will not eat or drink until I confirm from Prophet what you have said...... (Some commentators say what did she mean by detested. They were a small minority among a large community. They were not accepted and liked by the people.)
She went to the Prophet saas and she said Umar said such and such. And he asked her what did you say. She replied such and such. And then the Prophet saas said he has not greater right than you, you did migration twice, you have more right over me ......... Asma said people of the boat were asking her about the hadith and they were very happy to hear what the prophet saas had to say about them.
8. Muslims in Abyssinia were not ordered to migrate to Madina
There was a point of time when the Muslims in Arabian Peninsula were demanded to make hijrah to Madinah as a part of wala to Islam, to be completely a part of the Muslim community (they were essentially required). At that time there were Muslims still living in Abyssinia, however, there was no sign that the Muslims living in Abyssinia were ordered by the Prophet saas to emigrate to Madinah.
They were hated and detested in Abyssinia and the Prophet saas was aware of this. And the prophet did not ask them to return back. They came back seven years after the Hijrah to Madinah (shortly before the conquest of Mecca). Shaikh emphasized the phrase seven years. After 7A.H. most likely they were required to migrate.
We will need to keep this in mind when we talk about the rulings of hijrah from dar al kufar to dar al islam.
Hijrah to Madinah
The next important hijra was the hijrah of the Prophet saas from Makkah to Madinah.
Footnote about what is missing in our efforts in dawah
Whenever there was an Arab of ranking or status that was visiting Makkah, the Prophet saas would go to them and try to make dawah to them. One of the problems of our dawah (the bulk of our dawah in the US) is not directed towards people of status or intelligence. If you work in the dawah field as a writer and you try to write something about Islam and then approach a publisher or institution about your work, they will insist that what you write is the simplest thing so that it can be distributed to the masses. There is nothing wrong with the masses; however this isn’t the methodology of making dawah that the Prophet saas made. The entire mission of making dawah is not to bring the masses to Islam. If you can bring people of status or power into Islam, it will influence many others. suppose for example, here in the US, if someone wanted to learn about Islam, say a congressman or a professor. These people are used to a certain level of reading and will have to read something from a non Muslim or something written by a modernist, they will not find suitable material from established dawah institutions. We mention this here because it is relevant when we speak about the hijrah to Madinah.
Inviting/visiting people of influence to Islam which lead to migration of teachers of Islam
One such person of status was Ubaid ibn as-Samit who visited Makkah Prophet saw went to him and explained to him about Islam. He goes back to Madina and start telling people about Prophet saw. He was killed shortly after the meeting with the prophet, he was killed by the tribe of Khazraj. His people accepted Islam after his death. His people claim that he accepted Islam before his death. Since he was a person of influence, when he speaks highly of the Prophet saas it has some affect on his people. This started the process of people coming to the Prophet saas at the time of next Hajj and making the first pledge of Akabah; there were only 12 people for this first pledge. Ubaid ibn Samit describes that “We gave the Prophet saas the pledge of nisa because there was no pledge of fighting.” The main elements of the pledge was the basic pillars of Islam, that they will not associate any partners with Allah swt, …. It created the ties between them and the Prophet saas. He sent Mushab with them to teach them about Islam.
It was followed by the second pledge of Akabah, which was much stronger and larger, now the permission was given to Muslims to migrate to Medina. Between the second pledge of Akabah and the first migrants to medina it was two years There was a lot of preparation involved. By the time Prophet saw made hijrah, most of the Muslims who had the ability and provisions to make hijrah to madinah had already left. When this hijrah started, the Qureish were not quiet or silent. They did their best to cause trouble by breaking up family ties and kidnapping people. Alhamdulillah the belief of these early Muslims that had grown up under Islam by the guidance of the Prophet saas were willing to sacrifice their wealth and land to make hijrah to madinah.
Finally it came to the point where the Qureish wanted to assassinate the prophet saas. They knew in their culture it would be difficult to do this for cultural reasons. They had to work together to put something together. The Prophet saas put Ali ibn taleb in his bed and he was able to leave under the watch of the Kuffar by the will of Allah swt. This demonstrates that Allah supported this hijrah and that the asbaab was followed by the Prophet saas, how careful he was, how few people knew his arrangements and movements. he made arrangements for people to bring food and provisions while on different parts of his hijrah. most of these helpers were very young, some or many who were not even Muslim. They took paths that were not commonly traveled. Even though the Prophet saas is the Prophet of Allah and he was told that Allah would protect him, he still followed the asbaab; we need to weight things and find the best steps to carry things out. Eventually the Prophet saas reached Madinah.
Shaikh Yasir Qadhi spoke about Mu’tam ibn Adi who was a pagan from Makkah who helped the early Muslims. He encourages us to find our own Mu’tam in this land to help us without compromising our deen. He gave us three or more incidents from the seerah of the prophet saas about how Mu’tam helped the early Muslims.
Key points he raised were:
1. After coming back from Taif, it was very difficult and dangerous for him to enter Mecca, he had no immediate family left there, if he wanted he could not enter the Mecca but he insisted on coming back to his people. So a lesson for us is that even if there are hardships we should not easily give up and leave a place
2. At the end of battle of Badar Prophet saw made a statement that if Mu’tam was alive and would have asked me to free these 70 prisoners (mostly leaders of Quraish) I would release them without any ransom. This shows the importance of finding supporters like Mu’tam in a disbelieving society and then recognizing the efforts of these people.
Shaikh Yasir also reminded us to take notes and review them. He still has his notes from 20 years ago when he was a student of Shaikh Jamaal Zarabozo. And how he learnt from him and how he inspired him to study Islam in more depth.
2012-01-29 Class Notes
Sh. Jamaal’s clarification from last lecture: He researched the topic that whether Muslims in Abyssinia returned based on the order from Prophet (saw). In the book by Suleman al-Awdah, he described that the Muslims stayed in Abyssinia at the request of the prophet (saw) and came to Madina at the request of Prophet (saw). So all of this was with the knowledge and approval of prophet (saw).
This is not a class on seerah; this course is meant to highlight some important implications of the hijrah and some fiqh ramifications of the hijrah. There are a lot of narrations about the hijrah that are not authentic; the quality of reports used for seerah are not the same as those used for fiqh. In many cases, there are wild differences in standards used with narrations related to the seerah.
Even the history books, like at Tabari’s, have isnad. One of the differences between them is that the reports used from the sahabah and the tabi’ien have not been as scrutinized as hadith have been. It is difficult to find scholars who have commented on many of these reports whereas there are commentary on nearly all hadith reported out there. There is also a lack of depth in terms of how these reports are narrated; e.g. they have not received the same scrutiny and attention as hadith.
Comment:
We want to understand the meaning of hijrah and the implications of the concept of hijrah. It’s amazing how many verses of the Qur’an are related to hijrah. There are so many references to hijrah and the muhajiroon. You can’t ignore the concept of hijrah given these verses; this is inconceivable.
How Allah swt describes the muhajiroon
In order to be in the state of making the different types of hijrah, you will need to have certain qualities. Hijrah means giving up a lot of things that are close to you and require you to change the way you think. We need to know these so that we can be well prepared to make a sound and proper hijrah; we want to raise ourselves to this position. People make hijrah for different reasons and not all of them are for the sake of Allah (swt), but here we are focusing on hijrah done for the sake of Allah (swt)
Surah Hashar verse 8.
Sahih International
For the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes and their properties, seeking bounty from Allah and [His] approval and supporting Allah and His Messenger, [there is also a share]. Those are the truthful.
Allah swt describes the muhajiroon as ones who should receive part of the war booty. Even in this verse alone, Allah swt gives numerous qualities of the muhajireen:
- how they were expelled from their homes
- Why? because they were seek bounties from Allah swt, both in this dunya and the akherah (jannah).
- They are also seeking His pleasure.
- Then Allah swt describes this hijrah that they made as a selfless hijrah that was done for the sake of the deen of Allah swt (helping Allah swt and His Messenger)
- They are the ones who are truthful (in fulfilling their trust)
In another place in the Qur’an, Allah swt gives another description of the muhajireen as making hijrah for the sake of Allah swt. Those who remain patient and they put their trust in Allah swt.
These are two qualities that every Muslim requires; patience and putting trust in Allah swt.
Patience is an encompassing quality. It means being patient with respect to things that happen to you, as well being patient in acts of obedience that you are doing.
Putting trust in Allah swt is having expectations that what Allah swt has promised them will come true. They are relying on Allah swt to bring out what is best for them. Because of their sacrifice and their willingness to put their trust in Allah, they are deserving of Allah swt’s reward and bounty.
At another place Allah (swt) describes these people having hope in the mercy of Allah swt: Al-Baqra v:218
Muhsin Khan
Verily, those who have believed, and those who have emigrated (for Allah's Religion) and have striven hard in the Way of Allah, all these hope for Allah's Mercy. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most-Merciful.
The ulimah, commenting on this Aayah say that (Raja’) having hope in Allah swt, is not a blind or foolish hope but it is a hope with respect to what you are doing, ie putting in effort and expecting Allah swt to give you the best and to forgive you and have Allah bestow His mercy on you. The ones who are deserving of this hope are the ones who have worked the most and Muhajiroon are among these people.
Allah swt also describes them as those who will be successful. At-Tawbah v:20
Sahih International
The ones who have believed, emigrated and striven in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of Allah . And it is those who are the attainers [of success].
Allah swt also describes them as the true believers. Surah al Anfal verse 74.
Sahih International
But those who have believed and emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah and those who gave shelter and aided - it is they who are the believers, truly. For them is forgiveness and noble provision.
This is how Allah swt describes the early muhajireen; they gave up their wealth, properties, families, etc. All sorts of things and hardships occurred just for the sake of this hijrah from Makkah to madinah, on top of all the kinds of threats and harassment that the Quraish were making. These qualities and descriptions given to us by Allah swt are all part and parcel in showing us the importance of this hijrah in the seerah of the Prophet saas.
What was the effect of this Hijrah?
Think about the affect of this hijrah; what did it do for Islam and the Muslims. As individuals, it was a great sacrifice on their part; they left Makkah without any idea of returning home to their land. Nowadays, people may migrate around with some thought of returning. When they headed to Madinah, they did not know what they were heading to and how things would work out there; they were willing to give up their wealth and property to make this journey. When we see as the result of the hijrah, we see the importance of this original hijrah. Some of the effects of this hijrah specifically are:
Freedom for Islamic Dawah
One of the clearest things we see as a result of this hijrah is a kind of freedom for the Islamic dawah. In Madinah, the Muslims have a base camp. In Makkah, much of their time and effort was spent protecting themselves and almost surviving. In many cases it was a case of survival, especially when they were boycotted. Now in madinah, they had a base where they could work from. They could spread the dawah internally as well as externally. We know as muslims, from the beginning, this message is one that is meant for all of Humanity as Allah swt has described in Al-a’raf v:158 (also described in various ahadith).
قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ جَمِيعًا
Say, [O Muhammad], "O mankind, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you all,
Being in Makkah, it was difficult to meet with potential allies. There is a big difference for being the Messenger of Allah and not have a base or visible followers versus being the messenger of Allah and having a base with visible followers. In Madinah, it was easy for people to come and sit with the Prophet saas and the Sahabah to learn from them. If people came to the Prophet saas and the Sahabah in Makkah to learn from them, there was more of a reason to be suspicious of these visitors.
The first openly-established masjid occured in Madinah.
This is where the visitors can go, sit and listen to Prophet (saw) openly and freely.
Defensive Jihad
The concept and appearance of Jihad also occurs after this hijrah. Now that the Muslims had a base, they could establish a defensive jihad. In Mecca the attacks on Muslims were on the individual level. Now that the Muslims are in a central location they would have to be attacked as a whole. For example, in Badr and Uhad the Muslims went out to protect themselves. In Ahzaab, they protected the city through digging a ditch. All sorts of defensive measures can be taken when you have a base.
Offensive Jihad
Offensive jihad was also a possibility. This is what lead to Islam being spread throughout the world; it was actually the attacks on the Muslims that made themselves stronger and forced them to become a military power which in turn made others to see them as a threat. They took measures against the Muslims and the result was Islam spreading. The goal of destroying Muslims was one of the main mechanisms that helped Islam spread.
Kuffar do not like Muslims to have their own land and practice Islam
One thing we see among the kuffar throughout history; the Quraish, for example, was not happy to know that the Muslims were living in Abyssinia. They were also not happy to see the Muslims in Madinah. Leaving Makkah did not stop the animosity between the Quraish and the Muslims; it actually increased the animosity. We see this throughout our history; the Kuffar do not like the Muslims to have their own land and to practice Islam. From the 1980s on, everytime there was any sign that any Muslim group or movement was beginning to get strong, you would get statements from Western leaders that said they would not allow Islamic states. They said “we will not allow an Islamic state in _______” (fill in the blank). In 1992 when it looked like the Muslims were going to win the first round of elections in Algeria, “pro democracy” people in France moved to cancel the elections.
They stated it that these Islamic states are a threat to the West.
There is this fear and hatred of Islam. We are seeing this nowadays very prominently. It was also the case during the time of the Prophet saas. It shows to us that as Muslims, it’s part of the history of our deen that people claim Islam spread by the sword. There is no documented evidence where people were forced to convert to Islam. Yes, the Muslims fought wars and established themselves in various places and because of their example in various places and bringing justice that people had not know before, most of the natives within one or two generations embraced Islam.
This would not have happened without this first hijrah.
Post 9/11 Rhetoric
After 9/11 some of the leading thinkers of America got together and wrote a paper on threats of Islam in west. The title of the paper is “What we are fighting for”
“We affirm five fundamental truths that pertain to all people without distinction:
- All Human beings are born equal in dignity and human rights
- skipping to 4, freedom of consciousness and religious freedom are in-viable rights of humans
- Killing in the name of religion and God is contrary to faith and is betrayal of God and is the greatest contradiction against the freedom of religious belief.
They will kill for the sake of spreading capitalism and in some cases socialism.
James Turner Johnson is one of the experts in “just war”. He wrote a book “just war and gulf war”. In order for war to be sanctioned, it must be just. In this book, he argues that the invasion of Iraq was a just war because even though it was mixed with all sorts of ulterior motives, removal of a tyrant was a just cause.
Religion has been so compartmentalized in the west that this because a clash of beliefs so to speak.
Democracy is the Western ideology and religion now. It has replaced Christianity.
Jihad is bringing to people the true way of life based on the words of God, people are not forced to choose that way of life, but unless they see true justice and a morally upright way of life they will never be able to contrast it with all other deceptions.
This hijrah brought about the mechanisms to bring the real religion of Allah to people and what ultimately caused people to become Muslim. This standing up for the deen is a necessary part of the deen. The disbelievers have proven time and time again that they are not willing to see Islam present in any way shape or form.
Most of our ulimah that speak of hijrah is the thing that lead to this jihad and subsequently lead to the word of Islam being spread throughout the world.
Islamic brotherhood as an ultimate bond
With respect to the individuals involved, when they made the hijrah, part of the effect of the hijrah was to make a true bond amongst the muslims of madinah. This was a momentus occasion in human history. It demonstrates that this deen goes beyond any other ties, ties of kinship, land and citizenship; this is the ultimate bond. This was put in practice by making a brotherhood amongst the Muslims in Madinah. This bond was like a blood relationship; they originally inhereted from one another when this bond was first formed. Eventually verses were revealed where these rules were changed. The idea of this bond for the sake of Allah swt and that this bond is above anything else, was put into practice as a result of this hijrah. The people of makkah are very different from the people of Madinah, even to this day. The people of madinah are known to be soft and agriculturally oriented. The people of Makkah are known to be very rough and gruff.
Allah swt brought their hearts together and showed us what the bonds should be based on.
With respect to their individual practice of the deen, as a result of the hijrah, they were now free of any fitnah with respect to practicing their deen in a complete, public sense. All of this was the result of the hijrah.
At the same time, with respect to the enemies of Islam, the Quraish now saw that Islam was a bigger threat than they ever thought. As Madinah became more and more established and as people begin to hear of Islam outside of the Arab lands, the Persians and Romans began to see a threat in Islam.
Three categories of Muslim post Hijrah to Madina
Now after the hijrah, you can divide muslims into different categories.
In essence, you have three groups:
1- the muslims who made the hijrah
2- muslims who did not make the hijrah
3- muslims who did not have the ability to make the hijrah.
1. those muslims who made hijrah to madinah they can be described as full members of the Islamic society.
2. There were other muslims who did not make the hijrah; some of them were in Makkah. when they did not make the hijrah, it can be described as a personal choice on their part not to make the hijrah. We can see from the Qur’an that these muslims who did not make the hijrah, that they should be dealt with differently and the relationship with them is different than the muslims who made the hijrah.
What we see is that it was expected and demanded from the muslims, especially those in Makkah, to make hijrah to Madinah.
Were there some individuals in Makkah who had the permission from the Prophet saas to remain in makkah and not to make hijrah? or was it the case that they did not have the means to make hijrah. In particular we are talking about Al Abbas.
Those who did not make the hijrah, there was not a complete loyalty between them and the muslims of Madinah. ‘They wish that they would disbelieve as they disbelieved. Do not take them as allies until they emigrate...”(An Nisa: 89)
Sahih International
They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah . But if they turn away,
The aspect of this verse is that the people of Makkah, the disbelievers, even if they became muslims, are not to be taken as brothers until they make the hijrah for the sake of Allah swt.
It’s describing the disbelievers as not having the closeness and support and help/love of them until they make the hijrah for the sake of Allah swt.
Wala: closeness, support, help and love
In Surah an Nisa, verse 90, Allah swt gives the only exception regarding this
Sahih International
Except for those who take refuge with a people between yourselves and whom is a treaty or those who come to you, their hearts strained at [the prospect of] fighting you or fighting their own people. And if Allah had willed, He could have given them power over you, and they would have fought you. So if they remove themselves from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allah has not made for you a cause [for fighting] against them.
Allah swt is describing these disbelievers; you should not make complete walaa for them until they leave their people for the sake of Allah swt unless they go to tribes that you have pacts with or they come to you not willing to fight against you.
In Surat al Anfal verse 72, the same kind of idea is given. This verse is the clearest description between the believers in
madinah and those who did not make hijrah from Makkah.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آوَوا وَّنَصَرُوا أُولَٰئِكَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَلَمْ يُهَاجِرُوا مَا لَكُم مِّن وَلَايَتِهِم مِّن شَيْءٍ حَتَّىٰ يُهَاجِرُوا ۚ وَإِنِ اسْتَنصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ إِلَّا عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَهُم مِّيثَاقٌ ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ
Indeed, those who have believed and emigrated and fought with their wealth and lives in the cause of Allah and those who gave shelter and aided - they are allies of one another. But those who believed and did not emigrate - for you there is no guardianship of them until they emigrate. And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help, except against a people between yourselves and whom is a treaty. And Allah is Seeing of what you do.
Allah swt says, indeed those who have believed and emigrated and those who gave shelter and aided the muhajireen. Allah swt describes them as allies of one another. They are close helpers, supporters and friends of one another. Then Allah swt says those who believed and did not emigrate, there is no walaa or responsibility over them until they emigrate. They are still believers but the obligations that you have to them, help them if they seek help unless they are living among a people who you have a pact with. Their unwillingness to make hijrah puts them in a situation where they can’t expect your defense or help given this condition/circumstance. (Note: Not emigrating from Makkah was not an act of kuffr, they still had emaan)
In other verses Allah swt speaks about threats who did not make hijrah, such as in surah an Nisa, verse 97,
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَوَفَّاهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ظَالِمِي أَنفُسِهِمْ قَالُوا فِيمَ كُنتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا كُنَّا مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ قَالُوا أَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَرْضُ اللَّهِ وَاسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوا فِيهَا ۚ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا
Sahih International
Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves - [the angels] will say, "In what [condition] were you?" They will say, "We were oppressed in the land." The angels will say, "Was not the earth of Allah spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?" For those, their refuge is Hell - and evil it is as a destination.
(Note: Wronging themselves means that they stayed amongst the disbelievers and did not make hijrah)
ibn Abbas said that some of them were brought in the battle of Badr to show their numbers, and some of them were struck during battle by Muslims. However, the verse is not specific to those who were brought to Badr, but applies to all Muslims who decided not to immigrate even though they had the means to do so.
The angels will come and ask these muslims living amongst the disbelievers. These are the people who chose not to make hijrah and were weak in the sense that they did not have the courage to sacrifice for the sake of Allah swt. The angels then say that was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to emigrate?
The rulings about these muslims were:
- they were still muslims
- they still had some relationship with muslims who emigrated. If they ask for help they should be helped
- If they die in that state it is not an excuse for them.
The rest of the verse is the harshest; they will be sent to the Hellfire. They are believers, they have emaan, but they are contradicting some of the important requirements of emaan and that is why they will be sent to the Hellfire. They won’t be there forever. We know there will be people of tawheed in the Hellfire. It did not take them out of the fold of islam but it was very grave; they left themselves in this situation. Their weakness is not an excuse for them.
Da’af: weakness of the intent and resolve of an individual
When you read the Qur’an, you see that weakness of the individual’s intent and resolve result in punishment in the Hereafter. For example, as Allah swt describes them as asking those whom they were following (mustakbareen) to take some of their Hellfire as they were following them. This type of weakness is inexcusable.
3. Muslims who did not had the means to make hijrah
There is another set of verses in which Allah swt doesn’t talk about those who claimed they are weak and oppressed but those who do not have the means (i.e. the truely weak, those who do not have the means to do something). They are obviously excused.
Allah swt says in surah Nisa verses 98 and 99,
إِلَّا الْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةً وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ سَبِيلًا
Except for the oppressed among men, women and children who cannot devise a plan nor are they directed to a way -
فَأُولَٰئِكَ عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا
For those it is expected that Allah will pardon them, and Allah is ever Pardoning and Forgiving.
Until the conquering of Mecca these were the rulings concerning the three groups of Muslims. After the conquering of Makkah, the lands there were under the authority of the Muslims. The Prophet saas stated after this that there is no hijrah from Makkah. (La Hijra’ ba’d al-fathi)
Next time we will talk about Hijrah after the time of the Prophet saas.
Those who did not make hijrah, are they considered companions of the Prophet saas?
They meet some definitions of a sahabah but not other definitions for example for accepting their hadith etc.
2012-02-05 Class Notes
The prophet saas said that there is no hijrah after the conquering of makkah, however there is still jihad and niyyah.
This hadith seems to bring the end to the idea of hijrah... class over? By the fact that we are here, this is not what this hadith means.
This hadith is speaking about the particular hijrah that was part of emaan for the sake of the deen at the time of the Prophet saas, specifically from Makkah and other places in Arabian peninsula to Madina. After fath of Mecca, Mecca is part of Islamic state and it is not like moving from non-Islamic to Islamic state.
So when the Prophet (SAWS) made this statement he had a very specific purpose and an essential part of the deen at that time. The Prophet (SAWS) also said: hijrah will not be discontinued until tawbah is discontinued and tawbah will not be discontinued until the sun rises from the West. So the Prophet (SAWS) is saying that the concept of Hijrah will continue to exist till the end of time.
Different types of hijrah
- Physical hijrah from one land to another.
- Spiritual hijrah
Scholars have interpreted that this hadith applies to physical and spiritual hijrah. There are times when physical hijrah will be necessary. But there might be times when a person lives as a Muslim for their entire lives without having to move but they are constantly attempting to spend their entire lives in complete submission to Allah swt (a spiritual hijrah). After the time of the Prophet (SAWS), the time of sahabah and for centuries after that the concept of hijrah was not discussed at all. Obvious reason was that Islam was expanding, and these places were becoming dar al Islam so there was no reason to make hijrah. But in books of fiqh you will occassionaly find the story of someone who embraces Islam in daar al kufr and what should he do? whether it is obligatory or not for that person to make hijrah.
Four major categories of hijrah after the time of prophet (saw) as categorized by Shaikh Jamaal:
During and after the time of prophet (saw) emissaries were sent to spread the Islam, this is not discussed as part of hijrah.
1. Individual or family hijrah: Not simply mubaah movement from one land to another land. But the kind of movement that there is some shariah ruling or basis for. Example: Muslim land to Muslim land for some reason.
2. Hijrah as a political or aqeedah or concept or tool or movement. Lots of examples: An important category to understand. Like so many concepts, it can be abused, misused or misunderstood. Examples date back centuries up to modern times.
3. Hijrah of Muslim minorities from non-Muslim lands to Muslim lands. This one first occurred when?
A short history lesson, Shaikh is showing a map of Europe. Muslim armies were in Geneva Switzerland and Italy, at the same time they were moving to Andalusia. Geneva was Muslim land for a decade. The Muslims ruled Sicily for 350 years, after they were defeated by a group of European armies known as Normans. Sicily by this time was Arabic speaking, when the Normans invaded under the leadership of Roger II, he did not push out the Muslims from Sicily. After 150 years, the Pope ruled that Muslims needed to be removed from Sicily, by 1060 CE Sicily was completely evacuated from Muslims (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicily#Arab_Sicily_.28965.E2.80.931072.29), some of them went into hiding. Sicily was first retaken by the European armies even before Andalusia. By the year 720 Hijri, most of Spain was Muslim land, except a small land known as Asturia, where Shaikh Jamaal Zarabozo is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaragoza???, which to this day is known as Asturia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asturia) land and the rest is known as reoccupied land. So the town from where Shaikh Jamaal is from, was not ruled by the Muslims. Next quarter we will discuss hijrah from Non-Muslims land. Is it allowed for Muslim minorities to migrate from Non-Muslim lands? In 1085 CE a small town in Spain known as Toledo fell, then eventually the Muslims were driven out of Spain by 1492 CE. Coincedentily the same year that the Columbus started his expedition.
Around this time we start getting fatwas whether it is allowed for Muslims to live under non-Muslim rule. Many of them went to Algeria, Libya and Jerusalem. The most famous fatwa regarding hijra -- the one that is used to this day saying we have left Spain under non-Muslim rule, but they treated us much better than our colleagues in Morocco. One of the most extensive fatwa.
A book written by French scholar on the “Muslim Colonies of France, Switzerland and Italy”, it was translated by an Indian author (Sherwani) to English.
Sicily was unique, it was defeated but the people were allowed to stay. The Muslims were driven out later. The reason this was a unique situation compared to Spain was that the locals in Sicily did not accept the Islam whereas in Spain the local people also accepted Islam. The Sicily at that time was inhabited by Arab majority, with the locals remaining the Christian minority for 350 years.
In the history of Islam, we had migration from Baghdad due to the Mongolian invasion in 1258 CE. If you are familiar with the Imam Shamail in Caucasus, there was a mass exodus from the Russian in 1859. And then there was also another mass exodus from the Balkans?????
4. Hijrah of Muslims from Muslim lands to non-Muslim lands. We are discussing hijrah where there are clear shariah rulings. This started in the colonial times, leading to the so-called brain-drain. We need to then discuss what is the acceptability for such movements. Big question: what is the definition of Daar Al Islaam and what is the definition of Daar al Kufr.
1. Family Hijrah.
This type of Hijrah is significant to the scholars related to Salafi madhab.
Ibn Taymiyyah, he came from a well known and learned family, both his father and grandfather were scholars of the Hanbali madhab. All of them are known as ibn Taymiyyah, you have to know their kunya, in order to distinguish them.
e.g. the Grandather wrote a book on hanbali fiqh known as Al-Muharrar, but sometimes the people get confused which ibn Taymiah wrote this and people say “he changed his opinion from al-Murrar to Fatawa” when they were written by different people!
Ibn Taymiyyah comes from a city called Harraan which is now part of Turkey. When he was 7 years old, that part of Turkey/Iraq was about to be invaded by the Mongols around 600H. His family migrated due to the Mongol invasion. There is a well known story about their migration. They left behind all of their belongings except for their books. They finally came to a place where the Tartar army was very close by and they were stuck and surrounded. The story goes they had no weapons, the only thing they could do was to make du’a, their dua got accepted, the Tartars left the area and they made it to Damascus. So this was a kind of hijrah to preserve their deen and life.
There are 3 individuals for having a hijrah in their life. Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-Albaani and Muhammad Ibn Abdul-Wahaab. And that is the reason why shaikh Jamaal said that it is related to the Salafis.
Naasiruddin Al-Albaani was originally from Albania (Abdul qaadir and Shu’aib al-Arnaoot are also from Albania). Albania became independent around 1912 or so. The Albania of that time -- after WW I there were a number of powers (like the Austro-Hungarian empires and Germany). The Western powers decided to keep Albania. The Albanian people were only covered by ⅓ of the land that the Albanians lived in. This is the because the land that had the natural resources was subdivided. So Albaani was born just after the start of WW I in 1914. And Albania had turbulent times (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania). Two parties were fighting for power, a Greek orthodox priest and an Albanian leader who became Zog I were fighting to control this land. They were both Western oriented. They prohibited the Albanian dress (which was similar to the Turkish dress), the hijab, under those circumstances, Al Albaani’s family migrated to Damascus.
Writing about it, Albaani says, Allah has bestowed many blessings, one was the migration to Syria and the other was my father teaching me to repair watches (he made his living repairing watches). If it were not for moving to Syria I would not have learned Arabic which allowed to me to gain the Islamic knowledge as most of it exists in Arabic language
Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahaab was the clearest example of this category because of his religious beliefs. The first two cases were not as direct, but this was a very direct. When he was young he studied in Madian and after his education he moved to a town in Najd called Huraimlah since his father was a Qadi there. It was in Huraimlah that he began his public da’wah activities. There was a lot of ignorance there and people not knowing the religion -- they used to worship at graves, and give trees spiritual significance. That is why one of the first things he emphasized is tawheed. And that is why one of his first books was called “Kitaab Al-Tawheed.” When his father died at 38, he became the judge and he obtained quite a reputation and took on the role of enjoining good and eradicating evil; until the ruler of that area came under pressure from other rulers because people would visit him and then spread his dawah in their regions upon return. Most requested that he be killed or exiled. But he came to know that and he left and migrated to his home town Al-Uyaynah. He was welcomed there and continued his da’wah there until a woman came to him to tell him that she had committed zina, and she wanted to repent from the sin that she had done. And Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab had her stoned to death. This once again brought lots of pressure to remove him. He was forced to leave and went to Diriyaah
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=217497792723461391217.0004b844a739daaf1484e
He then made an agreement with the ruler of Diriyah, in order to help him with his work on da’wah. This was his final Hijrah and the individual with whom he made the agreement was Muhammad ibn Saud. After that he had a strong supporter and nobody could ask him to be exiled again.
Abu Hanifah lived in Kufa, until the Ummayyad ruler insisted that he become a Qadhi. And he refused to do so. His reasons were that the responsibilities were heavy and he was not happy with the ruler. He made Hijrah to Makkah. And he remained there until Ummayyad were removed by the Abbassids. Then he moved back to Kufa. And then the Abbassids asked him to become a qadhi, which he refused again. And then he was imprisoned and died shortly afterwards. His student Abu Yusuf realized that there is no benefit in opposing the ruler. So he became the chief Qadi of Abbassids. Hence the Hanafi madhab became the dominant madhab in that part of the world.
This type of Hijrah was very common among many Muslim scholars, numerous scholars had to do this. The idea of moving to protect your deen, even to some other Muslim land. You can find this type of Hijrah throughout our history. And we can find many examples.
What about hijrah due to persecution by Muslim rulers?
Abu Hanifa had to do this as discussed earlier.
Ibn Taymiyyah had to move sometimes due to choice or due to persecution to Damascus or Egypt. Al Aloosi was forced to migrate a number of times from Iraq to Istanbul. Our ulema have either faced persecution patiently, such as persecution by Mutazilah inspired ruler of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
If your deen is being threatened, then you should be willing to move in order to protect your deen or your life.
Most muslims don’t fear threat to their deen or their life in the US, or it is not enough for them to move. For examples, the people of Sicily and Andalusia during the inquisition, were threatened and they lost their lives.
One of the differences between Sicily and Andalus is that the people in Sicily, the native population did not embrace Islam. But in Andalusia many of the local populace converted to Islam. In Sicily, after some time of physical hiding, lost their faith. In Spain, they hid their faith because they were forced to pretend to be Christian.
In the 20th century, in some place in Southern Spain, they found some places where people have preserved their Islam. But generally many in Spain had the choice to make hijrah.
So sometimes you have to make a decision about giving up your lands etc and it’s a difficult decision to make. How do you prioritize deen vs worldly things?
Next week: important to recognize when hijrah is being invoked in situations which are not proper.
2012-02-12 Class Notes
Shaikh is mentioning a few books on history of Islam in response to many emails that he received about the interest in history of Islam.
Islamic History Books in English
1. At-Tabari: Tarikh Rasool al Muluk (30 vol), it has been translated in English by different orientalists, can be bought as a whole set or separate segments, he starts from Adam and goes till his time.
2. History of Islam (Masud ul Hasan), 2 Vol, Sheikh does not recommend the book that much, history part is not that bad
3. Darussalam has History of Islam (3 Vols) by Akbar Shah Najeebabadi (http://store.dar-us-salam.com/product/110.html)
4. Venture of Islam by Marshall Hodgson, 3 vol (non-Muslim view of Islamic history)
5. Rethinking world history by Marshall Hodgson (here he discusses the hypothetical scenarios, e.g. the current modernism exist due to its birth in Europe based on Christian background, if the same movement would have happened through Muslim background it would have been much different)
Footnote: Euro centric view of the world places Europe in the center of the world map and it inflates the relative sizes of the various European countries as everything is drawn flat. However there are other maps available that take into account the curved geography of the Earth, you quickly realize how small and insignificant is Great Britain.
Islamic History Works in Arabic
1. Dhaahabi has a 15 volume work known as Tarikh Al Islam He died in 748
2. Ali Mohamed as Sallaabee, he had a Santa Clara connection. He is one of the leading political figures in Libya. He has written at least 20 books, five have been translated into English. He has a biography of many of the leading figures of Islam such as Seerah of Prophet (saw), Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali. He was written about Umaayad, Abbasids, Khilaafa of Abdullah ibn Zubair, of Hasan ibn Ali, of Muawwaiyah, Murabitton, Fatimids, has many books on history of islam in Libya. He is balanced, he has a positive view.
3. Mahmood Shakirhas 17 volume book on Islamic history.
4. Ibn al Khaldoon has Muqaddama, this is introduction to his other work on history, it is actually Theory of History, ibn Kaldoon is recognized as the first sociologist. This work is translated in English in 3 vol, there is also an abridged version in 1 vol. Arnold Toynbee say this is the greatest book on history. Shaikh is narrating an incident about this book from his time in UC Davis. In the book he describes the people of his time and he mentions something about the Sudanese in which he does not use proper words to describe them. He is very critical of all races. Shaikh said one African American student came across this abridged work in the library and then flung the book in disgust.
History of Hijrah
First of all, if you look in the Quran, there’s seven verses in the Quran where Allah (swt) speaks about hijrah and Jihad. Also, a couple of ahadith, talk about hijrah such as “there is no hijrah after fatah but there is niyah and jihad” So you see these two related. In books of fiqh they also speak about hijrah. They speak about it in the chapter of Jihad or chapter of Siyar (international relations).
In some of those, they state explicitly that Hijrah becomes obligatory once jihad becomes obligatory. As-Sarakhsi, one of the leading hanafi scholars, wrote a very large commentary on Muhammad al-shaybani’s book, named “Sharh Siyar”. He says in that book, the goal of Hijrah was jihad and pursuit of knowledge. Some of the contemporary authors say that the whole purpose of Hijrah is Jihad.
Mahmum Ahmed Ghazi (Hijrah, philosophy and message.for modern man). Hijrah and Jihad are complimentary and concomitant (they go together). And he says, without Jihad, Hijrah has no sense.
Q. But the first hijrah (to abysinnia) did not have any Jihad?
A. Hijrah from Mecca to Medina, one of the result was jihad, those people who made hijrah to abyssinia, they were not the slaves or most persecuted. Number of them remained there long after the Prophet (saw) established Jihad. So there was Hijrah without Jihad. And they stayed in that place and they didn’t go to the place where there was Jihad (Medina). So this is probably an exaggeration of always associating them. Sometimes there is a relationship between hijrah and jihad.
The central goal of Hijrah is bettering your environment and situation so that you can worship Allah (swt) better.
This is not uncommon for the way concept of Hijrah has been used and the way it has been emphasized in the history. Many political movements that have been emphasizing hijrah as one of their main characteristics.
Like many important concepts, hijrah can be abused. Like the idea of takfir, is it important to know what the distinguishing line is b/w islam and kufr? Yes it is. The concept is very important. Now when we take that concept and start telling other people they’re out of islam, that concept can be abused. We need to know the limits and similarly need to know Hijrah properly and look at it in historical contexts. And we’ll see how Hijrah has been used.
Characteristics we see when people talk about Hijrah.
1) Idea of exclusiveness. Identifying the real muslim community as the community that makes hijrah.
2) from that idea, those who don’t make hijrah, label them as outside the fold of Islam. There was never the case that was done at the time of Prophet (saw). Allah swt described them “those who wronged their souls” and never described them as non-Muslims or kafir.
3) Once people can be declared outside the fold of Islam, these people can declare war/jihad on these other muslims who did not.
4) Many times, the leader of Hijrah, begins to develop a very special status. These are some of the char...we’re going to see over and over again.
We mentioned four categories of Hijrah:
1) personal,
2) aqeedah movement,
3) Non-muslim → Muslim lands (next quarter),
4) Muslim → Non-Muslim lands (the quarter after)
Now we are discussing the second category, hijrah done as political or aqeedah movements.
Al Murabitoon
How many of you have heard about the Murabitoon?
Al-Murabitoon came from North Africa and they became a very powerful empire. They were from the time of Abbasids. They always paid tribute to the Abbasids. They did not break with them even though they had power. They were very strict Malikis. In the 11th Century, there was lots of infighting between Christians and Muslims. Muslims of Spain called on murabitoon to help them against Christians. After defeating the Christians they actually left Spain and gave it back to the princes and rulers that were there. It rarely happens in Islamic history. So that is unusual. after a short period of time, the Muslim leaders in Spain, were pretty corrupt. So again they called the Murabitoon to come and help them. This time they actually went to different Muslim capitals in North Africa. They said we want a fatawa (they went to al-ghazali)...that what should we do about these people. They got a fatawa to make jihad against the Christians and Muslims of Spain. First fatwa sheikh saw such fatwa. Ijma on this fatwa. So Murabitoon went and defeated Christians and stayed there this time.
Ibn Tumart’s movement (Al-Muwahidoon)
Al-Murabitoon, they were pretty decent rulers. Under the Murabitun, there was a person by the name of Muhammad bin Abdullah ibn Tumart. He died around 523H. He was born under the rule of murabitun. First of all, everywhere he went, he made trouble. He was imprisoned because of claiming to do ordering good and forbidding evil. he would go beyond the limits of polite behavior. Eventually he made it back to his small Burbur village (he was a true Burbur). What he did there, he started again ordering good and forbidding evil and started to get a following. One day he gave the khutbah and described the characteristics of the mahdi. He’s a true Burbur, yet the mahdi, one thing we know is that the Mahdi’s name is Muhammad ibn Abdullah, we know he’s a descendent of the Prophet (saw). Somehow he was able to claim that he’s a Burbur and the descendent of the Prophet (saw). By the time he finished the khutbah, 10 people ran to him and declared him the mehdi and made baya to him. Those 10 he said, are the ones entering Jannah. After some time, he said, his followers must make hijrah to this village, and those people who made hijrah were muhajioron and the people of village were ansaar. Made a pact like the time of the Rasul (saw). He died before his movement took a strong hold. His movement is known as al-muwahidoon (the ones on tauheed). His movement is the one that eventually kicks out the Murabitoon from North Africa. Murabitoon were salafi in aqeeah and Muwahhidoon were ashari/mua’tezileh in aqeedah. They called themselves the only people of tawheed.
What we see is that they established a very strict jama’a and required people to make hijrah. Some point in time, they looked at themselves following the “mahdi,” and this jama’a is the only real muslim jama’a. And in this jama/a they started the process of tamyeez. (distinguishing b/w true followers and not totally true). Even within their own group, they started to exterminate. They were an extremely violent group. Typical of war, to remove humanity from the opposition. They were extremely violent. After they became big, they couldn’t really enforce it for a long time. This hijrah started out as a very small movement but were able to throw out the powerful Murabitoon. And they did not kick out the murabitoon until the mahdi died. They ruled NA and Spain for about 150 years. The took bayiaa from their followers and it was called “bayiaa ridhwan”, and the battles they fought were called “maghazi”, the whole works!
Ibn Tumart, as far as the sheikh knows, is the first one to use Hijrah as some kind of a political tool. Established a jama’a to use in Jihad.
Sallabi has one book about murabitoon and one book about muwahidoon.
Uthman Dan Fodio (Sokoto Caliphate)
Uthman Dan Fodio (actually Uthman ibn Fudu). Abdullah Hakim Quick’s dissertation is about sokoto (sp?) caliphate. Very important person in the history of Sudan (Black population from Sudan to Nigeria). He was mostly in what we call Nigeria, where hawsa are. He died in 1817. Since the time of Uthman Dan Fudio, you can say that he was the one to really bring Islam to that area. Islam was so mixed with their original culture that you couldn’t identify Islam that much. So Uthman established the sokoto caliphate which rule for more than 100 years and really brought Islam to that area. He wrote a number of books an important one is “Bayaan wujub al-hijrah alal ibad” (exposition specifying the obligation of hijrah on people). As abdulhakim quick talks about in his dissertation, he has some sufi influence. he was part of the Qadriyyah sufi tariqas. He saw AQ Jilani in a dream, in this dream he was given the most important thing showing him that you’re the leader of the Muslims. Green shawl (mantle), special Turben and sword of truth. In his case, you can argue, it was more of a balanced approach. He was influenced by sufism but he didn’t take this position and put it in people’s faces. Because of that, he starts to form his own jamaah. They have their own dress (turban, niqaab). You can see that they are a different group. Originally, he didn’t interfere with the govt. His jama’a became very popular even amongst the soldiers and that became a problem. He established his capital and says that it’s obligatory on all the muslims to make hijrah to his capital. From there, you can say, about his jama’a...they were kind of forced to defend themselves and from there they took the military action. They were forced to flee and make hijrah. Eventually, they formed a khilafah. Kalifate of Sokoto. Finally the colonialists (the French and British) were able to defeat their descendants. They called on people to make hijrah so they can come and get the direct teachings from the sheikh himself. Because the teachings out there were not really good from Islamic perspective.
If you look at his book on hijrah, and another book, “letter to the people of sudan” (Wathiqah ila ahlus sudan). In these books he starts speaking about hijrah and jihaad. One of the first important book about Hijrah (translated to english). Interesting thing about this work, it is a balanced and scholarly work. In the middle of this heated battle he is describing the obligation of hijrah from the land of kuffar. He’s describing the other lands as the lands of the kuffar. He talks about when Hijrah becomes obligatory. He’s talking about land of Sudan (Sudan comes from Arabic word “Sauda” meaning black). The lands of the Sudan are in 3 categories: 1) where kufr is predominant and islam is rare. These are undoubtedly lands of kufr and the sultans of these lands are all kuffar. Hijrah from this kind of land is obligatory. He doesn’t say necessarily that Hijrah has to be his capital like Ibn Tumart said to his followers. 2) Where islam is predominant and kufr is rare. He’s talking about a specific group though. Those muslims who are still committing shirk. Although they profess islam, they’re mushrikoons. There’s no doubt, the status of a land is based on the status of the sultan. He calls majority of these sultan kuffar and rarely some of them being muslims. 3) Absolutely a land of Islam, but we do not know of any of these lands in the land of Sudan. Then he goes on to say, Hijrah from the land of non-muslims is obligatory on all people of Sudan except those who are weak. Then he goes on to refute those who say, “la hijrah ba’d fath”. What is the ruling of those who don’t make hijrah from the kuffar. He calls them disobedient to Allah although their islam is valid. They continued to rule until 1903 until the British defeated them. Remaining followers of Uthman were divided in two groups. Those that left the land (these were the people who made hijrah) and those that stayed with the british and co-operated with them. Both of these groups quoted fatwahs from Uthman to justify their position.
AbdulQadir al-jazairi. The problem they (sufi) face, if they are from a tariqah, the people from other tariqah didn’t agree.
2012-02-19 Class Notes
Muslim world is going through a lot of changes, at some point of time people may make claim for hijrah, so it is important to know about the historical facts about hijrah. We are not doing history of hijrah for the sake of history, claims with respect to hijrah keep coming up till today. The question that when was this concept misused will help us to understand when it is proper. It is important that we know our history, especially relationship between Islam and west. There were many Algerians at the end of 1800 and 1900 who made hijrah to Shaam etc. Many of them were scholars of hadith and their last name is mostly al-Jazaairi, it is important to know that even though they may have been born in Algeria bu they lived their lives elsewhere.
Abdul Qadir al-Jazaairi and History of Hijrah in Algeria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Qadir_al-Jaza%27iri http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7171037M/The_life_of_Abdel_Kader_ex-sultan_of_the_Arabs_of_Algeria
He is from Algeria. Algerian in particular was under Ottoman rule for 335 years. The French army was making movement in North Africa for three years and blockaded Algeria and then they conquered Algeria in 1830. Sporadic fighting started between locals and French army. They went to Sheik Muhiyudden who was father of Abdul Qadir and was head of Qadariah silsila. Abdul Qadir took baia’ at the age of 24.
Amir Abdul Qadir made a number of peace treaties with French in 1838. He would have no authority over Muslims of French controlled Algeria, need to give jiziya to french, total freedom of religion, and he would get arms in return, sounds familiar!! There is a very important book “Crusades now and then” written by Aslam Mungi, that covers this western strategy of deception.
French were able to conquer another town in Algeria called Constantina. Every time a treaty was signed, it was broken by the French. They claimed a pleasure trip and went using their military through Constantina. Eventually Amir saw that this was just a ruse on their part. This time they decided to conquer the whole of Algeria without making any treaty. This started around 1839-40. They started the policy of scorched earth. On one occasion, French drove around a 1000 Algerians including women and children. French took them to the cave of Aqabah al-Baidah and set the cave on fire. Everyone died. Amir had to eventually seek refuge in Morocco until the Moroccan made a treaty with French and part of the treaty was to give Abdul Qadir back. So he went back to Algeria and fought them until he surrendered. They were supposed to take him to Alexandria with a safe passage but they broke treaty again. They took him and put him in prison for a number of years until Napoleon III released him from prison and took him to Damascus and he actually spending the last years of his life receiving stipend from the French govt.
Lots of strange things have happened in our history!
Abdul Qadir wrote a treatise on Hijrah. In particular, part of Algeria was in his authority and part in French authority. He was trying to convince those who were under French to make hijrah to his lands and get away from the authority of the French. He sent to different ulema (Morocco and Egypt) for a fatwa and what he wanted in that fatwa, those who take refuge with kuffar and those who help them are apostates/murtaddin, they can be fought against and when captured their women and property can be taken. Different ulema he sent this request they all refused to say this kind of thing. Until eventually he wrote a Risala about Hijrah himself. He argued that there is ijma’ about the obligation of hijrah and whoever opposes it is a kaafir. Then he quotes verses in Surah Nisa (wasn’t Allah’s earth spacious)...and he quotes earlier scholars and texts. He said the earlier scholars did not discuss this issue since it wasn’t an issue for them. About those people who live under unbeliever’s protection but do not assist them either financially or otherwise nor are they acting as spies. Their execution is not permissible, such persons are only sinners and their blood and wealth are not permissible. Those who seek the unbelievers help are apostates and those who help them, their wealth and money can be taken. He quotes the fatwah taken by al-Murabitoon from the scholars that the Muslims in Spain who were helping Christians can be fought against. He also presents argument against hijarah and refutes them, such as the hadith commonly quoted “La hijrah ba’d al-fath”. He refutes them at lenght and said those Algerians who decide to reside in French territories are apostates since they like to live with the French. He divided people into two categories, those who knew what they were doing and those who don’t and they are both sinful.
During his time, someone by the name of ibn ash-Shahid. he was the mufti of Algiers (place under French control). He writes a reply to Abdul Qadir and his reply is very strange in many ways. First he starts by telling that Abdul Qadir is motivated by selfish/worldly aims and envy. Goes on to say, hijrah is obligatory only for the ones who have ability and we (him and Algerians) do not have the ability. Hijrah is only obligatory if you cannot practice your religion. Then he also goes on to say that not making hijrah is just a sin and not kufr. Your attitude towards us is not acceptable, may be you think that we cannot practice our deen freely. May be you are referring to the French General who confiscated mosques and turned them into Cathedrals and destroyed Muslim cemeteries and says maybe you’re referring to this. And he goes on to have a strange discussion about whether you need places of prayer or just ability to pray. Then he concludes that we do not need places to pray. He says we’re still able to pray and therefore still allowed to stay. And then he changes totally and then says, don’t you know if we had the ability to leave we’d leave. And then he says how poor we are, if we make hijrah, and who’s going to accept us and some of the rich people actually left and we’re left mostly with students and poor. How are we possibly going to make hijrah. And that’s how he concludes his discussion. Mixed bag!!
Eventually French took over the entire Algeria, Muslims were fighting with one another, sometime the would align with French and sometimes they would fight. Abdul Qadir was from Qadiri tariqah and those from Tijani would not accept him anyway. number of reasons why Abdul Qadir wasn’t successful.
History of Hijrah in India
We move now to a very different part of the world. INDIA! :) (the land of curry and good food mashaAllah :) )
Syed Ahmed Shaheed
We’ll first talk about Syed Ahmed Shaheed (d 1831). In 1803, Mughal emperor, Shah Alam was forced to sign a treaty to be pensioner of the East India Company. This lead to a question, whether India is now darul-harb and not darul-islam. Shah Wali Dehlavi, his son, perhaps wrote the most famous fatwa. He said, the lands are undoubtedly darul harb. This led to the question about what they should do now. Should they make jihad or should they make hijrah. They decided to make hijrah and from making hijrah we’ll regroup and then make Jihad. Lots of Muslims from India emigrate to Makkah and Madinah.
Syed Ahmed Shaheed, after he went to Hajj, started a movement called “Tareeqa-e-muhammadiyya”. This had two goals, one was to reform the Muslims and the second was eventually make jihad after Hijrah. The thing that harmed the most was the fact of reforming the Muslims. They were trying to stop people from worshipping the graves and to fight the influences from Hindu culture such as not allowing widows to marry. This last aspect led him to lose a lot of followers. His movement in 1822, first he went to Makkah, and after coming back he chose the Northwest frontier province (NWFP) which was free from British rule. This is where he chose to make hijrah to and from there to make jihad and re-take India. However there was a fairly powerful ruler in the area, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh had who captured Lahore and made a treaty in 1809 with British. Ranjeet Singh let lose a reign of tyranny and oppression against Muslims, so much so that Muslims were not allowed to make adhaan in public.
Syed Ahmed Shaheed had to fight against the Sikhs, and needed the support of local Muslim tribes. He was able to get military victories but because of his reform efforts, he started to lose their support and some Muslims betrayed him and joined with the Sikh rulers and fought against him. He became victorious and forgave the Muslim rulers and they betrayed him again. In 1830 he reconquered Peshawar and gave it back to Sultan Muhammad but he was betrayed again. He started to make hijrah further and further away from India. Finally he died in a battle with Sikhs in 1831. He was advised not to fight that battle as odds were seriously against him, but he fought. His body was dumped in the river by the Sikhs. This was another Jihad/Hijrah movement. Idea is to make hijrah somewhere, you become strong there and then you make Jihaad to retake the original land (like the example of Prophet (saw) hijrah from Mecca to Medina). He considered Hijrah as one of the greatest acts of worship and a stepping stone to Jihad.
Birth of the Khilafah Movement in India
After his time, some of his followers continued to fight the British and Sikhs for well over 50 years. Every time they were defeated they would make hijrah towards North and fight again. There was another mutiny in 1857 that was inspired by the same kind of thinking. After that defeat many of the Muslims made hijrah to Makkah and Madinah including Sheikh Rahmatullah. He has a book criticizing Christianity “idharul haqq” (two volumes in Arabic). And then the khilafat movement was also offshoot of that movement. Once again India was declared darul harb since Muslims were not in a position to make jihad (1920), 10/1000s of Muslims mostly from the provinces of Sindh and the Frontier made hijrah to Afghanistan. After so many had left for Afghanistan, British put pressure on Amir to stop the hijrah. Many of the leading scholars who encouraged making this hijrah did not take part in it (Abul Kalam Azad, Zafar Ali Khan). Figures differ in the range of 18k to 100k. Much of it had to do with not being aware of what the situation was in Afghanistan and what the situation was in the world itself. It was called the Khalifah Movement because the British were bringing an end to Khilafah in Turkey.
Muslim migration from India to Pakistan
In 1947/48, the creation of Pakistan, millions made hijrah from India to Pakistan. There was some emigration vice versa but not so much. Here a lot of Muslims lost their lives. Many of the ulema left India, even though you still have millions of Muslims in India, like mufti Muhammad Shafi, Sulaiman Nadwi, that left a void in India as well. Were the Muslims in Pakistan at such a level of Islam, that they were ready to accept the new Muslim emigrants from India? If they had such a level of Islam that they had the brotherhood created like with ansaar. But that did not happen in Pakistan. Hijrah has been central focus for many of the ulema throughout the years. Unfortunately it has not been very successful for the most part.
History of Hijrah in Sudan
Mahdi of the Sudan
There is a movie starring Charleston Heston called Khartoum about it. The Mahdi of the Sudan, 1885. His great grandson, Sadiq al-Mahdi, until just 15 years ago was very influential. His main competitor was Hasan Turabi. Mahdi of Sudan, what do you think he claimed? He claimed to be the Mahdi.
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah
He was able to gain political strength in Sudan and made hijrah a necessary component of being one of his followers. He actually wrote letters to other rulers to make hijrah to his land. Like Kaliph of Sokotu, Muhammad as-sanusi of Libya. King Sanusi was who Qaddhafi kicked out. So he sent these letters asking them to make hijrah. He saw visions that proclaimed him to be the mahdi. One time he wrote a letter asking people to make hijrah to a place where …..the lord of existence (Prophet saas) has asked me to take leadership, informed me and write to them and invite them to make hijrah [note: he was sufi of Samaniah tariqa]. If the family obeys to make hijrah so be it. He established the concept of brotherhood as well. However he told the ansaar (his followers) that the lowest of the ansaar is greater than the rank of Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (who was the greatest sufi in this tareeqah). He ruled for number of years and was eventually killed. Then his Khalifah continued to rule and ordered everyone to make hijrah. Everyone who betrayed was a traitor and was to be caught even if he ascended to the ladder of the heaven. It also backfired, because all the farmers were asked to make hijrah and there were food shortages. Mahdi state collapsed in 1898 as they were attacked by Egyptian English army.
What should you do if the muslim country you’re living in has turned to kufr and Jahiliyah?
So the govt is based on kufr and not on shariah. These are premises, therefore the rulers are kuffar. If the rulers are kuffar and the system is kufr, all those who work for the system are also kuffar. And others who accept and do not rebel, they must also be kuffar. What do you do? Should you make hijrah?
History of Hijrah in Egypt
When the govt was crushing the Muslim Brotherhood in late 60s, they put a lot of youth in prison. While in prison, these young people, usually without any shuyookh or any knowledgeable people or books among them, were discussing the situation and ruling concerning the Muslims of Egypt. These are the kind of conclusions that they came up with:
- The rulers are kuffar
- Those who work for the rulers are kuffar
- Those who accept the system are kuffar
Jamaat al Muslimeen - An offshot of the Ikhwan
After they were released from the prison, their leader Mustafa Ahmad Shukri, formed an organization called Jamaat al Muslimeen. They had broken off from the Ikhwan. He came out of prison in 1971. They admitted later that they had no access to books in the prison and it was the blind leading the blind. They are called Jamaat al takfeer wal hijrah by others. When they declared themselves Jaamat al muslimeen, they were claiming that they were the only Muslims and everyone else fell outside of that category.
In 1977, the head of the ministry of Awqaf, Muhammad al Hussein al Dhahabi, was assassinated. In response, the government blamed this group (who has always denied it). Al Dhahabi was a religious man but was not of their group. The government arrested 401 people and by November 1977, 5 of them were condemned to death, including Mustafa Shukri. Many of the others were sent to prison. After the execution of Shukri, some of the followers of this group made hijrah to North Yemen, others went into hiding and others joined the group Munadhamah al-Jihad.
In 1984 Shukri’s group that was reorganizing had built a small place to live which they called al Mahjer, the place of hijrah. It was in an area of Attattiya. It was away from the populated areas, out in the boondocks. This was going to be the new place to make hijrah to. The government arrested them and sent bulldozers to tear down the encampment. They rebuilt it and again it was torn down.
Analysis of Hijrah movements discussed above
The point of discussing this group is that they felt that there is something wrong with Muslims in their society and they had to separate themselves according to their point of view, based on their premises that these people were all kuffar. Their second in command, who was the nephew of Shukri, was named Mahr Bakri. He wrote a book on hijrah and explained the obligation of fleeing these people and creating their own society; their hijrah was a transitory stage so that they could make jihad.
They had another type of hijrah for people who could not leave, where you were still amongst the “kuffar” but you psychologically make hijrah. You reject what these “kuffar” believe in and all of their practices. They treated the other Muslims as kuffar and do not pray behind anyone who is not from the jamaa’a. You cannot merry their women, if you are married you have to divorce, separate from your families. If you can’t, then you must make hijrah to the mountains and the open plains.
Many in Al Qaeda, who were influenced by the groups mentioned above, hold many of the same views regarding Muslims living in the West.
The abuse of the concept of hijrah is very important to understand. Their point of view have been that if you do not make hijrah you are not in the fold of Islam. We want to learn from the mistakes these group makes so that we can understand what not to do and to get a better understanding regarding what the limits of hijrah are, especially in this political sense.
Many of the most important points behind the hijrah made from Makkah to Madinah during the time of the Prophet saas are ignored by these groups completely. The two most important conditions to make any claims that you are on haqq are:
1. You need proper intention
2. You need proper steps to execute on that intention, for that you need proper understanding of Quran and Sunnah.
Hijrah can be used as a political movement for gathering people, but it is dangerous to say that anyone who does not join one of these group when they make hijrah is outside of the fold of Islam. This happens over and over again and it’s a huge mistake on many different levels. It leads to a sense of wala’ on the basis of the jamaa’ alone and the jamaa’ is above everything else; therefore anyone outside of the jamaa’ fall outside of your beliefs essentially.
Those who are dragged into extremism now land in the same positions mentioned above; falsehood has to have some basis in truth (this is where the danger lies). If you come to someone with complete false hood, people will catch it; but if you mix in enough truth, people will buy it.
2012-02-26 Class Notes
After discussing the historical perspective on hijrah we will go back to the theoretical aspects in the light of Quran and Sunnah.
Hijrah, root is from (Hajara) “H” “J” “R” -- to cut off or separate from something, to leave something, to avoid something. Make some kind of move away from something to something else.
That’s another slightly different definition of Hijrah, going from darul harb to darul islam. The prophet (saas) had received the bayah of the people of Madinah before he went there and that’s why it’s considered darul-islam.
Tafseer al Maudui
We’re going to basically do what is known as Tafseer al-maudui (topical tafseer of the quran). That’s what we’re going to do today with the word hijrah.
Lessons of the Quran should be tied to events that are occurring now
The goal is to inspire us to have the proper appreciation of how Allah (swt) speaks about Hijrah in the Quran. In the long run, it should strengthen our desire to be part of those people who make hijra. One of the key things when studying the quran and learning the quran, is to try to release the texts of quran from the constraints of time and place. It is very easy to read the quran and read what it’s referring to and consider it as finished and bygone and not related to you. This is especially in case of best mufassireen over the years, to try to tie the Quran to events that are occurring in their time.
For example, Ibn Kathir when he was discussing Surah Maidah (50) أَفَحُكْمَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ يَبْغُونَ . How could they possibly want something from the time of jahilyyah when the revelation is coming down. That was something that Allah alluded at the time of revelation, original reference was to the people at the time of prophet (saw) alerting them to the fact that the laws from Allah (swt) are better than anything else that they have. (footnote: Sheikh was showing a book on the same topic “Man made laws vs Shariah”.) This issue is very much relevant nowadays, where people are looking for laws and ways other than Allah (swt). Ibn K talks about the tartars that were ruling at that time they were ruling by “al-yasaaq/yasiq”. this is mongols ruling after they converted to Islam. They’re ruling by this book from Changez Khan, combination of Judaism, xtianity and some fromislam and they gave precedence to this over Quran and Sunnah. ANd he said, whoever does that, he is disbeliever and it’s obligatory to fight them...and he quotes the verses. He’s sighting exactly what is going on in his time by referring to this verse.
There are verses in the quran, very relevant to your time and place and what you yourself should be doing. When we study the hijrah in the quran and what Allah says about hijrah, obviously the form/shape might be different from what happened at the time of Prophet (saw) but our goal of doing this action that how it’s applied in our life, this is one of the goals of shariah, which we hope over the next few quarters to understand.
We have about 23 relevant places in the quran where this topic is mentioned. “Hajara”, “tuhajiru”, “muhajireen”...we’ll be going through these verses and talking about them through different perspective:
1) in the light of how Allah ties hijrah to other imp aspects of the deen.
2) hijrah and it’s relationship with imaan.
3) the ways in which quran is encouraging people to make hijrah
4) how Allah then gives a warning to those who fail to make a hijrah.
1. How Allah ties Hijrah into other important aspects of the deen.
a. Relationship b/w Hijrah and patience. NAHL:110, Clear relationship b/w idea of hijran and idea of sabr. Is patience passive?
ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا مِن بَعْدِ مَا فُتِنُوا ثُمَّ جَاهَدُوا وَصَبَرُوا إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِن بَعْدِهَا لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Sahih International
Then, indeed your Lord, to those who emigrated after they had been compelled [to renounce their religion] and thereafter fought [for the cause of Allah ] and were patient - indeed, your Lord, after that, is Forgiving and Merciful
Sabr is both patience and perseverance. Patience doesn’t always mean that you’ll be passive. The idea of sabr and perserverance is that you take the steps you need to take to be able to continue to fulfill what is obligatory upon you. Sabr implies that you will continue in the way that is correct; this is the shariah understanding of sabr. It is how you can continue to worship Allah properly. One of the most important steps that can help you when in a situation where the worship of Allah is difficult is to remove yourself from that situation and put yourself in a place where you can worship Allah swt properly; the hijrah may become a necessary step to help you in this perserverance.
In the end of surat al imran (3:195), Allah swt is speaking about the fact that He is not going to let anyone who suffered or strove and sacrificed for the sake of Allah swt to get his reward lost for their efforts. the three categories of people mentioned are actually related to hijrah هَاجَرُوا وَأُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِمْ وأُوذُوا فِي سَبِيلِي.
فَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا وَأُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِمْ وَأُوذُوا فِي سَبِيلِي وَقَاتَلُوا وَقُتِلُوا لَأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلَأُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ ثَوَابًا مِّنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عِندَهُ حُسْنُ الثَّوَابِ
So those who emigrated or were evicted from their homes or were harmed in My cause or fought or were killed - I will surely remove from them their misdeeds, and I will surely admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow as reward from Allah , and Allah has with Him the best reward."
In the same passage five verses later, Allah swt says to persevere. (3:200)
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful.
Sabr is one of the most important qualities a Muslim needs to possess according to the shariah. Here the use of verb “saabiroo” which is form VI verb, does not imply reciprocity, rather it is here for emphasis, and sahih international captures that meaning through translating it as “endure”.
Surah al Muzammil verse 10
وَاصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَقُولُونَ وَاهْجُرْهُمْ هَجْرًا جَمِيلًا
Sahih International
And be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance.
Hijrah has many important meanings to it. Allah swt says be patient with what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance. Whether it is physical or spiritual hijrah, both of them require patience.
We haven’t spoken about the other kinds of hajarah yet.
Al Razi said in his tafseer of this verse that all of the actions of a human being can be broken down into two categories; how they interact with Allah swt and how they interact with al khalq. There is a relationship between the two but we are dividing the two for discussion sake. The beginning part of surah al muzzammil is about this relationship with Allah swt. The relationship with al-khalq is captured by Allah swt with this verse; He says that you must be patient when deal or mixing with human beings. Or you may have a chance to avoid them and this is mentioned here as a type of hijrah. The avoiding and separating can sometimes be based on location; regardless it must be done in the proper way.
When dealing with people of taqwa, we don’t need to worry about hijrah and avoiding people.
Ordering good and eradicating evil is contingent on being able to do something about it, e.g. in the west it would be difficult for you to make people not go to bars and social drinking, so in this case avoidance of these venues is your part of hijrah.
b. Allah (swt) ties hijrah to jihad in many places.
Baqarah 218
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أُولَٰئِكَ يَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Sahih International
Indeed, those who have believed and those who have emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah - those expect the mercy of Allah . And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
An important thing to note about this verse is that “allatheena” is repeated twice. In the second instance it is used to group those who have “emigrated and fought in the cause of Allah”. You have gone out of your way for the sake of Allah swt and these are the people who have the most right to the forgiveness of Allah swt. This verse is often times quoted in books of aqeedah regarding who has the true hope in Allah swt; there is a hope where the individual is deceiving himself and there is a hope that is really based on something.
Surah at Taubah verse 20.
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً عِندَ اللَّهِ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ
Sahih International
The ones who have believed, emigrated and striven in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of Allah . And it is those who are the attainers [of success].
Surah al Anfaal, verse 72.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا وَجَاهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آوَوا وَّنَصَرُوا أُولَٰئِكَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَلَمْ يُهَاجِرُوا مَا لَكُم مِّن وَلَايَتِهِم مِّن شَيْءٍ حَتَّىٰ يُهَاجِرُوا ۚ
Sahih International
Indeed, those who have believed and emigrated and fought with their wealth and lives in the cause of Allah and those who gave shelter and aided - they are allies of one another. But those who believed and did not emigrate - for you there is no guardianship of them until they emigrate.
Allah swt juxtaposes those who strive and make hijrah for the sake of Allah swt with those who refuse to do so.
c. Allah swt makes it clear that hijrah is one of the sunan of the anbiaa (the messengers and prophets).
In the case of Musa and Ibrahim, we discussed this earlier.
Surah am Mu’minoon verse 50.
وَجَعَلْنَا ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُ آيَةً وَآوَيْنَاهُمَا إِلَىٰ رَبْوَةٍ ذَاتِ قَرَارٍ وَمَعِينٍ
Sahih International
And We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign and sheltered them within a high ground having level [areas] and flowing water.
In the tafseer of this verse, there is a lot of difference in opinion as to where they went to. Some say Damascus, others say Ramla. The strongest opinion is Jerusalem.
d. Hijrah is a form of fleeing to Allah as we see in the Qur’an.
Nisa: 100
وَمَن يُهَاجِرْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ يَجِدْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُرَاغَمًا كَثِيرًا وَسَعَةً ۚ وَمَن يَخْرُجْ مِن بَيْتِهِ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ الْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
Sahih International
And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him - his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah . And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.
One of the most important hijrah is to Allah and His Messenger.
Adariat verse 50
فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ
So flee to Allah
Hijrah is a kind of fleeing to Allah swt for His support to stay on tawheed. You are fleeing from shirk and disobedience to Allah swt and so forth.
2. Relationship between hijrah and Imaan:
Another thing that we see throughout the Qur’an is the relationship between hijrah and emaan as a whole; hijrah and its connection with those who believe.
Bakarah verse 218 إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا
Anfal 72 إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَهَاجَرُوا
Ahzab verse 6 وَأُولُو الْأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَىٰ بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ
Hijrah is a trial in the path of emaan
The idea that Allah swt is going to try human beings so that they are given the opportunity to demonstrate that they are willing to sacrifice for the sake of Allah swt. In particular, at the beginning of surah al ankaboot, v:1
أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ
Sahih International
Do the people think that they will be left to say, "We believe" and they will not be tried?
In at tabari’s tafseer, he mentions from different narrations, mursal and some weak narrations, this verse actually was in relation to the command to make hijrah and those Muslims in Makkah that did not make hijrah; hijrah was kind of a trial to demonstrate their emaan. When they refused the call to make hijrah, they were kind of showing that they were believing but were not living up to the trial of believing. Sheikh Jamaal feels that there is some weakness in this narration.
Surah al Nahl verse 110. (given above) Here Allah (swt) is describing those who made hijrah after being tested.
3) the ways in which quran is encouraging people to make hijrah (qualities of muhajiroon)
Especially this part where Allah swt speaks about the qualities of those people who made hijrah; this is one of the strongest aspects that should really make us reflect upon hijrah and the idea of hijrah and what it means in our lives. What we see throughout the Qur’an is that Allah swt uses choicest words to describe characteristics and qualities of those who made hijrah.
For example, surah Hashar verse 8.
لِلْفُقَرَاءِ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا وَيَنصُرُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ
Sahih International
For the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes and their properties, seeking bounty from Allah and [His] approval and supporting Allah and His Messenger, [there is also a share]. Those are the truthful.
a. Ikhlaas (sincerity)
This verse actually is filled with wonderful descriptions of the muhajireen. One of them is their description of having ikhlas; doing that action for the sake of Allah swt. Allah swt describes why did they make hijrah; they are seeking the reward and bounty of Allah swt.
b. Sabr (patience):
Another characteristic is sabr. Surah Nahl 41, 42.
وَالَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا فِي اللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُوا لَنُبَوِّئَنَّهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً ۖ وَلَأَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
Sahih International
And those who emigrated for [the cause of] Allah after they had been wronged - We will surely settle them in this world in a good place; but the reward of the Hereafter is greater, if only they could know.
الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ
Sahih International
[They are] those who endured patiently and upon their Lord relied.
Surah nahl, verse 110. (see above)
Having sabr is an extremely important characteristic and Allah swt described those who made hijrah as having sabr.
c. Sidq (truthfulness)
Allah swt also mentions those who made hijrah as having sidq (truthfulness), Hashr 8. أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ They are sincere to Allah swt and made this move out of sincerity to Allah swt.
d. People of Jihaad and willing to work for the sake of Allah (swt)
We see throughout the Qur’an that Allah swt has talked about the muahijreen as those who people who are willing to make jihad. Allah swt also mentions the muhajireen as those who are willing to give their support to Allah swt and His Messenger.
Hashr v:8, وَيَنصُرُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ
They are trying to aid the deen of Allah swt and aid the Prophet saas. This is a characteristic that every muslim should hope that Allah swt describes them as. This is also one of the conditions for asking for support and victory from Allah swt; we have to be willing to give and hope and support the cause of Allah swt. Surah Muhammad verse 7.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن تَنصُرُوا اللَّهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ
Sahih International
O you who have believed, if you support Allah , He will support you and plant firmly your feet.
e. Mutawakkiloon (trust and reliance on Allah swt)
Allah swt in Surah Nahl verse 41 and 42 describes the people who made hijrah as those people who put their trust and reliance in Allah swt. وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ
Tawakul is one of the most important characteristic and quality that a Muslim possesses. This quality demonstrates many aspects of emaan itself; you demonstrate your belief in Allah, Allah’s ability to do whatever He wills and you are showing that you are putting your reliance in Him and only Him (you are free of shirk). You are also demonstrating your good expectations of Allah swt and that He will not let anything good that you do go to waste. You are demonstrating that you have “husn dhan billah”
f. Rajaa’ (real hope)
Surah Bakarah v 218, they are the ones who have the real hope in Allah swt. أُولَٰئِكَ يَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَ اللَّهِ
g. Faidhoon (real successful)
Allah swt also describes the people that made hijrah as the successful ones. Surah Taubah verse 20. Allah swt describes these people as being the true successful ones. وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَائِزُونَ
h. True believers
Allah swt also describes them as those being the true believers. “al-imaan al-haqeeqi”
Surah al infal verse 74. أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ حَقًّا
We can also see in the verses of the Qur’an what Allah swt has promised for the muhajireen; Allah swt has promised provisions for them in this life. Surah an Nisa verse 100. Many places to live and in abundance on this earth (promised by Allah swt).
i. What Allah has promised to Muhajiroon?
Allah swt has provided them with provisions in this life as discussed in Nisa verse 100. فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ
Example of muhajareen among sahaba, Allah swt describes them as fuqarah muhajireen; they have given up their wealth and their rights to it. We see in surah al Infal that part of the war booty and the fay (no fighting or surrender) is designated to the muhajireen.
Surah al Hashr:v9
وَالَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُوا الدَّارَ وَالْإِيمَانَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّا أُوتُوا وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ ۚ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
Sahih International
And [also for] those who were settled in al-Madinah and [adopted] the faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them and find not any want in their breasts of what the emigrants were given but give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul - it is those who will be the successful.
Allah swt describes another way He provided for the muhajireen. He opened the hearts of the Ansar and had them give preference to the muhajireen.
We also see that the sins of the muhajireen will be forgiven (al Imran verse 195) لَأُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ
Surah at Taubah: v20 we see that their rank and status with Allah swt is raised. أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً عِندَ اللَّهِ
They are described as being deserving of entering Jannah. Ale-Imran v 195,
وَلَأُدْخِلَنَّهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ
That pleasure from Allah swt is the greatest thing that anyone can receive. Taubah v72 وَرِضْوَانٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ
Also in surah Taubah v100 about Muhajareen and Ansar رَّضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ
What we can see throughout the Qur’an is you cannot imagine Allah swt speaking about hijrah and those making hijrah in terms that are not promising or stand out. This quality of hijrah and sacrificing for the sake of Allah swt is important; we need to ask ourselves what is the relevance for us. Everyone of us should seek to be in the same position with Allah swt as these people have achieved. This process isn’t easy and requires some study to find out how to behave such that we can attain this category that is so pleasing to Allah swt. Those kinds of actions will be discussed in a future quarter of this class.
Go to the verses noted above and appreciate for yourself how Allah swt is describing those who have made hijrah.
Those who make hijrah are included in the same category as those who have died for the deen in many places in the Qur’an. They are among the greatest and has meaning/relevance to us.
The Qur’an is meant for us to reflect upon and as such these verses should have a lot of meaning to us.
The sheikh is more concerned in the long run that students have a good foundation in the subject and appreciate the topic instead of just feeding them an answer that won’t mean anything to them. You need to understand the background of the topic and the reasoning involved.
2011-03-04 Notes
Thematic Study of Hijra in Hadith
You will find many interesting hadith that scholars have not commented on.
Hadith regarding the hijrah at the time of the Prophet saas
In sahih muslim, it is recorded that the prophet (SAWS) said that “the fuqaraa’ of the muhajireen (all of muhajareen of mecca are considered fuqaraa’) shall preceed the rich in entering the janna by 40 years” . When you see the muhajireen referred to as being of fuqaraa’, these are the ones who left Makkah.
Mustakhraj of Abu awaanah, narrates the hadith: “Do you know the first group who will enter Jannah? The fuqaraa of the muhaajireen will come to the gates of Jannah, and ask for it to be opened; and the guard there will ask: have you been reckoned yet? They will reply, what can we be accounted for, when the sword was on our neck for the whole time? They will enter the jannah 40 years before anyone else”.
In Sahih Muslim, hijra was one of the ranks/status in who has precedence in leading the Salaat. “The leader of the people in Salaat should be the the one who knows the book of Allah best. If they are equal then the one who knows the most about the Sunnah. If they are equal, then the one who made hijrah first is to lead the prayer.”
In Sahih Muslim, Amr ibn Aas said: before Islam the Prophet (SAWS) was the most detested to him; after Islam he became the most beloved. At bay’ah, he said he wanted to put a condition that his sins be wiped out. The Prophet (SAWS) said becoming Muslim wipes out all sins, and hijrah wipes out all sins and making the pilgrimage wipes out all sins.
Prophet loved Ansar and they were beloved to him. It is also narrated that the Prophet saas said that if I did not make hijrah, I would be among Ansar.
The reward of making hijrah applies equally to women. Umm Salamah came to the Prophet (SAWS) saying “I do not hear Allah (SWT) saying anything about the women when mentioning the hijrah.” The verse 195 of Ale-Imran was then revealed: “I will not let any of you, male or female, lose their actions.”
When Mecca was conqeured, the muhaajiroon were prohibited from staying in Makkah for more than 3 days. Because then they would no longer be muhaajiroon. Based on this some fuqhas argue that the max time of travelling allowed is 3 days, after that you are not musaafir.
One of the seven destructive sins. Prophet (SAWS) said the great sins are 7 -- the last of which was going back to living as Bedioun after making the hijrah.
Someone came to the Prophet (SAWS) and he asked the Prophet (SAWS) for an action that he may do. And the Prophet (SAWS) said: You should make hijrah for there is no action better than that.
A hadith in Sahih Muslim where a bedouin was speaking with the Prophet saas. The matter of the hijrah is something very difficult. Then he asked, do you own any camels? The bedouin said yes. The prophet saas asked do you pay their zakat? The bedouin said yes. The Prophet saas told him to work to do the deeds for the sake of Allah wherever you are for Allah will not let any of your good deeds go to waste.
The few people who commented on this hadith (found in sahih muslim), they say that we see something in this hadith something unique with respect to the hadith but also showed a unique quality of the prophet saas’s dawah: to give dawah based on circumstance. Not everyone is capable of making hijrah. In the time of the Prophet saas, you weren’t allowed to go back to Makkah and you were not allowed to go back to the desert once you made hijrah to madinah.
Hijrah is one of the most desirable actions that we know of but here we can see the Prophet saas guiding someone who is not able to make hijrah.
Many of the hadith related to the hijrah are not commented on by the ulemah.
Not everyone has the ability to stand the trials and tribulations that the deen puts them through and it is not proper for someone who does not believe they can stand such trials and tribulations to seek these trials to put their emaan at trial. Their emaan may not be as great as others and their ajr in the akherah may not be as much as others but the goal is not to put their emaan at trial.
This hadith should also not be used as an excuse to not make hijrah when it is truly obligatory upon you. The few ulemah that the Sheikh found that commented on it said this. As far as we know, making hijrah was considered an obligation at that time in general so this might have been an exception for some of the bedouin tribes.
This next hadith from Sunan an Nisai showed that there were actually two types of hijrah. The Prophet saas said that there are two kinds of hijrah: the hijrah of the towndweller and the hijrah of the bedouin. As for the hijrah of the bedouin, when he is called to take part in jihad, he must respond, and when he is ordered, he must obey. (It seems that there might have been some special ahkam for the bedouins.) Then the Prophet saas said as for the towndweller, he is the most severely tested and the most greatly rewarded. (The fitnah is going to be greater and the reward will be greater.)
The bedouins were in a situation where they were not required to make hijrah but must obey if they are commanded.
There is another hadith in Sahih Muslims and the interpretations given to this hadith are based on when the hijrah in not obligatory. Someone came to the Prophet saas and said that he wanted to make baya’ to him for hijrah and jihad seeking the reward from Allah. The Prophet saas asked him if any of his parents are alive. The man said yes both of them. The Prophet asked do you want the reward from Allah, the man replied yes. The Prophet saas then said go back to your parents and treat them well. In a narration in Abu Dawud, someone came to the prophet saas to make baya’ to him to make hijrah. he left his parents for this sake and left them crying. The Prophet saas said go back to them and make them laugh in the same way that you made them cry.
These hadith must be referring to events after fath makkah as many commentators have said.
There’s another hadith in sahih bukhari where the Prophet saas said that whoever believes in Allah and his Apostle and offers prayers perfectly and fasted Ramadan will be granted paradise whether he fights for the sake of Allah or remains in the lands he was born. Then someone said oh Messenger of Allah, should I not give the glad tidings to the people. ...there are different gates and levels of janna’ ….
Here the Prophet saas is describing a case where hijrah is not obligatory. If hijrah is not obligatory he will be rewarded for his deeds even if he did not make hijrah. For those willing to make the sacrifice when it’s not obligatory will have a greater reward in Jannah than those who have not made this hijrah.
In another hadith, the Prophet saas described hijrah as one of the important actions that the shaytan will come to you and keep you from doing it. The prophet saas said that the shaytan will sit in the path of Islam; if the person thinks about becoming Muslim, shaytan makes him question why he is becoming Muslim, are you going to leave the religion of your fathers. The person will disobey the shaytan and become muslim. Then the person comes who is going to make hijrah. The shaytan will make him doubt his journey. The person will disobey the shaytan and make hijrah. The person who is going to make jihad will do the same. Whoever does this has the right upon Allah to be entered into Jannah and whoever is killed in jihad has the right to be entered into Jannah. From Sunan an Nisai.
One of the most famous hadith of the Prophet saas related to hijrah in a secondary manner is the hadith of the Prophet saas concerning intention. The Prophet saas said surely all actions are driven by intentions and surely every man shall have what he intended. He whose migration was for Allah and His messenger will have his migration counted for that...
There are a number of important points in this hadith. The Prophet saas is described this physical migration as making hijrah to Allah and His Messenger; this shows that this is an action that can be done sincerely just for the sake of Allah. It will inshaAllah get a special reward from Allah.
This hadith also demonstrates the power and pull of dunya and women. Hijrah is not a simple matter, it means leaving wealth and land behind. You would hope that humans are in such a position such that they would only do this for the sake of Allah swt. It is a great action that can be ruined if it has the wrong intention behind it. Someone’s intention can be distorted and wrong just in some cases with jihad. Some people can make hijrah just for the sake of the dunya. There are many muslims who moved from Muslim lands to non-Muslim lands just for economic benefit, wAllahu alam. They have picked up and moved from muslim lands to the non-muslim lands just for the sake of dunya. The Prophet saas has described the dunya as very alluring. Hijrah is a great and very important act and we need to make sure that our intention is pure and for the sake of Allah swt.
The Prophet saas said to be aware of dunya and also be aware of women. I have not left a fitnah that is greater than the fitnah of dajjal except women. For example, someone’s wife can convince someone to make hijrah just for her; it’s a pull mentioned earlier. Even salaat can be ruined because of your niyyah.
Most of the times you are going to have multiple intentions, one is the driving intention and the rest are consistent with that main intention, if that is not the case then you need to rethink the purpose of doing that particular act.
Q: Can intentions be corrected after the fact?
A: In general even if you had the wrong intention to do an act, e.g. just for riyaa’ and the minute you realized that you had a wrong intention you should try to correct it. If that correction is done before the act, well and good. However, if you realize after the act is over and repent over your wrong intention and make tawba’ inshaAllah Allah will erase that bad intention and replace it with your good intention. In the case of hijraa it is a constant act, so even if you initially made the hijraa with the wrong intention but you later revised your intention, you are still in that act so inshaallah that will fine as well. wallahu aalam.
2012-03-11 Class Notes
This is the last class for the quarter. Today’s class will be from 7:40 to 8:40 PM PST.
We plan to finish the discussion about hijrah from the perspective of the hadith of the Prophet saws. As we saw before, there were Muslims who made Hijrah to Abyssinia which was not an Islamic state. The tribes that accepted Islam, they became an Islamic state since the entire tribe had accepted Islam. They were encourage to make hijrah to Madinah but if they did not make the hijrah, it was accepted if they stayed behind and did not make the hijrah.
When Prophet (SAW) gave advice to expeditions he told them if they accept the following three then do not harm. He said call them to Islam and if they did then do not harm them. Then he said call them to make hijrah.... and if they refused to do so then they would be like the bedouins of the .... and that they will not have any share in the war booties unless they participated in it.
So early Muslims were encouraged to make hijrah. And there was a distinction between city dwellers and bedouins with respect to make hijrah, it was harder for the city dwellers and easier for the bedouins. And if they did not make the hijrah then they were to focus on worshipping Allah swt to the best of their ability.
The most famous hadith in which prophet said, that there is no hijrah after the conquest of Makkah.
After the death of the prophet, A’isha explained that during that time, the people were afraid and they had to flee in order to protect their deen, and now Islam is victorious and did not have to flee in order to be able to worship Allah swt.
Even in the time of the Prophet (SAW), there was an idea that the only ones who will enter Jannah are those who make hijrah and then he made the statement of no hijrah after conquest of Makkah and that there is jihaad and niyyah.
After the conquest of Makkah, the prophet would not take bayyah for hijrah. Prophet SAW said that hijrah has gone away. Then the person asked what can I pledge allegiance to and then the Prophet (SAWS) replied, On Jihaad and Islam.
This statement of prophet where he says ba lakin or however, implies that it tweaks what comes before.
Some of the commentators such as Mubarakpuri say that the relationship between hijrah to Madinah but movement for jihaad and for good intentions to flee in order to protect your deen would continue. So hijrah to Madinah was finished.
In another hadith, the Prophet SAW said, that hijrah will continue to exist as long as there is jihaad.
Even in the time of the prophet it was necessary to .....
But the idea of regrouping for the purpose of jihaad will remain. So hijrah as a concept will continue as long as there is jihaad. So the idea is to make the muslim ranks strong and powerful. As long as there are non muslims fighting Muslims, there will be dar al harb, these are lands of those who fight against Muslims, then it is obligatory to make hijrah from dar al harb.
Prophet said hijrah will not be discontinued until repentance has not been discontinued and repentance will not be discontinued as long as the sun rises from the east.
So there is a clear connection between hijrah and taubah.
Another kind of hijrah is to leave what Allah swt dislikes and the acts of disobedience to Allah swt. Many times it is the individual’s environment in particular that contributes to him committing sins. Part of making taubah is to leave the place and people that are causing you to commit sins.
Shaikh narrated the story of the person who was asking guidance for repentance after killing many people, this is the story from the Banu Israel. Finally he came to a knowledgeable man and asked him if there was any way for him to repent. he told him you should leave the place you are and go to such and such village where there are pious people living. He died on his way and the angels brought him closer to his final destination so that he will be with Allah swt in the akherah.
Otherwise, the concept and practice of hijrah will exist as long as their is taubah and jihad (which will exist and be practiced by Muslims until the day of judgment).
Shaikh explained that if you have friends who watch objectionable content on TV and then if you made a conscious decision to avoid them and separate yourself from them (make hijrah), then it is a kind of taubah. So avoid them and stay away from them is type of hijrah.
There is another kind of hijrah that is an obligation on all of us.
Hadith recorded by Bukhari: Prophet said that the muhajjir is one who is staying away from his evil deeds
Ibn Haban reports that the Prophet saas said that hijrah includes the act of leaving sin (?)
Another hadith, prophet said, A Muslim is one who stays away from ...
In another hadith, the prophet said, hijrah is of two types, one is to flee from his evil deeds and another is to flee towards Allah and His messenger.
Physically when you make hijrah, you move to a place that is good for your deen. So spiritually, you want to flee to the point that you’re submitting to Allah (swt) and following the Prophet (saw), fleeing from the sins. This kind of hijrah, is obligatory on muslims at all time. To describe it as hijrah, it is a conscious act on the part of the individual. To leave something, to avoid something, not getting involved with the sins. To leave the sins and leave what is wrong and to submit to Allah (swt) this is actually the ultimate goal of all kinds of hijrah, physical or virtual.
Essentially, both physical and spiritual hijrah have exactly the same goal. for example, if you’re already living in a land where you obey Allah, you don’t need physical hijrah, you just need spiritual. Ultimate goal is to flee and migrate from the sins. If you make the physical hijrah (like the one who made hijrah for the sake of dunya) and not making hijrah from sins or for the sake of Allah, then what’s the point. You have to have this kind of hijrah otherwise the other one doesn’t mean anything.
Another hadeeth about Hijrah. In this hadeeth, Prophet (saw) said, “making ibadaah during times of civil commotion (people are fighting, killing for reasons known or unknown) this is equivalent to making hijrah to me” (Muslim). Al-Harj, refers to time of fitna, commotion, civil war. They don’t even know why they’re fighting. At that time, anyone who engages in ibadah gets a reward similar to migrating to the Prophet (saw). It is a kind of internal conflict that happens within muslims. Scholars explain, during this kind of time, people are so involved in commotion that they have a tendency to forget ibadaah. Plus they also understand to mean, ibadah here, to set yourself off from people and dedicate yourself to worship. Many times in harj, people don’t know who is right or wrong, in this situation, better for the individual to leave that fighting and commotion and to dedicate himself to worship.
if you’re in a situation you don’t know who is right or wrong and there’s blood being shed, it’s better to leave all of them and dedicate to worship...unless you can prevent some harm then you should do that.
Hadith about Hijrah to as-shaam (present day Syria, Jordan and Lebanon). As-Shaam, Prophet (saw) said, a time will come you’ll be armed troops. One in shaam, one in yemen and one in iraq. Most scholars understand this time close to the day of judgement. Which ones of the group should I follow, prophet (saw) said, go to ash-shaam.... [Abu Dawood]
Ibn Taymiyyah has a small booklet on the virtues of shaam. He said, Shaam is the land of the hijrah of Prophet Ibrahim (as). This hadeeth is glad tiding to those who made hijrah to ash-shaam, during times of fitnah.
We’re pretty much done with all the ahadeeth related to Hijrah. We see from this, important concept of spiritual hijrah. Fleeing from what Allah has prohibied. Hijrah that implies a form of tawbah and hijrah that will be related to al-jihaad.
Based on the totality of what we found in quran and sunnah, the ulema have talked about 6 specific types of hijrah and 8 lesser forms of hijrah. These different types of hijrah, inshaAllah we’ll be discussing in future classes
Three basic types of “religious hijrah”
1) making hijrah from the land of kufr to the land of islam
2) make hijrah from the land of people of bid’a to the land of ahlussunnah
3) making hijrah from a land that is dominated by haraam to a land that is less dominated by haraam.
The following three are sanctioned by shariah but are not necessarily done for the sake of Allah swt
4) making hijrah from a land to protect ones self from physical harm
5) making hijrah from a land where one fears bodily disease or illness
6) making hijrah due to fear of harm to someone’s property or wealth.
Ibn Al Arabi (the Maliki scholar) says there are additional types of Hijrah:
(going out or making a journey for the sake of Allah swt)
1) To make hijrah to ponder/reflect
2) Hajj
3) Jihad
4) going out to earn a living
5) making hijrah to get knowledge of the deen (Musa a.s. in Surat al Kahf)
6) traveling to the three Masajid (located in Makkah, Madinah and Jerusalem) for worship. This is the case where the journey to this place is an act of ibadah.
7) go to the lands of Muslims to patrol the borders
8) going out to visit your brethren for the sake of Allah swt.