Hijrah to al-Ḥabashah

The Hijrah to al-Ḥabashah (Abyssinia) was the first migration undertaken by members of the early Muslim community from Makkah to the Christian kingdom of Aksum in northeast Africa during the Makkan period of the Prophet Muḥammad’s ﷺ mission. In sīrah literature, it is regarded as the earliest organized migration carried out for the preservation of religious belief and communal security. Classical Muslim historians present the migration as a response to the increasing persecution and social pressure experienced by the early Muslims at the hands of Quraysh. Occurring before the later Hijrah to Madinah, it marked one of the earliest encounters between Islam and Christianity and demonstrated the willingness of the nascent Muslim community to seek protection beyond Arabia.

According to the chronology preserved in the major sīrah sources, the first migration to al-Ḥabashah took place around the fifth year of the Prophet’s mission, approximately 615 CE. By this time, opposition from Quraysh had intensified considerably, particularly against converts who lacked strong tribal protection. Sīrah accounts report that the Prophet ﷺ granted permission for some of his followers to migrate to al-Ḥabashah, describing its ruler as a just king “under whom no one is wronged.” This decision reflected both the practical concerns of safeguarding the believers and the broader ethical principles that would later become part of the Prophet’s sunnah concerning justice and protection for vulnerable communities.

The first group of emigrants is generally said to have consisted of approximately eleven men and four women, although the exact number varies among the sources. Among the most prominent participants were ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and his wife Ruqayyah bint Muḥammad. Other notable emigrants included Abū Salamah ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Asad and his wife Umm Salamah Hind bint Abī Umayyah. When persecution intensified further, a second and much larger migration followed. Classical historical works report that this group included more than eighty men in addition to women and children. Among its leading figures was Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, the Prophet’s cousin, who emerged as the principal spokesman for the Muslim community in al-Ḥabashah.

The most celebrated episode associated with the migration concerns the efforts of Quraysh to secure the return of the emigrants. Representatives of Makkah, including ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, were dispatched to persuade the Negus (al-Najāshī) to extradite the Muslims. According to reports preserved by Ibn Isḥāq and al-Ṭabarī, the Negus summoned the Muslims and asked them to explain their beliefs. Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib responded with a speech describing the moral and religious transformation brought about by Islam and then recited passages from Sūrat Maryam (Qurʾān 19:16–36) concerning Mary and Jesus (ʿĪsā). The recitation reportedly moved the Negus and his bishops, leading the ruler to reject Quraysh’s request and grant protection to the Muslim refugees.

This episode occupies an important place in Islamic historical memory because it illustrates an early example of constructive Muslim-Christian interaction and highlights the role of justice as a basis for interreligious relations. Later Islamic tradition maintains that the Negus accepted Islam privately, although the historical details remain a subject of scholarly discussion. Several ḥadīth reports state that the Prophet ﷺ performed the funeral prayer in absentia (ṣalāt al-ghāʾib) for the Negus upon receiving news of his death. These reports contributed to the enduring significance of the Negus within Islamic tradition and reinforced the memory of his support for the early Muslim community.

The Hijrah to al-Ḥabashah established an important precedent in Islamic thought by demonstrating that Muslims facing persecution could seek refuge in lands governed by non-Muslims when justice, security, and freedom of worship were available. It also revealed the broader regional dimensions of the Prophet’s ﷺ mission beyond Makkah and foreshadowed later developments in Islamic history. In sīrah literature, the migration is often viewed as a precursor to the Hijrah to Madīnah. While the migration to Madīnah.

## References

1 Qurʾān 19:16–36. 2 Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, trans. Syed Muḥammad Ibrāhīm and Ḥabīb al-Raḥmān Ṣiddīqī (Karachi: Nafīs Academy, 1990), 2:76. 3 Ṣafī al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī, al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm (Urdu) (Lahore: Maktabah al-Salafiyyah, 1995), 131-139. 4 Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār and Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām, Sīrat Ibn Hishām, Urdu trans. Syed Yāsīn ʿAlī Ḥusnī Niẓāmī (Lahore: Idārah Islāmiyāt, 1994), 1: 207-220. 5 Shiblī Nuʿmānī and Syed Sulaimān Nadwī, Sīrat al-Nabī (Lahore: Maktabah Khalīl, 1990), 1: 115-19. 6 Abū ʿUbayd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd al-Baṣrī, Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd, trans. ʿAbdullāh al-ʿAmadī (Karachi: Dār al-Ishāʿat, 2003), 1: 214-220. 7 Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Zād al-Maʿād, trans. Rais Aḥmad Jaʿfarī (Karachi: Nafīs Academy, 1990), 2: 686. Qāḍī Muḥammad Sulaymān Salmān Manṣūrpūrī, Wa-mā arsalnāka illā raḥmatan li’l-ʿālamīn (Lahore: Progressive Books, 2022), 1: 43.