Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem (In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful)
All Praises And Thanks be to Allah, and peace and salutations be upon The Messenger of Allah, his noble household, his companions and all those who follow him with excellence till The Day of Judgement.
Allah said in The Qur’an (9:100):
And the first forerunners [in the faith, in Islam] among the Muhajireen and the Ansaar and those who followed them with good conduct – Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the great attainment. (End of The Ayah.)
In the above verse of The Qur’an, Allah, The Almighty One True God, praises the Muhajireen (the Sahaba of Makkah who migrated out of Makkah) and the Ansaar (the Medinan Sahaba who aided and welcomed The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ). The reason that Allah praised them is because they sacrificed their wealth, their lives and their families for the sake of Allah. Not on just a handful of occasions, but on numerous instances.
The Seerah (biography) of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who is the last and final Messenger of Allah, is filled with such junctures when the actions of the Sahaba left precedents for what were indeed ‘sincere sacrifices for the sake of Allah’.
One aspect of their sacrifices, which have been neglected or more so forgotten by the Muslim Ummah today, were their extreme acts of trust and faith in Allah when they migrated away from their homelands to the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah.
When we study the Biography of The Prophet ﷺ, we see that by the middle of the fourth year after the Prophetic mission the Sahaba (companions) of The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ started being persecuted for converting to Islam and leaving their former religion of idol-worship. By the beginning of the fifth year of the Prophetic mission, it became unbearable to live under the constant harassment and torture of the idol worshippers of Makkah.
Muslims even today remember, how Sumayyah bint Khayyat and her husband Yasir bin Amr, new converts to Islam, were killed by Abu Jahl (a powerful non-muslim chief of Makkah) and his aides for not saying the words of polytheism (Shirk) when being forced to do so.
Their son Ammar bin Yasir, was also pressurized, till he was forced to utter words of disbelief to save himself. Actually, many companions had to resort to such measures to save themselves. Allah allowed the Muslims -in The Qur’an- to save themselves, when being tortured by the disbelievers by uttering statements of disbelief, as long as their hearts remained true to Islam (See Qur’an 16:106). We also have examples of Bilal bin Rabah and the others who did not succumb under pressure and never bowed down to the disbelievers, even after being harmed time and again.
So now the Muslims seriously began to consider ways by which they could escape the persecution at the hands of the disbelievers. It was in these conditions, and in this background, that the Muslim emigration to Abyssinia began, in the sixth year of Prophethood.
The Prophet ﷺ informed the Muslims that the land of Abyssinia in Africa, was ruled by a just, fair-minded and noble Christian king ,so whosoever could travel and live there, could save himself and his religion from being trialled and tested by the disbelievers.
Allah revealed in The Qur’an: “Verily, as for those whom the angels take (in death) while they are wronging themselves, they say, “In what condition were you?” They reply, “We were weak and oppressed on earth.” They (the angels) say, “Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?” (Portion of the Ayah from Quran 4:97.)
In the above Ayah, Allah made it obligatory for those Muslims -who had the physical and financial capability- to migrate away from the oppression of the disbelievers. And Allah assured them that they need not hold on to their homelands where they’re being oppressed and tortured, rather the entire earth is a place to worship Allah. And the Muslims had to move to a better place because ‘the earth of Allah’ was ‘spacious enough to migrate’, according to The Qur’an. However, the weak and poor Muslims, who couldn’t make a way out for a valid reason, were forgiven from the obligation of migrating out of Makkah (see the verse of Qur’an 4:97,98).
Thus, in the first Hijrah to Abyssinia, around eighty Sahaba migrated to that land. Az-Zubair ibn Al-Awwam, who was one of those, mentions that after landing in Abyssinia, he was waiting for the companion, Khalid bin Hizam. Khalid bin Hizam, had left Makkah with his family and some relatives, but Allah had different plans for him. On the way to the sea coast to board the ship to Abyssinia, Khalid bin Hizam was bit by a venomous snake and died. Subhan Allah, imagine the plight of Khalid bin Hizam’s family, they just left their homeland Makkah,and they begin the journey by losing the head of their house, Allahu Akbar.
Then this verse descended: And whoever leaves his home emigrating to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him, his reward has become incumbent upon Allah, and Allah is Oft Forgiving Most Merciful. (Qur’an 4:100)
So Khalid bin Hizam, may not have reached Abyssinia, but he reached a place better than that- ‘paradise’, for being overtaken by death whilst doing the deed of Hijrah (migrating for the sake of protecting your religion). (See Silsilatul Ahadith As-Saheehah 3218 for the narration.)
The desperation of Janda bin Damrah to obey an injunction of Allah is also noteworthy. Janda bin Damrah, lived in Makkah and had accepted Islam. He fell terminally ill with a high fever and his life was at a critical juncture. When Janda heard that the verse pertaining to the obligation of Hijrah was revealed, and that those who do not do Hijrah even after having the capacity to do so will be punished by Allah. He took the matter seriously and did not brush it off by claiming incapability. He tried his best to follow the commandment of Allah.
(―The following verse: Verily! As for those whom the angels take (in death) while they are wronging themselves (as they stayed among the disbelievers even though emigration was obligatory for them) they (angels) say (to them): In what (condition) were you?‘ They reply: We were weak and oppressed on the earth.‘ They (angels) say: Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to emigrate therein? ‘Such men will find their abode in Hell — what an evil destination! (Quran 4:97))
Janda bin Damrah, asked his family, being in a critical condition between life and death, to move him out of Makkah towards Madinah. As they were taking him out of Makkah, he died on the way. (See Musnad Ibn Abi Ya’la 2679, Ibn Katheer 1/543 for the narration.) And then (again) the verse 4:100 descended, giving glad tidings of Paradise to the one who meets death when enroute doing Hijrah.
The account of the Hijrah of Umm Salama and her family is not to be missed. When she and her husband Abu Salama decided to migrate to Madinah with their young son, the men from Umm Salama’s tribe -who despised their new faith- turned up. They took away Umm Salama telling Abu Salama that he couldn’t take his wife away from her family. At that very juncture, Abu Salama’s tribe -also disbelievers- showed up, pulling their boy Salama towards themselves. The scene soon turned into a tug-off war for the young boy Salama, each group claiming him. The scuffle resulted in Salama’s hand being dislocated and Abu Salama’s family taking him, the young boy, away.
Abu Salama, did not stop because of the loss of his young son and wife, to their disbelieving families. Rather, he moved on and migrated to Madinah. Allahu Akbar, can you imagine the Imaan (Faith in Allah) of this Sahabi, that he did not stop even after this loss! He did not postpone his travel! He left for Madinah leaving his wife and child behind!
For one year, Umm Salama would sit in the valley where this incident happened and cry her heart out. Looking at her sad state, her husband’s family gave back her son and she was allowed by her relatives to leave for Madinah.
She left for Madinah, all alone, having only herself and her son and her camel, with her, with Allah’s Faith in her heart and Allah’s support at every step.
After some portion of the journey, Allah sent His Aid in the form of Uthman bin Talha, a very noble and well-mannered Arab (he was a disbeliever at that time). Uthman bin Talha, helped her with the journey walking alongside her as she was seated on the camel. He would distance himself from her as they stopped to rest for a while and only came close to the mother and son when she was on her camel. He dropped her at Quba, where he knew that Abu Salama was residing at that particular time. (Uthman bin Talha accepted Islam after the conquest of Makkah.) (Ibn Ishaq 2/315, Qawi (Dr.Muhammad As-Suyani))
Suhaib bin Sinan Ar-Roomi, was from Iraq, he lived with the Romans and learnt their language. He then moved to Makkah and lived there, building for himself a decent fortune. He too accepted Islam at the call of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
When he wanted to leave Makkah, as it became difficult to practice Islam there, the people of Makkah followed him similar to how a pack of wolves chases it’s prey. Suhaib had his quiver, bow and arrows. He threatened to shoot dead the ones pursuing him and trying to capture him. He also offered to the Makkan polytheists, an option to take his wealth that he’d left in Makkah (his two slave girls) and to stop pursuing to capture him. The polytheists agreed and stopped following him.
When the Prophet was informed of Suhaib’s exchange, Suhaib’s sale of his wealth for freedom to migrate to Madinah, he ﷺ said, ‘O Abu Yahya (Suhaib bin Sinan Ar-Roomi), the sale was profitable!’
Then the Prophet ﷺ recited from The Qur’an: “And there are those who would dedicate their lives to Allah’s pleasure.” (2:207)
Suhaib bin Sinan Ar-Roomi, sacrificed his wealth for the sake of migrating to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. (Mustadrak Al-Hakim 3/398, Thabit (Muqbil bin Hadi))
The Sahaba who did Hijrah at the earliest to Madinah, were made brothers of another Sahabi from Madinah. That is, one Muhajir (One who migrated) was made the brother of an Ansaar (Sahabi from Madinah who supported the Muhajir), the Ansaar and his family would tend to the needs of their Muhajir brother. The stories of the sacrifice of the Ansaar are well known and famous, so much so that some Muslims think that Hijrah to Madinah was easy for the Sahaba as they had the Ansaar to welcome and support them. But no dear Muslims, this wasn’t the case for all!
This option wasn’t available for those who delayed in coming to Madinah for some reasons, because the Ansaar themselves were usually not wealthy and almost every family was already hosting another Sahabi from Makkah.
These unsupported Sahaba, were around seventy or more in number. They lived in a corner of Masjid An-Nabawi, they were called Ashab-us-Suffah. They were in such a difficult state that they had only a single piece of loin cloth (like a Lungi or Dhoti) to cover themselves. The other Sahaba, would try their best to support them with food and water. Only at rare instances would they have some satiating food. Otherwise at times they would burn their stomachs out of hunger or would have only a very small quantity of dates or a handful or fewer amount of wheat grains! The Ahadith mention that at times, they would become so weak that they would fall off out of weakness in prayer!
With all of these difficulties, these Sahaba, did not return to their former lands, neither did they ever complain or regret about accepting Islam and migrating. These Ashab-us-Suffah used to recite and study the Qur’an in the morning and discuss and ponder over its meaning at night.
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, why didn’t the Ashab-us-Suffah cancel their plans to stay in Madinah and go back to their former comfortable lives in their homelands? It was because for them- the sacrifice was worth it! They could take up all the hardships of life, but they wouldn’t wish to live in a place where they would live in luxurious lives without being allowed to practice Islam. The benefit of being allowed to practice Islam far outweighed the harms borne in living with poverty and hardship in a Muslim land. (See Al-Bukhari 442, Tabrani Al-Kabeer 8/310, At-Tirmidhi 2368)
Madinah, wasn’t a very comfortable place back then, rather it was a place where outsiders fell ill. When they heard of the Prophet’s migration to Madinah, Tufail bin Amr Ad-Dausi from Ad-Daus migrated to Madinah with another Muslim companion of his. His companion from Daus, who had also accepted Islam, was really affected by the new climate. So much so that his illness made him uneasy and he felt like killing himself. And one day, he took and arrowhead and cut his finger joints and the resulting blood flow was enough to kill him!
Tufail saw a dream wherein he saw this Sahabi in a pleasant condition with his hands wrapped (bandaged but still wounded). The Sahabi who suicided said, “Allah granted me pardon for my migration to the Prophet ﷺ!” When Tufail narrated this dream to the Prophet, he ﷺ said, “O Allah! Grant pardon even to his hands!” (Sahih Muslim 116)
Thus, Hijrah to a land, for the sake of Allah, to find easiness to practice Islam, is such a great act, and is so virtuous, that it can absolve and forgive even a major sin.
The Prophet ﷺ said to ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas when he came to accept Islam- “Did you not know that Islam wipes out what was before it and that Hijrah wipes out what was before it and that Hajj wipes out what was before it?”…[1]
The Sahaba were true to their Imaan and they delivered themselves to the fullest till they either achieved victory or died in Allah’s cause.
Allah says in The Qur’an: “Among the believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits [his chance]. And they did not alter [the terms of their commitment] by any alteration.” (33:23)
Are we also ready to fulfil our promise of being Muslims like the Sahaba!? May Allah guide all of us. Ameen.
-Abu Muaaz Mohammed bin Thajammul Hussain Manna
[1] Sahih Muslim 121.
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B.E [Aeronautical Engineering], B.A [Islamic Studies]. Islamic Studies Teacher, Author of ‘The Biography of Prophet Muhammad (From Reliable and Credibly Established Narrations)’ [Three Volumes, 1400+ pages] which is the first book of Seerah in the English language that uses only authentic narrations for the storyline of the Biography of The Prophet [SalAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam]. Download some chapters of the book from HERE for free.
To buy email: getauthenticseerah@gmail.com
Other books by Mohammed bin Thajammul Hussain Manna: Famous but Unauthentic stories from The Seerah of The Prophet Muhammad (Translated and summarized from Arabic into English), The Authentic Biography of Bilal bin Rabah [Radi Allahu ‘Anhu], Mukhtasar Sahih Seeratun-Nabi [A very summarized, authentic biography, filled with references from Ahadith for every story mentioned. Sal Allahu ‘Alaihi Wa Sallam].
Saheehus-Seerah 