The Hijrah to Abyssinia

The Hijrah to Abyssinia

The unbelievers of Makkah had made life very difficult for the
Muslims. The Holy Prophet (S) was worried and concerned about the
condition of the Muslims, so he advised a group of his followers to
migrate to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), which was ruled by a kind Christian
king whose name was Negus.

This was the first Hijrat in Islam and 10 people took part in it. It
happened in the fifth year of Prophethood. A second, larger group of
Muslims also migrated soon afterwards, under the leadership of Ja'far
bin Abu Talib, the brother of Imam Ali (A). The Muslims were welcomed
with much kindness in Abyssinia and found the life there very pleasant
and comfortable.

When the chiefs of Makkah found out that the Muslims had migrated and
were living peacefully in Abyssinia, they became worried that the
Muslims might turn Negus, the king of Abyssinia, towards Islam. They
decided to send some gifts to the king and his ministers, and try to
convince him to send the Muslims back to Makkah. They sent two men
after the Muslims.

When the two men reached Abyssinia, they first met the ministers and
gave them expensive gifts. They convinced the greedy ministers to
support their mission by backing them in the court of the king. On the
following day, they met Negus, and after presenting him with gifts,
they said: "A group of our young men have gone against the beliefs of
our forefathers and have invented a new religion. These people have
now run to your country. I request you to hand them over to us so that
we can take them back to Arabia."

As soon as this speech was over, the ministers loudly declared their
support for this request. However, Negus took no notice of them and
asked whether the Muslim refugees had killed anyone, or stolen
anybody's property or had committed any crimes in Makkah. They replied
that their only crime was inventing a new religion.

The king then announced, "I cannot hand over the people who are living
under my protection without a proper investigation. "

He sent a message to the Muslims that their leader should come to the
court. Ja'far bin Abu Talib came to present the case for the Muslims.

The king turned to Ja'far and asked, "Why have you given up the
beliefs of your forefathers and started a new religion?"

Ja'far replied, "We used to be ignorant people who worshipped idols.
We ate dead bodies and committed bad deeds. We had no respect for our
neighbours and fought amongst ourselves. The weak and helpless were
bullied by the strong. We spent a long time in this manner, until a
person from amongst us, who had a faultless character, invited us to
worship One God.

He taught us to respect other people's property, to behave well with
our relatives, to respect our neighbours and women and to avoid lying.
He ordered us to offer prayers, to fast and to pay religious tax on
our wealth. We have believed in him and worship Allah. However, the
Quraish have behaved very cruelly towards us. We resisted them for
some time, but now we have come to live here to save our beliefs. The
fame of your kindness has brought us to your country and we have
perfect faith in your justice."

The king was very impressed with the sincere speech of Ja'far, and he
asked him to recite something from the Heavenly Book of the Muslims.
Ja'far recited and explained some verses from Surah Maryam of the Holy
Qur'an.

When the king and bishops heard the words of Allah about the virtues
of Bibi Maryam (A) and Prophet Isa (A), tears came to their eyes as
they recognised the truth. King Negus declared that he would never
surrender the Muslims to the Quraish and asked them to leave his court.

One of the Makkans, who was a very cunning man, decided to try another
approach. He knew that the Christians believed that Prophet Isa (A)
was the son of God.

The next day he went to the king and said that the Muslims had special
beliefs about Prophet Isa (A) that were totally different to the basic
belief of the Christians, and so they were a danger to the official
religion of Abyssinia.

King Negus again called Ja'far and asked him what the Muslims thought
about Isa (A). Ja'far replied, "Our belief regarding Isa (A) is that
which has been taught to us by the Holy Prophet (S). He was the
servant and Prophet of Allah, and the Spirit of Allah with which He
blessed Bibi Maryam (A)."

The king was pleased with this answer, and he praised the beliefs of
the Muslims and allowed them full freedom to practise their religion
in his country.

He returned the presents of the Quraish back to them and said, "God
has not taken any bribe from me while giving me authority over the
people. It is not right that I should gather wealth by means of your
bribes." The two men had no choice but to return to Makkah, having
totally failed in their attempt to bring back the Muslims.

The Muslims continued to live in Abyssinia peacefully for a long time
and only returned after the Holy Prophet (S) had migrated to Madinah.