The Moral Vision
The First Emigration
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THE FIRST EMIGRATION
By the fifth year of the Prophet Muhammad’s
mission, conditions in Mecca had become
intolerable for many of the Muslims, as persecution
by the Quraysh intensified. At this time the Prophet
advised his companions to emigrate to Abyssinia.
This is called the first emigration of Islam; it
preceded by some eighty years the mass emigration
of Muslims to Medina.
This was part of the advice which the Prophet
imparted to his followers on the occasion of the
emigration to Abyssinia:
“Disperse in the land; surely God will gather
you once again.”
How meaningful these words of the Prophet are!
What they amount to is an exhortation by the
Prophet to his followers that they should avoid
confronting the enemy for the present, but rather
remove themselves from the line of fire. God would
then provide them with the means to vanquish the
enemy; He would gather them together so that they
could come into their own once again.
