Seerah
5. The Hijrah
From Makkah to Madinah
5 min, Intro
In 622 the Prophet ﷺ leaves Makkah for Yathrib, soon called Madinah. That journey, the Hijrah, turns a persecuted group into a community. The Islamic calendar begins with it.
Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
The thread
Persecuted in Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ receives an invitation from Yathrib, a town worn out by war. Secret pledges. A plot to kill him. Three days in a cave, and a journey north. They turn a persecuted circle into a community. The Islamic calendar counts from that journey.
An invitation from Yathrib
Where does a persecuted man find a home? The answer comes from a town about 450 km north of Makkah. Yathrib.
Yathrib was exhausted by years of war between its two Arab tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj, alongside several Jewish tribes. At the pilgrimage, a few of its people meet the Prophet ﷺ at a place called 'Aqabah. They accept Islam.
The next year, twelve return. They pledge to worship God alone and to live uprightly. The year after that, 622, about seventy-five men and women pledge to protect him as they protect their own families. Muslims in Makkah begin to slip away north.
Madinah invited the Prophet. He did not conquer it.
The cave of Thawr
In Makkah, Quraysh's leaders make a decision. They will kill him. A man from each clan will strike together, so that no single clan can be blamed.
That night he leaves with Abu Bakr. In his bed he leaves 'Ali, with a task: to return the valuables Makkans had left in his care.
The two hide for three days in the cave of Thawr while trackers search the mountains. At one point the searchers stand near the entrance. Abu Bakr fears for him. The Qur'an records the reply: "Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us."
إِلَّا تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدۡ نَصَرَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِذۡ أَخۡرَجَهُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ثَانِيَ ٱثۡنَيۡنِ إِذۡ هُمَا فِي ٱلۡغَارِ إِذۡ يَقُولُ لِصَٰحِبِهِۦ لَا تَحۡزَنۡ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَنَاۖ فَأَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُۥ عَلَيۡهِ وَأَيَّدَهُۥ بِجُنُودࣲ لَّمۡ تَرَوۡهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ٱلسُّفۡلَىٰۗ وَكَلِمَةُ ٱللَّهِ هِيَ ٱلۡعُلۡيَاۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ ٤٠
40 If you do not support the Prophet, Allah has already supported him when the disbelievers forced him out; when he was second of the two in the cave – saying to his companion, “Do not grieve; Allah is with us.” Thereupon Allah sent down His tranquility upon him, supported him with soldiers that you did not see, and rendered the word of the disbelievers the lowest, whereas the Word of Allah is supreme. And Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.
Even fleeing for his life, the Prophet returned what he was trusted with.
Arrival, and brotherhood
He arrives in 622, to crowds singing in welcome. One of his first acts is to build a simple mosque of mud brick and palm trunks. It was not only for prayer. It was also a school, a court, and a shelter for the poor.
He also turns to the people themselves. He pairs each Muhajir, an emigrant from Makkah, with one of the Ansar, the helpers of Madinah, as brothers. Many Ansar share their houses and property with men who have arrived with nothing. The Qur'an praises them for preferring others over themselves, even in their own need.
وَٱلَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُو ٱلدَّارَ وَٱلۡإِيمَٰنَ مِن قَبۡلِهِمۡ يُحِبُّونَ مَنۡ هَاجَرَ إِلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِي صُدُورِهِمۡ حَاجَةࣱ مِّمَّآ أُوتُواْ وَيُؤۡثِرُونَ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمۡ وَلَوۡ كَانَ بِهِمۡ خَصَاصَةࣰۚ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفۡسِهِۦ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُفۡلِحُونَ ٩
9 As for those who were settled in the city [of Madinah] and embraced Islam before them, they love those who migrated to them and find no covetous desire in their hearts for what they were given. Rather they give them preference over themselves even though they may be in dire need. Whoever is protected from the covetousness of their souls, it is they who are successful.
The new community in Madinah was built on sharing, before anything else.
The Charter of Madinah
The Muslims were not the only people in Madinah. There were Jewish tribes, and others. He draws up a written agreement, often called the Charter or Constitution of Madinah.
It binds the Muslims, the Jewish tribes and the others into one community for mutual defence. Each group keeps its own religion and customs. Disputes are referred to him.
Years later, the caliph 'Umar fixed the start of the Islamic calendar. Not at a birth, and not at a battle, but at the Hijrah: the moment Islam became a community rather than a persecuted circle.
The Islamic calendar starts not with a birth or a battle, but with a migration.