THE FIRST EMIGRATION

The First Emigration ~ 275 ~ 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.