Hijra (Islam)
For other uses see Hijra.The
Hijra (هِج'رَة), or withdrawal, is the emigration of
Muhammad and his followers to the city of
Medina in
622. Alternate spellings of this
Arabic word in the
Latin alphabet are
Hijrah, or
Hegira in
Latin.
Muhammad, preaching the doctrines of one
God (called
Allah) and the threat of the Day of Judgment, did not at first have much success in the city of
Mecca. His tribe, the
Quraysh, which was in charge of the
Kaaba, persecuted and harassed him continuously.
He and his followers emigrated to the city of Yathrib, 320 km north of Mecca, in September 622. Yathrib was soon renamed Madinat un-Nabi, the City of the Prophet, Medina in English. The Muslim year during which the Hijra occurred was designated the first year of the
Islamic calendar by
Umar in
638, 17 AH (
anno hegirae = "in the year of the hijra"). In the following chronology the city will be referred to as Medina, and the region surrounding it as Yathrib.
*Day 1: Thursday 26 Safar AH 1,
9 September 622**Left home in Mecca. Stayed three days in the Cave of Thawr near Mecca.
*Day 5: Monday 1 Rabi' I AH 1,
13 September 622 **Left the environs of Mecca. Traveled to the region of Yathrib.
*Day 12: Monday 8 Rabi' I AH 1,
20 September 622**Arrived at Quba' near Medina.
*Day 16: Friday 12 Rabi' I AH 1,
24 September 622**First visit to Medina for Friday prayers.
*Day 26: Monday 22 Rabi' I AH 1,
4 October 622**Moved from Quba' to Medina.The Muslim dates are in the
Islamic calendar extended back in time. The Western dates are in the
Julian calendar. The Hijra is celebrated annually on 8 Rabi' I, about 66 days after 1 Muharram, the first day of the Muslim year. Many writers confuse the first day of the year of the Hijra with the Hijra itself, erroneously stating that the Hijra occurred on 1 Muharram AH 1 or
16 July 622.
All dates given above may have occurred about 89 days (three lunar months) earlier in the Julian calendar. The calendar conversions quoted above may not have been corrected by early Muslims for the
intercalary months (probably three) which had been inserted in the lunar calendar between the year of the Hijra and the year of Muhammad's last
Hajj (AH 10), when intercalary months were forbidden.
*
Battle of Badr*
Sira*
list of Islamic terms in Arabic* F. A. Shamsi, "The Date of Hijrah",
Islamic Studies 23 (1984): 189-224, 289-323.
*
IslamiCity.com article on the Hijrah}}
