The Meaning of Hijrah
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is reported to have
said:
I
declare obligatory upon you five things; Allah (SWT) has commanded me to do so.
They are: organization, listening, obeying, making Hijrah, and making Jihad for
the cause of Allah.
There
are numerous levels and stages as far as both Hijrah and Jihad are concerned,
but I will present before you only the first or the initial level and then the
final or the ultimate level. I hope that you would get a fairly clear idea of
the different levels of these two obligations by becoming aware of their first
and last stages.
What
is the first stage of Hijrah? What is its beginning? Where does the process of
Hijrah start? Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was asked this question: What kind of
Hijrah is supreme? Which Hijrah is most valuable in the sight of Almighty Allah
(SWT)? Please note the answer that was given by the Prophet. He said, the
supreme Hijrah is that you give up whatever your Lord doesn’t like, that you
abandon all those things and all those practices that are abhorrent and hateful
in the sight of Almighty Allah (SWT). This is the supreme kind of Hijrah.
If
one is to decide today that he will live for the sake of Allah (SWT) and die
for His sake too, the first thing he will have to do is to make this kind of
Hijrah. If there is any element of riba or interest in his profession or his
trading then he would have to purge them of it. If his social life is full of
practices that amount to transgressions of the Shari‘ah, then he must give up
those habits and customs, irrespective of how much chic and trendy they may be
in the sight of his friends and his colleagues.
So,
giving up whatever is not liked by Almighty Allah (SWT) is the first stage, the
first rung of the ladder of Hijrah. But what about its climax? What is the
final and ultimate stage of Hijrah? We know that the struggle to establish the
Deen of Allah is obligatory upon all of us. If, during the course of that
struggle, a time comes when all those who are engaged in this endeavor are
required to migrate, and to assemble at a specified place in order to
accumulate and concentrate all the available resources before launching the
final offensive, then this is the time for the final stage of Hijrah. One will
have to leave his home, and properties, and friends, and relatives, and even
the much beloved and cherished homeland — not to raise the standard of living,
not to enjoy life in a comfortable and secure
environment — but for the sake of Allah’s pleasure alone.
Think
about the Hijrah that was made by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his Companions
(RAA) when they migrated from Makkah to Madinah. They left their homes, and
families, and their valuables. They left the city of their forefathers. They
left the land where they had spent their entire lives. They left the place
where their fathers and their father’s fathers were buried. They even left the
most precious and revered place in the whole world, the Kaa‘bah. And they
migrated to a new and unfamiliar place. They migrated to Madinah.
And
what was the purpose behind this migration? Was it to raise their standard of
living? Was it to prosper and flourish? Was it to increase their business
prospects? You know what the reason was. They migrated for the sake of Allah
(SWT), to make the Deen of Allah supreme, and for no other reason at all.
To be continued....
