The Prophets Of Allah

Migration To Madinah

The prophet PBUH was one of the last, if not the last to emigrate to Madinah. The only people left was the family of Abu Bukr, or Ali RA etc.

Before we get on to the actual emigration of the prophet PBUH we will discuss Umar RA's hijrah. Ali ibn Abi Talib says "I don't know of anyone who did the hijrah publically except for Umar; he was the only one to do it publically". Umar RA packed his bags, armed himself, wore his shields and arrows. He's dressed as a traveller, goes to the kab'ah and does tawaaf seven times and then makes an announcement: "Oh people of Mecca, whoever wishes that his mother loses him tonight, or that his children become orphans, or his wife a widow, then know that I am doing the hijrah and you can meet me outside in such and such a valley". This shows the status of Umar RA. And indeed the prophet PBUH said "bless Islam with one of the two, Umar or Abu Jahal, who is more beloved to you". Of course no one stopped Umar RA and he went.

As usual we need to peice together the incident of the Hijrah of the prophet PBUH from different stories. The seerah is not written down in one story, so just like in Isra wal Mi'raj we don't know its exact order. The first most authentic source is Aisha RA narrating in Sahih al Bhukari. Aisha RA at this time is 6/7 years old and she says "I don't remember any day except my parents were muslims." So when she was born Abu Bukr RA was already a muslim. Her sister, Asma bint Abu Bukr was older and she also had a different mother who wasn't a muslim, so Abu Bukr divorced her. And she said "I don't remember any day except the prophet PBUH visited us. And then when the prophet PBUH was given the permission to migrate, and he told the muslims to migrate, Abu Bukr RA prepared a camel to migrate. And he asked the prophet PBUH for permission". Note every muslim asked the prophet PBUH for permission to leave first. So the prophet PBUH said "wait I hope that Allah will give us permission." So Abu Bukr understood that the the prophet PBUH wanted permission to migrate with him. So he asked "Are you hoping for my companionship?" The prophet PBUH said "Yes". This shows us the prophet PBUH never did anything except with the permission of Allah. And when Abu Bukr RA heard this he was so happy.

So when Abu Bukr heard this, he prepared two camels. This is the ship of the desert; able to carry food. But you need to feed the camel a special diet, water etc. So you prepare it for a few weeks and then the hump appears. Abu Bukr RA said he prepared the camel for "four months". Here Abu Bukr RA is rounding up, as it was most likely 3.5 months from when the prophet PBUH told the muslims to migrate to when he migrated. The actual hijrah took place on Monday 26th Safar of the 13th year of the dawah which is the 1st year of the hijrah.

What happened? In the day at the peak of hotness when everything is shut down. And they noticed the prophet PBUH coming from a far away distance and realised this must have been something very important. So the prophet PBUH came to the house of Abu Bukr, asked permission to come in and he went inside. Then he asked that everyone be removed from all the rooms. Abu Bukr said "they are but your family i.e. Aisha RA and her mother". Of course the prophet PBUH had already been engaged with Aisha RA. Remember Aisha RA is narrating this story first person. And so the prophet PBUH said "Allah has given me permission to emigrate". So Abu Bukr asked "did Allah allow me to be the companion? I beg you by my mother and father did He?" And the prophet PBUH said "Yes". Aisha RA said "I saw Abu Bukr cry and I had never believed people could cry out of happiness until that day". So Abu Bukr said "I have prepared two camels, one of them are yours". SubhanAllah note the prophet PBUH didn't even have a camel. Yet the prophet PBUH said "only if I pay you the cost of a camel". Why? This is among the perfection of his manners. The prophet PBUH wants the full reward of doing the Hijrah. So Abu Bukr forcibly took a sum from the prophet PBUH. And Asma, who is an adult at least 10/15 years older than Aisha, had prepared the food and reserves, but in the panic of the moment she bundled up all the food but didn't have a bag. So she took off her belt, bit it in half and used that to hold the food. This is why she is known as "she of the two belts". And Abu Bukr RA had 5000 dirham; Ibn Ishaaq narrates before Islam, he had 40,000 dirham. And he spent 90% of his wealth for Islam, freeing slaves and helping the prophet PBUH.