Hijra (Islam)

This article forms part of the series Islam

Vocabulary of Islam

Five Pillars

Profession of faith

Prayer – Alms

Fasting

Pilgrimage to Mecca

Holy Cities

Mecca – Medina

Jerusalem

Najaf – Karbala

Events

Hijra – Islamic calendar – Eid ul-Fitr

Eid ul-Adha – Aashura – Mosque – Minaret

Mihrab – Kaaba

Religious

Muezzin – Imam – Mullah

Ayatollah – Mufti

People & Groups

Seyd

Texts and laws

Qur'an – Hadith – Sunnah

Sura – Fiqh – Fatwa

Sharia – Sunni – Shi'a

Kharijite

Maddhabs

Hanafi – Maliki

Shafi'i – Hanbali

Sects

Wahhabism – Salafism

Twelvers – Ismailism

Mu'tazili – Druze

Asharism – Sufism

For other uses see Hijra.

The Hijra (هِجْرَة), or withdrawal, is the emigration of Muhammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622 CE (Common Era). 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 (a shrine to Arabic pagan gods), persecuted and harassed him continuously.

He and his followers emigrated to the city of Yathrib, 320 km north of Mecca, in September 622 CE. 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 ibn al-Khattab in 638 CE, 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.

Chronology of the Hijra

• Day 1: Thursday 26 Safar AH 1, 9 September 622 CE
  • 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 CE
  • Left the environs of Mecca. Traveled to the region of Yathrib.
• Day 12: Monday 8 Rabi' I AH 1, 20 September 622 CE
  • Arrived at Quba' near Medina.
• Day 16: Friday 12 Rabi' I AH 1, 24 September 622 CE
  • First visit to Medina for Friday prayers.
• Day 26: Monday 22 Rabi' I AH 1, 4 October 622 CE
  • 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 CE.

See also: sira, list of Islamic terms in Arabic

Bibliography

• F. A. Shamsi, "The Date of Hijrah", Islamic Studies 23 (1984): 189-224, 289-323.