What is hijrah in Islam, the migration that began the calendar

The hijrah is the migration of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the early Muslims from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE, after thirteen years of persecution. It turned a hunted minority into a community with its own masjid, brotherhood and law. When the companions chose a starting point for the Muslim calendar under Umar, they chose the year of the hijrah, so the Islamic year is called the Hijri year and dates carry "AH", after the hijrah.

The word

Hijrah comes from hajara, to leave or cut off. A muhajir is one who migrates; the plural muhajirun names the Makkans who left everything to follow the Prophet ﷺ. The people of Madinah who took them in are the ansar, the helpers. The spelling hijra, hijrat and hegira are all the same word.

The story in brief

There were two migrations to Abyssinia first, where the Christian king an-Najashi protected the Muslims. Then the people of Yathrib pledged to protect the Prophet ﷺ, and the companions slipped away to the city in small groups. When the Quraysh plotted to kill him, the Prophet ﷺ left at night with Abu Bakr, hid for three nights in the cave of Thawr, and reached Quba and then Yathrib, which became Madinat an-Nabi, the City of the Prophet. The Quran describes the moment in the cave:

"...when they were in the cave and he said to his companion, 'Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us'" (9:40).

۞ وَمَن يُهَاجِرْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ يَجِدْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مُرَٰغَمًۭا كَثِيرًۭا وَسَعَةًۭ ۚ وَمَن يَخْرُجْ مِنۢ بَيْتِهِۦ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ ٱلْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُۥ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًۭا ﴿١٠٠﴾

Wa mai yuhaajir fee sabeelil laahi yajid fil ardi muraaghaman kaseeranw wa sa'ah; wa mai yakhruj mim baitihee muhaajiran ilal laahi wa Rasoolihee summa yudrikhul mawtu faqad waqa'a ajruhoo 'alal laah; wa kaanal laahu Ghafoorar Raheemaa

And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger and then death overtakes him - his reward has already become incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful.

Quran 4:100 · Sahih International · Read in Surah An-Nisa

Hijrah in the hadith

The most famous hadith in Islam is about hijrah. The Prophet ﷺ said that deeds are judged by intentions, so "whoever migrated for Allah and His Messenger, his hijrah is for Allah and His Messenger, and whoever migrated for some worldly gain or to marry a woman, his hijrah is for what he migrated for" (Sahih al-Bukhari 1; Sahih Muslim 1907, from Umar).

وَالْمُهَاجِرُ مَنْ هَجَرَ مَا نَهَى اللَّهُ عَنْهُ

"And the muhajir is the one who leaves what Allah has forbidden."

Sahih al-Bukhari 10, from Abdullah ibn Amr

After the conquest of Makkah he said: "There is no hijrah after the conquest, but jihad and intention" (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, from Ibn Abbas). The special migration to Madinah had ended; the inner hijrah, leaving sin, never ends.

Is hijrah still required today?

How the word is used today

Muslims in the West say they are "making hijrah" when they move to a Muslim-majority country for the sake of their faith or their children. People also speak of a personal hijrah: leaving a bad habit, a job in something haram, or bad company. Each Islamic New Year, on 1 Muharram, the hijrah is remembered, though there is no special prayer for the day.

The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.

Related terms

• صَحَابَةSahaba
• سِيرَةSeerah
• أُمَّةUmmah
• فِتْنَةFitnah

1. Quran 9:40, 4:97 and 4:100, translation by Sahih International.
2. Sahih al-Bukhari 1; Sahih Muslim 1907.
3. Sahih al-Bukhari 10.
4. Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, from Ibn Abbas (no hijrah after the conquest).
5. Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, and the standard Shafi'i and Hanbali manuals on hijrah from lands where religion cannot be practised.