On The Day of Hijrah: A Migration to Allah and his Prophet

On the Hijri New year’s day, that lays on the first day of the month of Muharram, we renew the memories of the blessed migration of the Prophet ‘peace be upon him’ and his companions, when he made his journey from Makkah to Yathrib, to escape the oppression of Quraish, protect Muslims and spread the message that he held from Allah. It was a migration for the sake of Allah.

Yathrib was later called ‘Al Madinah Al Munawwara’ after the prophet reached it, because he lightened it with his presence, and its people welcomed him with a poem called “ṭala‘a lbadru ‘alayna” which means ‘The full moon rose over us’. He was indeed a moon walking on the earth with his inside and outside beauty. A face like a moon and manners like a Quran walking on earth.

We sense the meaning of the Hijrah of the Prophet ‘peace be upon him’ after more than 1440 years, because everything related to our loved one, is always revived in our memory and soul. And we shall never neglect our participation in the migration to Allah, by mainly abandoning what is forbidden and following orders, and thus we have achieved for ourselves the great meanings of migration that did never end for Muslims.

Ibn al-Qayyim says that the migration to Allah and His Messenger is an individual obligation on everyone at all times, and that no one can be separated from its obligation, and it is what Allah wants from His servants. The migrant to Allah emigrates from the love for other than Allah to love for Him alone, and from fear from others to fear from Allah alone.

He divides migration into two types: migration with the body from one place to another, and migration with the heart to Allah and His Messenger, which is also the essence of body migration. The stronger the love of Allah is in your heart, the stronger and more complete your migration is to him.

Speaking about the physical migration, the early Muslims, moved in all senses, physically and emotionally, and till date, we still witness large numbers of Muslims migrating, due to poverty, oppression and injustice exercised over them because of their religion, so they relocate to protect their beliefs and stick to them.

The new Hijri year is an opportunity for the migration by our souls, to ascend high levels of spirituality and obedience. At the beginning of each hijri year, we must review the big event that the Prophet ‘peace be upon him’ performed, and hold ourselves accountable if we are on the right path. The Prophet ‘peace be upon him’ equated the physical emigration, which was to support him and his religion in life, and the moral emigration that takes place today with worshipping and abandoning the commotion that people live in today, while drifting from the pleasure of Allah and his prophet.

So, here are some actions that we must fulfill to be migrating to Allah and His messenger in our current time, away from physical migration:                 

1. Know Allah

As humans, we need to know that we are the first creature in status for Allah, that he employed what’s in the sky and land for us. We held the ‘Amanah’ which is managing and taking care of ourselves and everyone who holds the trusteeship on the right path, will win an eternal paradise.

So, knowing Allah is the essence of worship. If you get to know the reason for your existence and its secret, you move towards Allah and you behave in what pleases him.  Acknowledging that your life is in the hands of Allah will grant you a life free of worry and sadness and will be like a paradise for you in this Dunya.

When you reach out to Allah, you reach everything and if you miss him, you miss everything. Migrate with your soul to him and enjoy a life full of worship, faith and happiness.

2. Increase your Worship and Improve your Reverence

The Prophet ‘peace be upon him’ resembled worship during pandemonium (temptations) to migration towards him.

As Muslims, we must strive hard to complete obligations and fulfill supererogatory deeds to reform our hearts and get closer to Allah, by reading his holy book and applying it.

Our Creator has guided us to emigrate from the narrowness of the world and its burdens to the vastness of his mercy and guidance, and since we are passersby this life, we must be migrating to Allah by our souls and thoughts, to land on our eternal destination in Jannah.

3. Follow the Actions of the Prophet (Perform Sunnah)

Performing the Sunnah is the utmost way to reach new levels in worship and get closer to Allah and his messenger. Our beloved prophet taught us many lessons and left us a decent life model to follow. One of his major lessons is the one that teaches us to love our land and be loyal to it.

Although he migrated from Makkah to Madinah yet he was still attached to Makkah and he said,

Add to this, that any Sunnah act that you perform, migrates your soul higher. You can consider praying the Sunnah Rakaat after each prayer, give charity in your words and actions (smile at least), forgive, sympathize with the poor and orphans, or perform any other action that the prophet did or recommended to do.

4. Ditch Bad Habits and Bad Attitude

Every Muslim shall be a migrant to Allah and his messenger, by abandoning what Allah has forbidden, and accepting what Allah has commanded, as the Prophet (ﷺ) said,

So, whoever abandons what Allah has forbidden, he will be one of the people of the great emigration, whose seekers attain the high status that Allah has referred to in the Quran:

And the path to Allah is through his religion that he accepted for his servants, so whoever abandons sins and pursues good deeds has forsaken evil and has won nearness to his creator. If you get rid of at least one bad habit each year, there will come a day when you reach the morals of the beloved prophet ‘peace be upon him’.

Just like physical migration, the road to reach your righteous destinations is not easy, yet it is interrupted by many external factors that affect it and complicate it. By trusting in Allah and having an honest intention, you can reach it, even after a while.

Pleasing Allah and reaching out to him is the pathway to Paradise, where you meet with His messenger, and you get the blessing of seeing The Almighty, so make sure that your life on this earth is a migration to him and a journey of worship and obedience.