Story of the Prophet’s Hijrah*

When the persecution of the people of Makkah against the Muslims grew intense, Allah commanded them to emigrate so that they could establish the religion of Allah in a land where they could worship Him.

Al-Madina the destination:

Allah chose Madinah as the land of Hijrah (emigration for the sake of Allah). The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) saw in a dream that he was immigrating to that city. It was narrated from Abu Musa that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I saw in a dream that I was emigrating from Makkah to a land in which there are date palms, and I thought that it was Al-Yamamah or Hajar, but it turned out to be Madinah, Yathrib.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Al-Bukhari also narrated on the authority of `A'ishah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Muslims: “I have been shown the land to which you will immigrate: it has palm trees between two lava fields, two stony tracts.” So, some people immigrated to Madinah, and most of those people who had previously immigrated to the land of Ethiopia, returned to Madinah.
Commenting on this hadith, Al-Hafiz wrote: "The harrah (stony tract) is land whose stones are black. This dream was different from the dream mentioned above in the hadith of Abu Musa in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was not sure where that land was. Ibn At-Teen said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was shown the land of immigration in a way that could apply to Madinah and to other places; then he was shown the feature that is unique to Madinah so it became clear which land that was.”

The 1st immigrants:

With regard to the first Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to emigrate, Al-Bara' (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "The first ones who came to us of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were Mus`ab ibn `Umayr and Ibn Umm Maktum. They started to teach us the Qur’an. Then `Ammar, Bilal, and Sa`d came, then `Umar ibn Al-Khattab came with twenty others. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came, and I never saw the people of Madinah rejoice more than that. They rejoiced so much that I saw the girls and boys saying, ‘This is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he has come’” (Al-Bukhari).

The following hadith sums up many of the events of the Prophet’s emigration: It was narrated on the authority of `A'ishah that he Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the Muslims: “In a dream I have been shown your place of immigration, a land of date palm trees, between two lava fields, the two stony tracts.” So, some people immigrated to Madinah, and most of those people who had previously immigrated to the land of Ethiopia returned to Madinah. Abu Bakr also prepared to leave for Madinah, but the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him, “Wait for a while, because I hope that I will be allowed to emigrate also.” Abu Bakr said, “Do you indeed expect this? May my father be sacrificed for you!” The Prophet said, "Yes." So Abu Bakr stayed behind for the sake of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessingsbe be upon him) so that he could accompany him. He fed two she-camels he owned for four months.

One day, while we [`A’ishah is still narrating] were sitting in Abu Bakr's house at noon, someone said to Abu Bakr, "This is the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with his head covered, coming at a time at which he never used to visit us before." Abu Bakr said, "May my father and mother be sacrificed for him. By Allah, he has not come at this hour except for something important." So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came and asked permission to enter, and he was admitted. When he entered, he said to Abu Bakr: "Tell everyone who is present with you to go away." Abu Bakr replied, "There is no one here but you are my family.

May my father be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah!" The Prophet said, "I have been given permission to emigrate." Abu Bakr said, "Shall I accompany you?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Yes." Abu Bakr said, "O Messenger of Allah, may my father be sacrificed for you, take one of these two she-camels of mine." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "(I will accept it) with payment." So we prepared the baggage quickly and put some journey food in a leather bag for them. Asma’, the daughter of Abu Bakr, cut a piece from her waist belt and tied the mouth of the leather bag with it, and for that reason she was named dhat al-nitaqayn, the One with Two Waistbelts.

Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr reached a cave on the mountain of Thawr and stayed there for three nights. `Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr, who was an intelligent and wise youth, stayed (with them) overnight. He would leave them before daybreak so that in the morning he would be with the Quraysh, as if he had spent the night in Makkah. He would keep in mind any plot made against them, and when it became dark he would (go and) inform them of it. `Amir ibn Fuhayrah, the freed slave of Abu Bakr, used to bring the milch sheep (of his master, Abu Bakr) to them a little while after nightfall. So they always had fresh milk at night, the milk of their sheep. `Amir ibn Fuhayrah would then take the flock away when it was still dark (before daybreak). He did the same on each of those three nights. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr had hired a man from the tribe of Banu Ad-Dayl from the family of Banu `Abd ibn `Adiy as an expert guide, … he was of the religion of the polytheists of the Quraysh, but the Prophet and Abu Bakr trusted him and gave him their two she-camels and made an appointment with him to bring their two she-camels to the cave of the mountain of Thawr in the morning after three nights had passed. And (when they set out),`Amir ibn Fuhayrah and the guide went along with them and the guide led them along the coast.

Ibn Shihab said: `Abdur-Rahman ibn Malik Al-Mudliji, who was the nephew of Suraqah ibn Malik, told me that his father informed him that he heard Suraqah saying: The messengers of the Quraysh came to us declaring that they had assigned for the persons who would kill or arrest the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr, a reward equal to their blood-money. While I was sitting in one of the gatherings of my tribe, a man from them came to us and stood while we were sitting, and said, “O Suraqah! I have just seen some people far away on the shore, and I think they are Muhammad and his companion.” Suraqah added: I realized that it must have been them. But I said, “No, it is not them, but you must have seen so-and-so, and so-and-so whom we saw setting out.” I stayed in the gathering for a while and then got up and left for my home. I ordered my slave-girl to get my horse, which was behind a hillock, and keep it ready for me.

Then I took my spear and left by the back door of my house dragging the lower end of the spear on the ground and keeping it low. Then I reached my horse, mounted it and made it gallop. When I approached them (i.e., Muhammad and Abu Bakr), my horse stumbled and I fell down from it. Then I stood up, got hold of my quiver and took out the divining arrows and drew lots as to whether I should harm them or not, and the lot which I disliked came out. But I remounted my horse and let it gallop, giving no importance to the divining arrows. When I heard the recitation of the Qur’an by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) who was not looking around although Abu Bakr kept doing that, suddenly the forelegs of my horse sank into the ground up to the knees, and I fell down from it. Then I rebuked it and it got up but it could hardly lift its forelegs from the ground, and when it stood up straight again, its forelegs caused dust to rise up in the sky like smoke. Then again I drew lots with the divining arrows, and the lot which I disliked came out. So I called to them to let them know they were safe. They stopped, and I remounted my horse and went to them. When I saw how I had been hampered from harming them, it came to my mind that the cause of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would become victorious. So I said to him, "Your people have assigned a reward equal to the blood-money for your capture." Then I told them all the plans the people of Makkah had made concerning them. Then I offered them some journey food and goods but they refused to take anything and did not ask for anything, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Do not tell others about us." Then I requested him to write for me a guarantee of security. He ordered `Amir bin Fuhayrah to write it for me on a piece of animal skin, then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) went on his way.

When the Muslims of Madinah heard that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had departed Makkah and was heading towards them, they started going to the harrah (stony tract formed of lava) every morning. They would wait for him till the heat of the noon forced them to return. One day, after waiting for a long while, they returned home, and when they went into their houses, a Jew climbed up onto the roof of one of the forts of his people to look for something, and he saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions dressed in white clothes, as if they were emerging out of a desert mirage.

The Jew could not help shouting at the top of his voice, "O Arabs! Here is your great man whom you have been waiting for!" So all the Muslims rushed to pick up their weapons and went to meet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) on the lava field. The Prophet turned to the right and alighted in the land of Banu `Amr ibn `Awf. This was on a Monday in the month of Rabi` Al-Awwal. Abu Bakr stood receiving the people while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sat and kept silent. Some of the Ansar (Helpers), who came and had not seen the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) before, began greeting Abu Bakr, but when the sunshine fell on the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and Abu Bakr came forward and shaded him with his cloak, only then did the people recognize the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) stayed with Banu `Amr ibn `Awf for ten nights and established the mosque that was founded on piety, the Mosque of Quba'. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed in it and then mounted his she-camel and moved on, accompanied by the people till his she-camel knelt down at the place where the Mosque of the Prophet now stands in Madinah. Some Muslims used to pray there in those days, and that place was a yard for drying dates belonging to Suhail and Sahl, two orphan boys who were under the guardianship of As`ad ibn Zurarah. When his she-camel knelt down, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "This place, Allah willing, will be our place." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) then called the two boys and told them to name a price for that yard so that he might take it as a mosque. The two boys said, "No, but we will give it as a gift, O Messenger of Allah!" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) refused to take it as a gift and insisted on buying it from them.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) built a mosque there. He himself helped in the construction. He started carrying unburned bricks for its building and while doing so, he would say, "This load is better than the load of Khaybar, for it is more pious in the sight of Allah and purer and better rewardable." He was also saying, "O Allah! The actual reward is the reward in the Hereafter, so bestow Your Mercy on the Ansar and the Muhajirun (Immigrants)."

* Excerpted with modification from: www.islam-qa.com.