No Hijrah After the Conquest

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said after the conquest of Makkah: lā hijrata wa lākin jihādun wa niyyah. Before the conquest of Makkah, hijrah was mandatory. It was one of the most important things a Muslim should do: anybody who became Muslim should make hijrah from Makkah to Madīnah — or from whatever other part of Arabia he was in, he should emigrate to Madīnah. After Makkah, people would come to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanting to make hijrah, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would tell them that there was no more hijrah: khalāṣ, the hijrah is over, and the people who did it received the reward. It is now too late to make hijrah; but now it is replaced with jihād. The thing that takes the place of hijrah, and the reward of hijrah, is jihād fī sabīl Allāh. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says in al-Bukhārī (2783): lā hijrata wa lākin jihādun wa niyyah, wa idhā istunfirtum fa-nfirū — there is no more hijrah, but jihād and intention; and if you are called out to fight, then you should respond.

Another man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), wanting to give bayʿah to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to make hijrah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: ubāyiʿuhu ʿalā al-islāmi wa al-jihād — I will take bayʿah from him on Islam and jihād (al-Bukhārī 4305). There is no more hijrah. So the rule that applies after the conquest of Makkah is Islam and jihād fī sabīl Allāh.

And ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, one of the Tābiʿūn, said: I visited ʿĀʾishah, and we asked her about the hijrah. She said: lā hijrata al-yawm; kāna al-muʾminu yafirru aḥaduhum bi-dīnihi ilā Allāhi ʿazza wa jalla wa ilā rasūlihi makhāfata an yuftana ʿalayh; fa-ammā al-yawma fa-qad aẓhara Allāhu al-islām, fa-al-muʾminu yaʿbudu rabbahu ḥaythu shāʾa, wa lākin jihādun wa niyyah (al-Bukhārī 3900). We asked ʿĀʾishah about the hijrah. She said: there is no more hijrah now. The believer used to flee with his religion to Allah and to the Messenger of Allah for fear of being put through fitnah — they feared that they would lose their religion. Fa-ammā al-yawm: but today Allah (ʿazza wa jall) has made Islam prevail, so the believer can worship Allah wherever he wishes; but there is jihād fī sabīl Allāh, and one should have the intention to do it.

Ibn Kathīr comments on this and says: fa-lam tabqa al-hijratu, allāhumma illā an yaʿriḍa ḥālun yaqtaḍī al-hijrata bi-sababi mujāwarati ahli al-ḥarbi wa ʿadami al-qudrati ʿalā iẓhāri al-dīni ʿindahum, fa-tajibu al-hijratu ilā dāri al-islām, wa hādhā mimmā lā khilāfa fīhi bayna al-ʿulamāʾ. Ibn Kathīr says: there is no more hijrah, except when circumstances arise that necessitate hijrah, because of living close to ahl al-ḥarb, the people of war, the kuffār, and the inability to show one's religion among them; in this situation hijrah to the land of Islam becomes mandatory, and this is something agreed upon among the scholars.

So Ibn Kathīr says there is no more hijrah — except that if one runs into a situation similar to the situation of the Muslims back then, hijrah becomes necessary. And he makes clear what he means, and that is living among the kuffār when a person is not able to show his religion. If a person can declare his religion publicly — not only the aspects that are practised individually, but all aspects of Islam — then in this case hijrah is not mandatory. But if a person cannot worship Allah as he should, then he must make hijrah to a land where he can worship Allah. Nowadays there is a clear land of kuffār, and a clear land of ḥarb, but there is no clear land of Islam. Therefore the rule that applies now is that a Muslim should make hijrah to the place where he can worship Allah best. So it is a relative issue. A Muslim who is living in a particular place and is able to worship Allah as he should can remain there; but if he is not, then he should search for the place where there is the least fear for his dīn — not his dunyā, his dīn — and he should make hijrah to that place.