The Strong and the Wealthy Who Left

Number three: there is a quote here by Sayyid Quṭb worth considering first — were the people who went to Abyssinia the strong and noble of Quraysh, or were they the weak? They belonged to the strong and wealthy families of Quraysh, and Sayyid Quṭb states it wouldn't be correct to say that they had gone there for reasons of personal safety alone, for they included some of the most powerful and wealthiest of the Prophet's followers and of his fellow tribesmen. The majority of them were from the tribe of Quraysh, including Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, and a number of young men who were accustomed to providing protection to the Prophet (peace be upon him), such as al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, Abū Salamah al-Makhzūmī, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, to mention a few. There were women belonging to some of the most prominent families of Quraysh, such as Ḥabībah, daughter of Abū Sufyān, Quraysh's unrivalled non-Muslim leader, who would have never been persecuted in Makkah. Ḥabībah would never have been persecuted in Makkah — no one would be able to touch her; she's the daughter of Abū Sufyān, the leader of Quraysh. There were no doubt other reasons for the Muslims' immigration to Abyssinia: there was the need to shake the religious and social foundations of Quraysh's most noble and powerful families. There could be no greater insult or threat to the Quraysh dynasties than seeing their proudest and most noble sons and daughters running away for conscientious and religious reasons, leaving their cultural heritage and tribal homeland behind. So the ones who made hijrah belonged to the wealthy and strong families of Quraysh.

Having them leave, according to the view of Sayyid Quṭb, is to cause an embarrassment and to shake the structure of Quraysh. And Quraysh's position in Arabia wasn't because of the strength of its army — Quraysh were small in number, nevertheless no one dared to attack them, and they used to be held in very high esteem. They had this deep respect in the hearts of everyone around them, and that was because of the values that they had. It was also because of their location next to the House of Allah, and the fact that they are the guardians of the Kaaba. So for the people to see that the noblest among their men and women had to leave Makkah to flee for the safety of their religion was such an embarrassment for the people of Quraysh, and it would shake their foundations in Arabia.

According to another author, Munīr al-Ghaḍbān, his view is that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to have a secondary base outside of Makkah, so that if something happened in Makkah, at least the religion could survive somewhere else. And now, since the number increased, the Muslims could spare dividing into two groups: one group stays in Makkah, one group would leave and stay in Abyssinia. And what would strengthen this view is the fact that the Muslims in Abyssinia never went back to meet the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he was in Madīnah, until the seventh year of Hijrah. They waited seven years after the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made hijrah to travel back to Madīnah. And they weren't enjoying their stay — they wanted to be close to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) — but they stayed there until they got the permission from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to come, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave them this permission when it was safe for them to come back. Now Islam was firmly established, because in the first few years in Madīnah, Madīnah was under constant threat, and the Muslims never really had safety — just because they had the state didn't mean that they were secure. They were always under threat of an attack from one direction or another. But after seven years, Islam — it had its roots deep, it was firmly established, it was strong. That's when the Ṣaḥābah came back from Abyssinia.