The Land of the Hijrah

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "I was shown the land of your hijrah. It is a land with a lot of palm trees between two rocky tracks" — al-ḥarrah being a rocky volcanic track. So that was the beginning of the hijrah towards Madīnah. This hadith is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. There is also a hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, in which the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: "I saw in my dream that I am migrating from Makkah to a land rich with palm trees. I initially thought that it is Yamāmah or Hajar, but then it turned out to be Yathrib." Yathrib is the old name of Madīnah, which was changed by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) banned the use of the name Yathrib. In fact, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that if anybody says Yathrib, they should make istighfār. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) wanted to change the identity of this city. Yathrib had a history of rivalry and warfare, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave it a new identity: it is Madīnah, Madīnat Rasūl Allāh. What does Madīnah mean? It is the town of the Messenger of Allah.