The one who makes Hijra is the one who distances himself from what God has forbidden

Introduction

We should all reflect and contemplate at the beginning of every Hijri year on the wisdom inherent in the interchange between day and night, and the passing of months, we are a community which ties its calendar and its history to the Exodus of the Messenger of God ,peace and blessing be upon him. We could have based our calendar on the birth of the Messenger of God peace and blessing be upon him.

Alternatively our history could have been dated from the beginning of the Prophetic Mission of Mohammad ,peace and blessing be upon him, or the conquest of Mecca, all of these events are momentous events with a huge impact on our history, but God the Exalted inspired our Master Omar ibn al-Khattab ,may God be pleased with him,to base our calendar and history on the migration of the Messenger of God, peace and blessing be upon him, so that our hearts may become linked to the profound meanings and the symbolism behind the Prophetic migration.


We have all become accustomed to only dealing with words literally, so that for example the word migration is only taken in its spacial sense , and is thus only taken to mean the move from one place to another.


But we should look at how such words are to be understood by looking at them in their true context, and their real significance as stated by the Messenger of God, peace and blessing be upon him, during his Farewell Pilgrimage : “shall I tell you who is truly faithful? It’s the person others can trust with their belongings and their lives, the Muslim is the one from whose hands and mouth others are safe, the real warrior is the one who struggles against his ego in obedience to God, and the migrant is the one who forsakes wrong actions and sins” .


In the narration of Imam Bukhari: “the migrant is the one who forsakes what God has forbidden” . One of the meanings of migration according to this statement, is to leave what God has forbidden, each one of us should feel that we are being called upon to forsake wrong actions, sins and what God has forbidden every day & night, as well as at the beginning of every Hijri year.


If the literal meaning of migrant is a person who leaves one place for another, then what is the meaning intended here? And where does one migrate to? In reality one is supposed to migrate from his inner world into his inner world, from obeying his ego and its lusts to seeking nearness to God, from sins and wrongs actions to repentance and seeking God’s forgiveness, so that in every state and situation one is travelling from one degree to another, so that a person’s whole life becomes a migration, a quest and a journey to God.


The fact our history is dated from the Prophet’s Migration, peace and blessing be upon him , draws our attention to an important meaning, the meaning is this; the makers of our (the global community of Muslims) history are people who are true to God, in the sense of forsaking what God has forbidden, the makers of our history are those who depart from the ego which incites to wrong to the next degree the ego which is self reproaching, then transcend that to the next degree on the path of human perfection the inspired self, then to the tranquil self, then to the self which is well pleased, then to the self which is well pleasing.


The people who made the history of this community by the loftiness of their aspiration, by their struggle, by their support for it, were in a constant state of migration from what God has forbidden. Likewise one will not find a reviver in any aspect related to the revival of the community, without discovering that the meaning of this spiritual migration was rooted in their hearts, alive in their inward, and impacting every aspect of their circumstance.


One of the things we need to reflect on and look at is the fact we calculate our months according to a lunar calendar, and these months are not fixed, either in their beginning or end, we are unable to know them from the outset of the year, so for example we cannot say at the beginning of the year that the month of Ramadan will be on such-and-such date, and correspond with such-and-such month of the solar calendar, the lunar months dictate that one most observe and be on the lookout for each month at both its beginning and end.


The sight of the moon is something our entire community partake in, as individuals and from all strata of society, the reason; because it’s a living vibrant community, a community charged with the responsibility of remaining connected with the created universe in which it lives, and a community which values the passage of time, and a community which feels from the beginning of every month, through to its end, that it has things to occupy itself with directly related to its responsibility as a community of people who are God’s representatives on earth and responsible for its wellbeing.


This is how the value of time is kept alive in our community, and insures that our community does not disconnect from the creation around us, because our community understands that its connection to creation is a connection of one who causes the earth to flourish and insures its wellbeing, because we are God’s representatives on earth, and God did not create the cosmos in folly, nor did he create for us to play with and render the created world meaningless through our destructive and ruinous actions. Our bond to our history and the value we give the passage of days and months, means we have an exalted message for the planet, and a cause which is unceasing, the message starts with our preservation of the planet, and our interacting with the planet as its custodians to whom it has been subjugated and not as subjugators who demean and exploit the planet.


We should draw our attention to the fact that we determine the new year or indeed each new month, through the sighting of the new moon at the hands of individuals who are trustworthy, who testify to having seen the new crescent moon, therefore our connection to the universe around us is tied to people who are deemed trustworthy, individuals whose sagacity, scrupulousness and good moral character are attested to, because these are the people who make our history, and without them we cannot even date our calendar, a nation without trustworthy people has an unbalanced relation to the world around it, and to time itself.


This then is some of the significance of understanding what migration means, and it brings to the community’s attention the fact that the cornerstone of its history is the presence of trustworthy people in its midst, and in the same vein, the trustworthy people in a community cannot make history if they are not aware of what is going on around them. People who are trustworthy in their behavior and personal life, but inattentive to their responsibility towards their community cannot build its history. The trustworthy people who can build a nation’s history have to be awake, and attentive to the time and place in which they find themselves.
If we reflect on the months of the Hijri year, we would find that the common factor shared by every month of the year is: the doing of good works out of a sense of joy with God, if we look at the year beginning with the month of Muharram the holy month of God, and its days such as the day of Ashura’ the day of two victories: an outward victory, exemplified in the victory of Mose speace be upon him , and the sincere believers in his entourage over the Pharaoh of his time. And an inward victory over the ego, exemplified in Imam Hussein, may God be pleased with them both (the Prophet’s grandson) standing resolutely with the truth regardless of the strength and power of the falsehood and temptation that stood before him, these events teach the community throughout time that the one who stands resolutely with the truth is one of truth’s people.


Hence our year begins in the month of Muharram, and the month of Muharram carries the symbolism of victory, and victory is tied to an emigration, the one who emigrates is the one who forsakes what God has forbidden, teaching us that the success and victory we seek in life is tied to reining in the ego and forsaking what God has forbidden.


Each of us needs to reflect on how each month is tied to good works done out of sense of joyous communion with God and look at how the entire year carries symbolic meanings and dates which relate to events, so that we can live the significance of each passing day and night.


For example when the year draws to its end and month of Dhul-Hijjah and its ten days come with an intensification of spiritual works, they remind the human being to make the last thing he does spiritual, if the human being takes care of how his year ends, of how his month ends, how his weekends, how his day ends, and is concerned with bringing things to a good end, this will bequeath the human being a state of grace in which God will assist him in having a good end in his last days. When the time comes for the human being to travel to the afterlife, the believers’ understanding of migration will have been honed and he will be prepared to make the most important stage of his life’s journey, the stage of travelling to God’s  presence, death will come to a heart which is tranquil, because it is heart which has habituated itself to bringing things to a good end, and an end which is both awakened and attentive. A human being dies in the manner in which lived, and is resurrected in the manner in which he died.


When a believer is aware of such meanings, he becomes an individual who can build a nation, and will be chosen by God to bring succor to the nation of Mohammed ,peace and blessing be upon him , we are close to receiving succor as a nation, perhaps many of you will see this unfold for yourselves Let not the strutting about of the Deniers of truth through the land deceive you  brief is their comfort those whom God will choose to bring succor to the community will be those whose certainty regarding the news they have received from God and His Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him is greater than their certainty in the information they receive via their sensory faculties.


This is something we need to be aware of, those through whom God will bring the succor which is shortly coming to this community will be those whose lives exemplify these meanings, those whose days and nights pass-by with them forsaking what God has forbidden in themselves, their spouses, their offspring and in their dealings with those around them.


The Messenger of God ,peace and blessing be upon him said: “this affair will reach every place which experiences night and day, and God will not leave a dwelling made mortar or of hair except that God will cause this faith to reach it, whether by the honor of the people of honor or the abasement of the abased” .

If you live these meanings, with a heart which is settled and certain of these facts, Islam will enter every house through your dignity, and if you are heedless of this, living a purely worldly existence, forgetful of your afterlife and the fact you are a Muslim who carried the responsibility of spreading goodness and faith through your good character, rectitude and lofty aspiration, the faith will still spread but will do so without you, leaving you in a lowly state, so observe your year from its very beginning and check how it passes by.


O God bless this year and allow us to turn towards your presence with good works and ennoble us by accepting us and granting us rootedness in what You love and that which is pleasing to You.



Hijra from the trilateral verbal root Hjr to emigrate, to disassociate, separate , part, secede, keep away, part company, to give up, renounce, forgo, avoid, to abandon, surrender, leave behind, relinquish, leave, give up, vacate. Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Beirut: Librairie Du Liban, London: Macdonald & Evans Ltd.
Also designated AH for the Latin Anno Hegirae (in the year of the Hijra), its first year was dated from the time of the Exodus of the Prophet Mohammad from his native city of Mecca to Medina (320 km north of Mecca, occurred). The year 1 AH approximately corresponds with 622 AD.


Named thus as it was the last Pilgrimage the God’s Messenger  performed before moving from the temporal realm of this world into the abode of perpetuity.
Branches of Faith, Chapter on loving for ones brother what one loves for oneself.
Bukhari’s chapter on Faith


First lunar month of the Hijri calendar.


The collection of Prophetic traditions of Imam Ahmed known as the Musnad of Imam Ahmed