July 21, 2024
Each year on June 20, World Refugee Day reminds us of the hardships endured by people who must leave their homes and seek protection in secure societies. To help refugees, we must make sure the process of accepting them is effective on two main levels; first, providing the best possible security, protection and aid for the refugees themselves, and second, maintaining the stability of our own systems in order to ensure the security of all.
To achieve these goals, knowledge about Political Islam and its practical application in the asylum process is crucial. It is important to understand the Islamic concept of Hijra and also to be able to recognize it. In short, Hijra is Islamic political migration where the civilian population is being used for the purpose of submitting Kafir (non-Islamic) societies under the rule of Islamic doctrine.
Historically, Hijra was the emigration of Mohammed and his followers from Mecca to Medina, and this event is so significant for Islam that Hijra marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Before Hijra, Islam was on the brink of extinction before it ever really started, since after 10 years of preaching in Mecca, Mohammed was only able to recruit 150 followers. This changed when he and his followers went to Medina. It was Hijra that started the process of leading all of Arabia to submit to Islamic rule in just nine years. (1) How did Mohammed manage that?
Historical Hijra in 622
After emigrating to Medina, Mohammed established a mosque. The Mosque was used for religious practice and education, political/war strategy gatherings, armament storage, and as a home compound for Mohammed’s family.
As a next step, Mohammed set a basis of law and governance (2), dividing the people of Medina into Muslims and Kafirs. Different rules were prescribed for Muslims and Kafirs, thus establishing the principle of duality as a fundamental part of the Islamic doctrine and law. Also, the Islamic community, the Umma, were to be friends to one another but not to Kafirs. (3)
Mohammed introduced Jihad as an effort for the cause of Allah, which justified and supported using violence to promote the submission of Kafirs to Islamic dominion. After many successful battles and raids, Mohammed and his followers conquered Mecca, took over the Kaaba, the sacred center of Arabian polytheism, and made it exclusively the holy place of Islam. When Mohammed died, all of Arabia was under Islamic rule. (4)
Success of Hijra Replicated ever after
Mohammed’s example of the migration process from Mecca to Medina is a prototype for Islamic political migration. (5) Hijra begins with limited migration to the host country. Then, a mosque and/or an Islamic organization is set up, with representatives to interact with the Kafir society, meeting local Kafir groups and engaging in proselytizing (dawa) and politics, later monopolizing the information source about Islam for media.
Violent jihad against the Kafir increases. Meanwhile, Islamic politics in all its forms insinuates itself into the host country’s power structure, gains political offices and advocates for the Islamic way of life, such as Halal food in public institutions and prayers in schools.
Hijra affects the entire non-Islamic society, for its goals are to revive jihad, (6) strengthen Islamic political influence, and establish Islamic representatives as authority over information on Islam in the host country. The ultimate goal of Allah and Mohammed is for all people to submit to the Sharia and Islamic rule (7).
Hijra has proven itself to be an effective means to transport political ideas across borders. We must understand the development of the Hijra as a pattern followed by Political Islam if we are to defend our societies and preserve our heritage. Also, understanding the process of Hijra will enable us to differentiate between Hijra and legitimate migration of asylum seekers and refugees. That would result in better care for people who really need protection and support.
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📖 Doctrinal support:
(2) Sira [Ibn Ishak 342-345, 360]
(3) Sira [Ibn Ishak 342] A believer shall not slay a believer for the sake of an unbeliever, nor shall he aid an unbeliever against a believer ... Believers are friends one to the other to the exclusion of outsiders.
(4) A. Guillamume. The Life of Muhammad: A translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sira Rasul Allah, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1967), Part III, p.220-678.
(5) Koran 4:100: Whoso migrateth for the cause of Allah will find much refuge and abundance in the earth, and whoso forsaketh his home, a fugitive unto Allah and His messenger, and death overtaketh him, his reward is then incumbent on Allah. Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
(6) Hadith [Muslim Book 20, Hadith 4597]: It has been narrated on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that the Messenger of Allah said on the day of the Conquest of Mecca: There is no Hijra now, but (only) Jihad (fighting for the cause of Islam) and sincerity of purpose (have great reward) ; when you are asked to set out (on an expedition undertaken for the cause of Islam) you should (readily) do so.
(7) Hadith [Muslim 1, 31] Mohammed: ”I have been commanded to fight against people, till they testify to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and believe in me (that) I am the messenger (from the Lord) and in all that I have brought. And when they do it, their blood and riches are guaranteed protection on my behalf except where it is justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah.“
📚 Sources:
Guillaume, A., The Life of Muhammad: A translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sira Rasul Allah, (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1967)
Pickthall, Marmaduke. 1930. The Meaning of The Glorious Koran, An Explanatory Translation, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Muslim, Al-Qushayri ibn al-Hajjaj. 1990. Sahih Muslim. Translated by Abdul Hameed Siddiqui. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf.
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