Many of us, for various reasons, have decided to travel and leave our home country to start a new life in a new country. This new life is likely very different from what we were used to in our homeland. There, the culture and customs are different, and perhaps even the appearance and dress are different, and maybe even the language and religion.
This is where the difficult equation begins between integrating into the new society and living with it, along with one's family, and maintaining one's identity and holding on to the religion, culture, and customs lived before the emigration. This causes intense confusion, viewing the new life abroad as a temporary station that should pass quickly until the return to the home country. Because of this, the expatriate does not pay attention to integrating with the new society and interacting with its cultures, arts, and policies. The result is increased isolation over the years, and matters become more complicated as children enter adolescence and then maturity in the new society.
On the other hand, some are impressed by the new society and eager to fully immerse themselves in it. This might be driven by the misery they experienced in their homeland and their desire to change their lifestyle. However, they face many challenges from the very first day, such as whether the new society will accept them or not and the possibility of losing their identity over time, especially in the second and third generations of children.
Studying history, specifically the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him), and understanding it correctly is one of the most important means to answer many questions and situations we encounter in our lives. This led to the search through the pages of the Prophet's Sirah for the closest situations and periods to be the reference and guide in understanding the life of emigration in details.
The migration to Medina was to establish the emerging Islamic state in a new society that shared the same culture, language, and religion. Everyone who migrated there knew it was a new phase in their life and not a temporary migration. Therefore, it does not apply to what we are looking for and what fits our current reality, where some flee from their homelands in search of a better life in terms of safety and stability.
What closely resembles the situation of many living in exile today is the migration to Abyssinia, where a group of Muslims migrated after their homeland became unbearable. It was difficult for them to continue their lives in Mecca, as the doors were closed, security was lost, and they were besieged and restricted in their daily sustenance. Here, the Prophet (peace be upon him) indicated: If you go to the land of Abyssinia, there is a king there under whom no one is wronged.
Thus began the journey of migration to a country entirely different in terms of customs, culture, language, and religion. Imagine how many years the Muslims lived in Abyssinia—not one year, not five, not even ten years, but fifteen years of complete life and coexistence in a state and society entirely different from the reality of Muslims in Mecca.
We start with the famous incident of the Najashi (Negus) with Ja'far ibn Abi Talib. There are many unspoken questions we will try to answer through this series, such as: Did the emigrants integrate into the new Abyssinian society, or did the differences in language, culture, and religion remain obstacles to integration? Where did the emigrants live in Abyssinia? What type of work did they do to earn their livelihood? What were their sources of income?
Did they learn the language of the host country (Abyssinian), or did they consider their stay in Abyssinia a temporary station, and therefore, it was unnecessary? Did they keep their traditional dress or change it to fit in with the new society? To what extent did they interact with the political system of the host country? Did Muslims leave a mark on the new society? How did Muslims in Abyssinia deal with two coup attempts against the state's ruler (the Najashi)? What was their political vision in dealing with new events?
Knowing that some of the Muslims who migrated to Abyssinia reverted to Christianity gives a clear indication of the challenges and difficulties they faced in exile and the pains of estrangement and its impact on the expatriate. One might expect that after Muslims stayed in Abyssinia for more than fifteen years, many of the Abyssinians would have converted to Islam. However, surprisingly, the numbers remained limited, and there was no significant expansion of Islam in Abyssinia. Why was that? Did the Najashi, the king of Abyssinia, really convert to Islam? If the answer is yes, wouldn't that be an opportunity to spread Islam throughout the state and leverage the ruler's influence and power?
We will try to answer these questions and others in detail. The primary goal is to draw lessons from this unique experience in Islamic history, which has not been given enough attention in writing and research. One of the biggest challenges facing those who wish to learn more about this period is the scarcity of historical sources. The well-known books of the Sirah did not cover the details of the Muslims' life in Abyssinia as they did other events in Mecca and Medina. This may be due to the geographical distance and the difficulty of communication. This required further research in the sources of the Sirah and Arabic and foreign historical references that addressed this period to gather as much information as possible, in addition to meticulous investigation in the biographies of each of the eighty-seven emigrants unanimously mentioned in the books of the Sirah who migrated to Abyssinia, to delve into the details of their lives and search between the lines of their daily lives to obtain any additional information that helps understand this period of our history. All this aims to extract lessons that help us understand our current reality more deeply, especially the jurisprudence of life in exile.
If we want to know the beginning of the journey to Abyssinia, where it settled, and the challenges of the new expatriate that began from the first day of the migration to Abyssinia, and the story of the bribe associated with the Najashi's ascension to the throne, and whether the migration to Abyssinia was for the poor and oppressed fleeing from the oppression of Quraysh or whether it also included the rich and notable for achieving other goals, we will try to reveal this in more detail in the next article of the series, in Allah’s will.
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