Hijrah as Fard Ayn: The Quranic Verses, the Abrogation, and the Fiqh of Muslim Minorities

❧Hijrah Was Obligatory

At the time of the Hijrah, emigrating from Makkah to Madinah was not a personal choice for Muslims. It was farḍ ʿayn, a personal religious obligation binding on every individual Muslim, down to women and children.

The Prophet ﷺ was considered the last of the Muslims to emigrate, with one significant exception: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib remained behind specifically to fulfill the amānāt (trusts) that had been left with the Prophet ﷺ. In a society with no banks, no security systems, and no formal contracts, the most trustworthy person in the city served as the effective safe deposit. Despite the Quraysh's hatred of the Prophet ﷺ and his message, they still entrusted him with their valuables. He could not leave without returning each item to its rightful owner, so ʿAlī was charged with this duty and followed later.

The obligation of Hijrah was not announced in a single verse, it came gradually, consistent with the Quranic principle that laws are introduced progressively.

❧The Gradual Revelation

There are approximately eight or nine verses across different Surahs on the obligation of Hijrah. They move from encouragement to strict warning:

Stage 1, Encouragement (Sūrat al-Ḥajj 22:58–59):

Among the earliest, possibly revealed even during the Hijrah journey itself. The tone is entirely positive: "Walladhīna hājarū fī sabīlillāhi thumma qutilū aw mātū layarzuqannahum Allāhu rizqan ḥasanā. Walladhīna hājarū fī sabīlillāh thumma qutilū aw mātū layudkhilannahum mudkhalan yarḍawnahu wa kāna Allāhu ʿalīman ḥalīmā." Whoever emigrates for Allāh's sake and then is killed or dies, Allāh will provide for them richly and bring them into a place that pleases them.

Stage 2, Strictness (Sūrat al-Nisāʾ 4:97):

A year or two later, the tone shifts sharply: "Innal-ladhīna tawaffāhumul-malāʾikatu ẓālimī anfusihim qālū fīma kuntum? Qālū kunnā mustaḍʿafīna fīl-arḍ. Qālū alam takun arḍullāhi wāsiʿatan fatuhājirū fīhā?" Those who die while still wronging themselves, the angels will ask why they were still in Makkah. If they plead oppression, the angels will reply: "Was not Allāh's earth vast enough for you to emigrate somewhere else?"

Ibn ʿAbbās explains this verse's context: there were secret Muslims in Makkah, those afraid to announce their faith publicly, who were forced to fight on the Qurayshī side at Badr. Some were killed by Muslim arrows, dying on the wrong side. They were the intended audience for this verse.

Stage 3, Maximum pressure (Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt 29:10–11):

Those who claim belief but wilt at the slightest adhā (irritation/pressure): "Wa minan-nāsi man yaqūlu āmannā billāhi faʾidhā ūdhiya fillāhi jaʿala fitnatan-nāsi kaʿadhābillāh.", "Among people there are those who say: We believe in Allāh; but when they are hurt for Allāh's sake, they treat the persecution of the people as if it were the punishment of Allāh." When any Muslim victory comes, they then say: "Oh, we were with you all along!" But Allāh replies: "A-laysallāhu bi-aʿlama bimā fī ṣudūr al-ʿālamīn?", "Does Allāh not know what is in the chests of all people?"

The motive was clear: emigration meant losing property. A camel could carry only so much. In a world where your house, your fields, your livestock, and your business were tied to one piece of land, emigration meant poverty. Some Muslims chose their wealth over the command.

Stage 4, The exemption clause (Sūrat al-Nisāʾ 4:98–99):

Revealed in the story of Jundaʿ ibn Ḍamrah (see story-junda-ibn-damrah): "Illal-mustaḍʿafīna minar-rijāli wan-nisāʾi wal-wildāni lā yastaṭīʿūna ḥīlatan wa lā yahtadūna sabīlā. Fa-ulāʾika ʿasallāhu an yaʿfuwa ʿanhum." Those who are genuinely unable, physically incapacitated, financially incapable, or without any means of travel, are exempt. But even this is phrased with ʿasā ("it may be"), and Ibn ʿAbbās explains that for Allāh, ʿasā is certainty, but the tentative phrasing signals the weight placed on those who do have means.

❧Abrogation After the Conquest

After the Battle of Aḥzāb (Trench) in 5 AH, when the Muslims had clearly become the dominant force in Arabia, the strictness of the Hijrah ruling gradually relaxed. After the Conquest of Makkah (8 AH), the obligation was fully and explicitly abrogated by the Prophet ﷺ:

"Lā hijrata baʿdal-fatḥ.", "There is no Hijrah after the Conquest." (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, mutawātir)

This meant: the specific Hijrah from Makkah to Madinah, with all its Quranic rewards and obligations, was over. Makkah was now itself Dār al-Islām. The commandment no longer applied. Anyone who emigrated from Makkah to Madinah after this date was doing so voluntarily and would not receive the specific spiritual rank of the Muhājirūn.

❧The Fiqh of Living in Non-Muslim Lands

After the abrogation, Muslim jurists debated: can a Muslim voluntarily choose to live in a land that is not governed by Islamic law? Three main positions emerged:

Position 1, Permissible with conditions (majority: Ḥanafī, Ḥanbalī, standard Shāfiʿī):

A Muslim may live in any land provided they can practice their religion openly, they are not being coerced into ḥarām, and they maintain their religious obligations. The clearest textual basis is the hadith of the Companion Fudayk (reported in Ibn Ḥibbān's Ṣaḥīḥ). Fudayk came from Central Arabia to Madinah and asked: "O Messenger of Allāh, people say that whoever does not make Hijrah is destroyed. My people are still on shirk." The Prophet ﷺ replied:

"Yā Fudayk, aqim al-ṣalāh, wajtanib al-fawāḥish, wa-skun ḥaythu shiʾta min arḍ qawmik."

"O Fudayk, establish the Ṣalāh, avoid the evil deeds, and live with your people in their land wherever you wish."

This is as explicit as any textual evidence can be: Fudayk's tribe was on shirk; his personal Islam was intact; the Prophet ﷺ told him he could stay.

Position 2, Impermissible (Mālikī majority):

The Mālikī school took the strictest position, considering it impermissible for a Muslim to willingly leave Dār al-Islām for Dār al-Kufr. This position was sharpened, not created, by the trauma of Andalusia. Spain was entirely Mālikī. When Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Granada in 1492 CE, they initially promised religious freedom. Within a hundred years, through a gradual process of restriction, banning Arabic in public, forcing women to remove hijab, banning Islamic dress, eventually requiring Muslims to eat pork under the Inquisition, what had been the world's most sophisticated Muslim civilization became a land where Islam could not be practiced at all. The Mālikī scholars of Andalusia drew the lesson: staying in Dār al-Kufr, even when you think conditions are manageable, is a road that leads inexorably to the loss of faith and community.

❧Application to Muslim Minorities

The fiqh of Hijrah developed in a world where Dār al-Islām existed as an actual alternative, a real caliphate with real geography that a Muslim could go to. That world no longer exists in the same form. Half the Ummah, over 500 million Muslims, live as minorities in non-Muslim-majority countries. In India alone there are approximately 200 million Muslims. In Western countries alone there are 40–45 million. To hold these people to an obligation of Hijrah when there is nowhere to emigrate to is not a meaningful ruling.

The more applicable principle is contextual: if a land becomes so hostile to Islamic practice that a Muslim cannot pray, cannot avoid ḥarām, cannot raise children in the faith, the obligation to find a better environment is real and applies. That judgment belongs to the scholars of each locality. But in countries where Muslims can pray freely, practice openly, and maintain their families, the ruling is straightforwardly: you may live here. As the Prophet ﷺ told Fudayk, aqim al-ṣalāh and live wherever you wish.