The Return from Abyssinia and the Second Hijra of Eighty

The first batch of Abyssinian emigrants, twelve men and five women, seventeen in total, returned to Mecca on a false rumor that Quraysh had accepted Islām. They learned the truth from a passing caravan before even reaching Mecca: the situation was unchanged. Some debated turning back on the spot, but the emotional pull of home was too strong. They entered Mecca, each having to find new tribal protection since emigrating had effectively severed their sub-tribal ties.

Re-entry stories:

- Abū Bakr's re-entry and Ibn al-Daghina's protection is covered in a separate story.

- ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn obtained and then voluntarily surrendered Al-Walīd's protection (see story of ʿUthmān and Labīd).

- Abū Salamah (رضي الله عنه), a maternal cousin of the Prophet (his mother was a sister of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib; he belonged to Banū Makhzūm, Abū Jahl's tribe), turned to his maternal uncle Abū Ṭālib for protection. Abū Ṭālib agreed.

Abū Jahl's response: a delegation from Banū Makhzūm arrived at Abū Ṭālib's house demanding to know why he was interfering in their tribal politics: "This is our man. Who are you to offer him protection?" Abū Ṭālib replied: "If I protect one nephew [meaning Muḥammad (SAW)], why can I not protect the other [meaning Abū Salamah, his nephew by his sister]?"

The argument escalated. Then an unexpected voice intervened: Abū Lahab stood and said to the delegation, "Have you not irritated this old man enough? Leave him alone! By Allāh, if you continue, I will be forced to take his side." He was not acting out of love for Islām, he spoke as a brother defending his elderly brother's honor. But Allāh used this moment. The delegation backed down. Abū Salamah remained protected under Abū Ṭālib.

The speaker notes: the Prophet (SAW) said in Medina, "Allāh can help this religion through a kāfir." These small moments, Abū Lahab defending Abū Ṭālib, Ibn al-Daghina defending Abū Bakr, demonstrate the truth of this statement. Good comes through unexpected channels.

Word spreads, and the second Hijra:

The real significance of the first emigrants returning was not their own protection, it was what they told the other Muslims. In a city of perhaps 500–1,000 people, word of mouth was everything. These seventeen people testified firsthand: Abyssinia was safe. There was food, dignity, hospitality, no persecution, and not even a single insult directed at them. This testimony, personal, immediate, trustworthy, convinced a far larger number to emigrate.

The speaker's observation: this may be one of the wisdoms behind Allāh permitting the first batch to return. Their testimony accomplished what no other recruitment could have done. As a result, over 80 Muslims emigrated in the second Hijra, more than four times the first group. Some of the original seventeen did not return to Abyssinia: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (رضي الله عنه) chose to remain in Mecca and would later emigrate directly to Medina. Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr (رضي الله عنه) also remained; within a few years the Prophet (SAW) would send him as Islām's first ambassador to Medina, the first person to teach Islām there before the Hijrah.

The second Hijra was led by Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه), first cousin of the Prophet (SAW) and the most eloquent speaker among the early Muslims. Umm Salamah (رضي الله عنها), our Mother and one of the primary narrators of the Seerah of Abyssinia, was among the second group.

Scale and significance: Mecca's total population was likely no more than 500–1,000 people. Eighty Muslims emigrating represented 10–15% of the city's entire population, an unprecedented public exodus. For the most prestigious tribe in Arabia, custodians of the Ḥaram, this was a visible and humiliating loss. It galvanized Quraysh to pursue the emigrants even into a foreign kingdom.