Question:

Assalamu alaikum.Was Hijra a political decision?A group here claims so.They say after Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)was made leader and asked by Medinians to go to Medina he decided to migrate to Medina to establish Islamic state.It was Hijra that ultimatley lead to the formation of Islamic state as Allah said to establish religion in 42:13.So aim of Prophet(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)was to establish a state and that is why he took the political decision to migrate.This migration ultimately lead to formation of Islamic state.Is this opinion correct?Was Hijra a political decision?Thank you.

Fatwa:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

We cannot say that migration was a political decision but we say that it was an implementation of the Order of Allah to His Prophet to migrate to Madeenah. The Prophet said to Abu Bakr as in the long narration about migration: “I was given permission to go out [migrate].” [Al-Bukhari]

This confirms that migration from non-Muslim countries where one is not safe about his religion is valid until the Day of Judgment, as the Prophet said: “Migration does not stop as long as the enemy is fought.” [Ahmad]

The Prophet also said: “Migration does not stop until repentance stops, and repentance does not stop until the sun rises from the West.” [Abu Dawood]

Also, we do not say that migration was in order to establish an Islamic state only, but we say that migration had other purposes, the most important of which is for the Prophet to find a safe and secure place for himself and for his companions so that he would be able to convey the Message of his Lord. It is for this reason that he used to say during the seasons of Hajj: “Who would shelter me, who would support me so that I could convey the Message of my Lord?” [Ahmad] There is no doubt that after this, the Prophet was made powerful and so the Islamic state was established.

As regards establishing religion as Allah stated in the Quran (what means): {... to establish the religion... .} [Quran 42:13], then the interpreters of the Quran stated that what is meant by it is to act upon religion and it was an order to unite and avoid dissension and division.

Finally, it should be noted that it is known that some Prophets did not establish a state with the known meaning of the state, but they worked towards conveying the Message of Allah, and in this case they would have established religion and fulfilled what they were commanded by Allah.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb