In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful'If you do not help the Prophet, it does not matter: Allah did help him when the unbelievers drove him out of his town, the second of the two, while the two were in the cave and (the enemy came to the opening of the cave) he said to his companion (Abu Bakr, later the first of the rightly-guided caliphs), 'Do not worry, Allah is with us.' So Allah sent down his serenity on him and strengthened him with forces, which you cannot see, thus, He made the word of the unbelievers lowest, while words of Allah remain supreme. Allah is All- Mighty, All-Wise.' (Q9: 40)THE Hijra of the Prophet from Makkah to Madina did not and could not even have taken place the way it did without the resolution of matters, which directly hinged on the personality of the other, Muhammad.In other words, two types of Muhammad were known to the Makkans before the Hijra, the Muhammad, who claimed to be a Prophet and the Muhammad, who was an embodiment of virtue and trustworthiness.The 'first' Muhammad was hated for his declaration that there is no god but Allah, the second was loved for being virtuous, kind and a peacemaker, the first Muhammad was the one the Makkans believed had to be fought, the second was the one in whom the Makkans would entrust their loftiest treasures.But in reality, there was no separation between Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah, and the Muhammad, who was an epitome of highest moral character. In other words, contrary to the wish of the Makkans, it was not possible for the Muhammad, son of Abdullah to be a Prophet ab initio if he could not measure up to the minimum standard of probity, honesty, and trustworthiness.Thus on the night of his departure from Makkah, he asked his cousin to help him return the treasures, which the Makkans had kept with him while they were relating to him as Muhammad son of Abdullah, not as Muhammad the Prophet of Allah.To emigrate for the sake of Allah, therefore, meant to be free of all of obligations, which are capable of rendering the Hijra a nugatory, that even in a state of oppression, the religion of Islam demands equity from the oppressed to the oppressor even if the latter does not and would not come to equity with open hands.By ensuring that Ali b. Abi Talib stayed behind in order to assist him return the trusts to their owners, the Prophet was leaving behind a patrimony, that even in a state of attrition, the Islamic timeless values of honesty and trustworthiness cannot be sacrificed on the altar of spiritual vocation. In essence, to take what belongs to the unbelievers or the masses in an unjust manner is the very antithesis of the spirit of emigration.Thus the journey to Madina became an open track with unknowable and inestimable possibilities. The Prophet began the journey in the full knowledge that he was leading humanity from service to humanity to the service of Allah. The Hijra essays the importance of the emergence of a global leader, who would emigrate with humanity from the heinous theatre of ethnicity and profanity to the Eldorado of religiosity and equality.The distance between Makkah and Madina was strewn with fear and uncertainty, but the Madina, the destination, was a paradise awaiting those, who were ready to overcome the temporary and empty ministrations of shaytan.Put differently, the distance between Makkah and Madina was like an open space and one in which the enemy was ready to appropriate, but it was also a closed space for those who had an unshakeable faith in Allah. Face to face with the enemies, the Prophet told his friend and companion, 'don't grief! Allah is with us.'Eventually he arrived his Madinah. The Prophet of Allah arrived Madinah after a tortuous journey across the arid desert of Arabia. But his arrival to Madinah only meant the beginning and the consolidation of what Islam can mean and what it could mean since every vocation is beset with the temptation of its purposes.His arrival to Madinah also meant the emergence of new identities within the nation of Islam. His arrival to Madinah equally meant the preparation for his return to Makkah. Now let us try to unpack the semiotics of these readings.In the first instance, we mean to say that the Hijra is not a geographical space of question but one seemingly dedicated to the search for an answer. This is because the Hijra embarked upon by the Prophet and his companions is nothing but a geographical symbol of an obligation from which there can be no departing. In our world today, as was the case during the Prophetic era, there can be no Hijra from the observance of the five daily prayers, from the observance of fasting in the month of Ramadan, from pilgrimage to Makkah for those, who can afford to do so, from perpetual testimony that Allah, in His essence, cannot be dualised let alone trinitysed.It is settled in this religion that a Moslem would not wake up one day and say he is tired of being a man and as such he should be assisted to migrate from being male to female or vice versa as is now common in 'advanced' societies today where transgender practices is now the order of the day. We embark on migration from ourselves unto Allah, a Moslem does not and would not embark on migration from God to Satan.Those, who migrated from Makkah would experience the consolidation of the faith in their hearts upon their arrival to Madina. Their arrival to Madina would also call attention to those who still remain in Makkah. Their arrival to Madina equally calls attention to the fact that today, the two cities of Makkah and Madina can be found all over the world.There are Moslems, who still remain marooned in their own 'Makkkah' awaiting their emigration to their own 'Madinah.' Today there are Moslems, who have given an erroneous reading to their circumstances and have concluded that Islam in their community is already in its Madinite phase whereas, in reality, they are still under the jackboot of the oppression of Abu Sufyans and Abu Lahab of today.In other words, every age and clime produces and nurtures its own oppressors. There cannot be an Abu Lahab unless a Muhammad is appointed against him. As soon as a Fir'awn emerges anywhere in the world, it is certain that a 'Musa' would be commissioned by Allah to lead him either to the grace of our Creator or to His damnation. But the Musa that led Fir'awn to his perdition had to spend some years under the oppressive suzerainty of the latter.The point at issue here is that it is important for us all to recognise exactly what phase of life our Islam is presently situated. To do this would mean we would be in a position to address ourselves to what constitute our opportunities, threats and challenges.Not to do this would mean we would engage in what I would call misreading of reality, we would take our threat as an opportunity, we would take ignorance for knowledge and poverty for wealth. Is the event of the Boko Haram not an erroneous reading of the Makkah-Madina construct in Moslem weltanschauung in Nigeria of today' Is Islam in Pakistan today in its Makkan or Madinite phase'Thus the Hijra, which took place 1,433 years ago, is as relevant today as it was yesterday. But it remains to be seen whether and when Moslems of today shall embark on their own Hijra. It remains to be seen when we shall all migrate from unbelief to belief, from greed to contentment, from indecency to chastity. It remains to be seen when we shall emigrate from this 'Makkah,' from this city and from this space, to a 'Madinah' where faith would no more be commoditised, where chastity would no longer be monetised, where authority would always be held in trust for Allah, where women would no longer get tired of being women and men would no more desire to be women.The Hijra should be the destiny and destination of all conscious Moslems, who consider this world, not as a paradise, but a means to that Paradise where the beatitude of the Almighty Allah would be contemplated by believers the same way we behold the sun each time it rises every morning in the horizon.
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