AL-HIJRAH AS HISTORY AND METAPHOR: A SURVEY OF QURANIC AND HADITH SOURCES Daoud Stephen Casewit A number of recent studies 1 have dealt with the hijrah as a central concept underlying a range of past and present trends in Islamic thought and action. These authors commonly interpret the notion of hijrah within the prism of socio-economic and political factors prevalent in various post-prophetic periods without adequate appreciation of primary texts. While not ignoring wholesale the Quran and hadith, the remarkably complex nature of the concept of hijrah as portrayed in the early sources appears to have been seriously underestimated or simply understudied. 2 Even conceding, if only for the sake of argument, Eickelman and Piscatori's argument that "the significance of texts derives not from their inherent centrality but from the contingent political, social and economic circumstances of those interpreting them," 3 the analyst needs to be well-informed as to what these texts, on the subject matter of hijrah, relate. Without an adequate knowledge of the complexity of the hijrah as revealed in the primary texts, any attempt to investigate what Masud terms, the "dynamic interaction between text and social, economic and political conditions" 4 , a priori, will at best be flawed. The present paper attempts to remedy this perceived gap in the literature by a thorough exploration of the multifaceted significance of the hijrah as expressed in the Quran and hadith literature. 5 The discussion is divided into three broad sections: (1)Quranic precedents (2)the historical hijrah and (3)the metaphorical hijrah. The first section attempts to uncover the central concepts underlying the phenomenon of hijrah as depicted in Quranic accounts of previous Prophets especially Abraham. The second focuses on the multi-dimensional implications of the emigration to Madînah and their development through time. The third section deals with those moral and spiritual ramifications of hijrah which are more or less independent of particular historical and geographical factors. INTRODUCTION During his period of rule as second Caliph, `Umar ibn al-Khattâb is reported 6 to have convened a council of eminent companions for the purpose of deciding upon a uniform system of dating to be applied throughout the Islamic realm. Among the suggestions as to which year should mark the start of the Muslim calendar were the year in which the Prophet received his first revelations and the year of his death. A third proposal put forward by `Alî ibn Abî Tâlib was to calculate dates beginning from the year of the Messenger's flight to Madînah. That this suggestion was immediately taken up and implemented is indicative of the tremendous importance attributed to the hijrah by the first generation of Muslims. In retrospect, it is incontestable that few turning points in human history can compare with the emigration from Makkah to Madînah in 622 A.D. Yet the hijrah was infinitely more than a remarkable event in the flow of time. As with other decisive incidents in the life of the Prophet, it embraces a variety of concepts which lie at the heart of Islamic spirituality. It is the polymorphic, dynamic nature of these concepts which make the emigration to Madînah a landmark of eternal relevance. CONCEPTUAL PREFIGURATIONS OF THE HIJRAH IN THE QURAN The Islamic emigration has numerous and diverse precedents in the history of religions. In the Quran, the theme of righteous flight figures highly in the accounts of many Prophets. The variety of these precursors of the hijrah ranges from the deliverance of Noah to the exodus of Moses. In each case, there are interesting parallels to be drawn with the flight of the Prophet to Madînah. The underlying theme in all such examples is that of valiant resistance to doctrinal and/or moral perversity. Flight in this sense is ennobled, first, by its objective of keeping alive the flame of 1 See Eickelman, Dale & Piscatori, James, 1990, "Social theory in the study of Muslim societies", in Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration and the Religious Imagination, Eickelman & Piscatori (Eds.), Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press, pp. 3-28; Masud, Muhammad K., 1990, "The obligation to emigrate: the doctrine of hijrah in Islamic Law" in Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration and the Religious Imagination, Eickelman & Piscatori (Eds.), Berkeley: Univ. Calif. Press, pp. 29-49; Webster, Roger, 1993, "Hijrah and dissemination of Wahhabi doctrine in Saudi Arabia" in Golden Roads: Migration, Pilgrimage and Travel in Mediaeval and Modern Islam, Netton, I. (Ed.), Surrey (UK): Curzon Press, pp 11-27. 2 In his preface to Golden Roads, Ian Netton ([Ed.] notes that hijrah has "profoundly Prophetic antecedents" and yet not one of the papers included in this collection explores these "antecedents" in a systematic or even adequate way. 3 Eickelman & Piscatori, 1990, "Social theory in the study of Muslim societies" in Muslim Travellers, p. 14. 4 Masud, M.K., "The obligation to emigrate: the doctrine of hijrah in Islamic Law" in Muslim Travellers, p.34. 5 Whenever possible I have opted for hadith from the six canonical collections. In my citations from lesser-known or obscure sources, the presence of an isnâd can be taken for granted unless noted otherwise. Any errors of translation or interpretation are my own. 6 Ibn Shabbah, Omar,1982, Kitâb Ta'rîkh al-Madînah, (F. Shaltût, Ed.) Jeddah, Vol. 2, pp. 758-759.