Two migrations took place before the migration of Medina. The
Migration to Abyssinia (,
al-hijra ʾilā al-habaša), also known as the
First Hijrah (
hijrah), was an episode in the early history of
Islam, where
Muhammad's first followers (the
Sahabah) fled from the persecution of the ruling
Quraysh tribe of
Mecca. They sought refuge in the
Christian Kingdom of Aksum, present-day
Ethiopia and
Eritrea (formerly referred to as
Abyssinia, an ancient name whose origin is debated), in or . The
Aksumite monarch who received them is known in Islamic sources as the
Negus (
najāšī)
Ashama ibn Abjar. Modern historians have alternatively identified him with
King Armah and Ella Tsaham. Some of the exiles returned to Mecca and made the
Hijrah to Medina with Muhammad, while others remained in Abyssinia until they came to Medina in 628. ====== This emigration takes place with 11 men and 4 women. The earliest extant account is given in
Ibn Ishaq's
sira: Another view, grounded in the political developments of the time, suggests that following the
Sassanid capture of
Jerusalem in 614 many believers saw a potential danger to the community as they were not the partisans of the Persians who both practiced
Zoroastrianism and had earlier supported the Arabian Jews of
Himyar. The acceptance of these Muslims into the
Kingdom of Axum at precisely a moment of Persian triumph in the Levant recalls the Ethiopian foreign policy of the previous century which saw Axum and Persia compete for influence in the Arabian Peninsula. ====== In almost one hundred Muslims made a second migration back to Abyssinia where they stayed protected by king Najashi (Ashama ibn Abjar) who is a just ruler. After the Muslims in Arabia had migrated to Medina in and attained security, the Muslims in Abyssinia migrated back to Arabia and reunited with them in Medina after six years absence. ====== The Meccan boycott of the
Hashemites by the Quraish was proclaimed in 617. :
This is a sub-article to Muhammad before Medina The
Meccan boycott of the Hashemites was a public
boycott against the clan of
Banu Hashim, declared in 616 (7th year of Prophethood) by the leaders of
Banu Makhzum and
Banu Abd-Shams, two important clans of
Quraysh. According to tradition, the boycott was carried out in order to put pressure on Banu Hashim to withdraw its protection from
Muhammad. The boycott lasted for three years but eventually collapsed mainly because it was not achieving its purpose; the boycott had caused extreme privation and the sympathizers within the Quraysh finally united to annul the agreement. ====== In the Islamic tradition, the
Year of Sorrow (, also translated
Year of Sadness) is the
Hijri year in which
Muhammad's wife
Khadijah and his uncle and protector
Abu Talib died. The year approximately coincided with 619 CE or the tenth year after
Muhammad's first revelation. After the death of Abu Talib, Muhammad became vulnerable due to the loss of clan protection granted by Abu Talib (who was also the chief of
Banu Hashim). He began to be the target of physical attacks by his Meccan opponents. He
visited Ta'if to look for help and invite the inhabitants to Islam, but was rejected. On the way back to Mecca, he petitioned several prominent Meccans to ask for protection. Chief
Mut'im ibn 'Adi, from the
Banu Nawfal clan, acceded to his request, escorted Muhammad into the city and announced the clan's protection of Muhammad. ======
Previous events Previously the preaching of Islam by Muhammad had been confined to
Mecca, and his success with
Abu Bakr on during the
Year of Sorrow his main source of Ta'if to invite the people there to Islam.
Leaders of Ta'if Muhammad was received by the three (Abd Yalail, Mas'ud and Habib, their father was Amr Bin Ummaya Ath Thaqafi) chiefs of the local tribes of Ta'if and they let him freely have his say. However, they paid little heed to his message. After a while they even showed signs of apprehension lest his welcome in Ta'if might embroil them with the Meccans, so they left him to be dealt with by street urchins and the riff-raff of the town.
Rejection By rejecting Muhammad's religion, the people of Ta'if ordered their children to throw rocks and stones at Muhammad and
Zayd ibn Harithah to make them leave the city and never return. Muhammad and Zayd ibn Harithah were finally turned out by mocking and jeering crowds. The rocks that were thrown at Muhammad and Zayd by the Ta'if children caused them to bleed. Both were wounded and bleeding as they left Ta'if behind them. Muhammad bled so profusely from the stoning that his feet became clotted to his shoes and was wounded badly.
Orchard Once Muhammad and Zayd ibn Harithah were outside the city walls, Muhammad almost collapsed. four nobles in the city. Three of them, 'Abd Yalil ibn 'Abd Kalal and then
Akhnas ibn Shariq and
Suhayl ibn Amr, refused. However, the fourth one,
Mut'im ibn 'Adi, responded. Mut'im ordered his sons, nephews and other young men of his clan to put on their battle-dress and then marched, in full panoply of war, at their head, out of the city. He brought Muhammad with him, first into the precincts of the
Kaaba where the latter made the customary seven circuits (), and then escorted him to his home. ==Post-migration age and response==