First Migration to Abyssinia

# The First Migration to Abyssinia (al-Hijra al-Ula ila al-Habasha)

When the Earth Narrows

By the fifth year of prophethood — approximately 615 CE — the Muslim community in Mecca was entering a period of sustained, institutionalized persecution that individual acts of endurance could no longer absorb. The Quraysh had moved beyond sporadic intimidation into systematic targeting: slaves and the unprotected were tortured, those with tribal patrons were pressured and ostracized, and the social and commercial machinery of Mecca was being used to isolate, punish, and break anyone who followed Muhammad ﷺ.

The converts of these early years were not the powerful. They were the vulnerable — freed slaves like Bilal ibn Rabah and Khabbab ibn al-Aratt; young men and women from secondary branches of the Quraysh clans; foreign residents with no tribal protection; people whose faith had placed them outside the protective structures of Arabian society. When the Prophet ﷺ saw what his followers were enduring, he gave them direction rooted in hope: there was a land to the south, across the sea, where a just Christian king ruled without oppression, and those who could reach it would find refuge and relief.

The Land and Its King

Abyssinia — the ancient kingdom of Axum, on the Horn of Africa — was the dominant Christian power in the region and a long-established trading partner of the Quraysh. Its king, Ashama ibn Abjar, known in Islamic history as al-Najashi (the Negus), was recognized across the known world as a ruler of exceptional justice and personal integrity. He was a man, the Prophet ﷺ indicated, who would neither betray a guest nor permit injustice in his court.

The choice of Abyssinia was not arbitrary. It was a land the Quraysh knew and traded with — which meant the early Muslims were not venturing into the unknown — but it was beyond Qurayshi political reach. The Quraysh could not compel the Negus to return anyone. For Muslims with no tribal patron, no social standing, and no physical protection in Mecca, this was the first space they could breathe in five years of persecution.

The First Group

The first migration left Mecca in secret in Rajab of the fifth year of prophethood. The group consisted of approximately eleven men and four women in most accounts, though numbers vary slightly across sources. Among those who migrated were:

Uthman ibn Affan and his wife Ruqayyah bint Muhammad ﷺ — the Prophet's own daughter. When the Prophet ﷺ heard they had departed safely, he said: "They are the first to migrate in the way of Allah after Ibrahim and Lut." Uthman's presence in this migration gave it immediate weight — he was from the wealthy Umayyah branch of the Quraysh, not a man of no social standing.

Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, who would become one of the wealthiest and most prominent companions and one of the Ten Promised Paradise.

Al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, the Prophet's cousin through his aunt Safiyyah, and one of the greatest warriors of Islam.

Abu Salamah ibn Abd al-Asad and his wife Umm Salamah (Hind bint Abi Umayyah), who would later become one of the Prophet's ﷺ wives and one of the most significant narrators of hadith in Islamic history.

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet's cousin and Ali's brother — the man who would, on the second migration, deliver the most famous speech in the history of Islamic diplomacy before the Negus.

These were not only the desperate — some were people of standing who had chosen faith over the comfort of their position and were now paying the price.

The Sea Crossing

The group made their way to the Red Sea coast — a journey of approximately eighty miles from Mecca — and found merchant ships bound for Abyssinia. They crossed without incident, arriving in a kingdom that had no particular stake in the Qurayshi quarrel with Muhammad ﷺ. The reception they received was, by all accounts, calm. The Negus was known to govern with justice and to permit foreign residents to practice their own religious traditions. The Muslims settled.

Back in Mecca, a rumor circulated — fabricated or exaggerated — that the Quraysh had converted to Islam and the situation in Mecca had changed. This rumor caused most of the first group of migrants to return, only to find the situation worse than when they had left. This account is preserved in Ibn Hisham, though some scholars have questioned the details. What is certain is that this first migration was followed, within months, by the larger second migration in which approximately eighty to eighty-three men and nineteen women crossed to Abyssinia.

Why This Migration Matters

The first migration to Abyssinia is often treated as a preliminary episode — an early chapter before the drama of Umar's conversion, the boycott, and the Hijra to Medina. It deserves more attention than that for at least three reasons.

First, it demonstrated that Islam was not a tribal Arab movement but a universal religion with a future beyond the Arabian Peninsula. The Muslims who crossed to Abyssinia entered a Christian kingdom — a people of the Book, with their own deep religious traditions — and were received with justice and hospitality. When Ja'far ibn Abi Talib later recited the opening of Surah Maryam to the Negus and his bishops, the Negus wept and said that the distance between what the Christians said about Jesus and what the Quran said about him was no more than the width of a stick on the ground. This moment — a Muslim reciting Quran before a Christian king who wept at its truth — was a harbinger of Islam's global reach.

Second, it established the principle of legitimate migration (hijra) as a tool of the Muslim community under persecution. The Prophet ﷺ did not tell his followers to fight, to endure at all costs, or to compromise. He told them: there is a place of justice, go there. This principle — that a Muslim who cannot practice their religion in one place should find another — is embedded in Islamic law and echoed in the Hijra to Medina seven years later.

Third, the Qurayshi attempt to bring the migrants back revealed the depth of their hostility and the credibility of the Negus as a just ruler. The Quraysh sent Amr ibn al-As and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabia as envoys to the Negus, carrying gifts for the king and his bishops, with the mission of persuading him to return the Muslim refugees. They argued that the refugees had abandoned the religion of their ancestors without entering Christianity. The Negus summoned the Muslims and asked them: What do you say about 'Isa ibn Maryam? It was at this point that Ja'far stood and gave his response — a response that would define the Islamic position on Jesus for the Negus and, through the historical record, for every generation that has read it since.

Ja'far's Speech Before the Negus

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib stood before the Negus and his assembled court and spoke plainly:

"O King, we were a people of ignorance, worshipping idols, eating carrion, committing abominations, cutting the ties of kinship, and the strong among us consumed the weak. We remained in this state until Allah sent us a messenger from among ourselves, whose lineage, truthfulness, trustworthiness, and chastity we knew. He called us to Allah — to affirm His oneness and to worship Him alone — and to abandon what we and our fathers had worshipped of stones and idols. He commanded us to speak truth, to fulfill our trusts, to maintain the ties of kinship, to be good to our neighbors, and to abstain from what is forbidden and from bloodshed. He forbade us from immorality, false speech, consuming the property of orphans, and slandering chaste women. He commanded us to worship Allah alone and not associate anything with Him, and to establish prayer, give zakat, and fast. We affirmed him, believed in him, and followed what he brought from Allah. So our people turned against us — they tortured us and tried to drive us back from our religion. When they made life impossible for us, we came to your land, choosing you over others, and hoping that we will not be wronged in your presence, O King."

The Negus then asked what the Muslims said about Jesus. Ja'far recited the opening verses of Surah Maryam. The Negus wept until his beard was wet. His bishops wept. He said: "By Allah, what this man says about 'Isa son of Maryam does not exceed this" — and he drew a line on the ground.

He refused to hand the Muslims over. He returned the gifts to the Qurayshi envoys. He said: "I would not harm these people even for a mountain of gold."

The Quraysh's Failure

Amr ibn al-As and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabia returned to Mecca empty-handed. They had failed in the one context where the Quraysh had no power — a foreign court governed by principles other than Meccan tribal politics. The Quraysh could intimidate, torture, and boycott within their own territory. They could not project that power across the Red Sea.

This failure had a secondary significance: it demonstrated to the Muslim community that the Quraysh's persecution, however severe, was bounded. There was a limit to what they could do. And beyond that limit, in the court of a just king, the truth of what Ja'far had described was recognized by a man who had never met the Prophet ﷺ.

The Negus Ashama ibn Abjar died during the Prophet's ﷺ lifetime, after the migration to Medina. When news of his death reached the Prophet ﷺ in Medina, he ﷺ led the companions in the funeral prayer (salat al-gha'ib) for him — the only time the Prophet ﷺ is recorded to have done this. It was an acknowledgment: Ashama was a man of justice who had protected the Muslims when they had no other protector, and the Prophet ﷺ did not forget it.

Sources: Ibn Hisham, al-Sira al-Nabawiyya; Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah; al-Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa; al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Umam wal-Muluk; Surah Maryam (19)