Hijrah & Hijri year and Hijri calendar.

Hijrah & Hijri year and Hijri calendar.

Hijrah

is the journey of Prophet Muhammad –peace and blessings be upon him- from Mecca to Medina, but it was not an easy or enjoyable journey, on the contrary, it was risky and dangerous migration, and it took great faith, courage, and  reliance on Allah Almighty from the Messenger of Allah –peace and blessings be upon him- to make this journey.

The reasons of Hijrah:

When Prophet Muhammad –peace and blessings be upon him-  first started to tell people about the message of Islam, he told them that they should only worship the One and only Lord of all  Creation, and to leave the worship of idols, but the people were living in an environment of disbelieve, pride and evils.

At that time, the Ka'aba was filled with these idols, and the tribe of Quraysh was the largest tribe in Mecca, and the people of Quraysh  were responsible for the pilgrims who were coming every year to Mecca at the time of Hajj, and the people of Quraysh thought that they may lose this important role among the other tribes because of the great message of Islam hold by Muhammad –peace and blessings upon him.

And this was beside the economic benefits that the pilgrims were bringing to the people of Quraysh. So they resisted the message of Islam as much as they could, to the extent of planning to kill Muhammad –peace and blessings be upon him.

Then Allah Almighty  send the Archangel Gabriel to tell the Prophet (P.b.u.h), that Allah has authorized him to migrate to Medina to complete his calling for Islam.

The story of Hijra:

 The Archangel Gabriel came to the Messenger of Allah -peace and blessings be upon him- and commanded him not to sleep in his bed that night, and the Prophet asked Ali Ibn Abu Talib to sleep in his bed instead of him, and he promised him that he wouldn’t be harmed. Then the Prophet –peace and blessing be upon him-  took a handful of dust and sprinkled it on the heads of  those who were gathering  outside his door to kill him, because he passed in front of them without being seen by them, by the will of Allah Almighty after he had recited the  following verses:

{Ya Sin, I swear by the perfect Quran that you are one of the Messengers, and you are on a straight path. It is a revelation sent down from  the Exalted  and the most Merciful, to admonish a people, whose fathers had received no admonition, and who therefore remain unaware, torment was deserved for the greatest part of them, for they do not believe, We have put shackles around their necks right up to their chins, so that their heads are forced up, and We have put a blockage in front of them and a blockage behind them, and We have covered them up so that they cannot see}, Surat Ya-sin.
And then, the Prophet –peace and blessings be upon him- made his way to his companion "Abu Bakr" who had made preparations for the journey; as he recruited some Muslims to help them in their blessed journey, for example; "Amer Ibn Fuhirah" the goatherd who was entrusted to let his sheep wipe out their footsteps, and they sheltered in a cave of "Thour" to hide from the following-up enemies, and there, they stayed for three nights and a miracle was happened as Allah Almighty ordered a pigeon to nest in front of the cave, and a spider to weave his web on the entrance of the cave! To mislead the disbelievers, and the Prophet (p.b.u.h) said to Abu Bakr:

( Don’t be afraid for Allah is with us)

    Also "Asmaa Bent Abu Bakr", she was entrusted to bring food and water for them in the cave, and "Abdullah Ibn Abu Bakr" was entrusted to bring the news of Quraysh for them. Untill God authorized for the migration to occur, and they arrived to Medina where Muslims received them with a cordial welcome.

The real  meaning of Hijrah:

We should not celebrate the new Islamic year without learning the moral of the Prophet’s migration from Mecca to Medina, and applying it in our own  lives, as it was a story of sacrifice and belief in Allah Almighty's promise with considering the reasons of success.
 Migration is not just about leaving one’s home or land, but it has a wider impact, and  every Muslim has to be an emigrant and lives in a continuous state of migration, as  everyone of us should migrate from what Allah Almighty and His Prophet –peace and blessings be upon him-  hate to that which they like and encourage us to do, It is about migration from bad to good, from evil deeds to righteous deeds, and from a low level of belief  to a higher one,  it is a way of moving on to a healthy and productive life.

The Hijri calendar:
The Hijri calendar was established by  Umar Ibn al-Khattab, while he was the Khalifa of Muslims, in 637/638 AD he established the year of the Prophet’s migration as the beginning of the Islamic calendar since it was the  most important event in the Islamic world at that time. And the Hijri or Islamic year consists of 12 lunar months which are named respectively as following:  Muharram, Safar, Rabi al-Awwal, Rabi al-Thani, Jumada al-Awwal,  Jumada al-Thani,  Rajab, Sha’ban,  Ramadan,  Shawwal,  Dhul-Qi’dah,  Dhul-Hijjah.