VOLUME I1
Chapter: Concerning the migration of those Companions of the Prophet (MAS)
who escaped from persecution with their faith from Mecca to Abyssinia.It has been recounted above how the polytheists abused those believers who
lacked power or protection and treated them with severe violence and great
humiliation.
God, Almighty and Glorious is He, had kept them away from His Messenger
(SAAS), and had given him the protection of his uncle, Aha Tdib, as was
mentioned above. And all praise and recognition is due to God.
Al-Waqidi has related that their passage to Abyssinia occurred in the month
of Rajah in the fifth year of the Mission, and that the first group to migrate
consisted of eleven men and four women. He told how they made their way to
the sea, either on foot or riding, and there they hired a boat to Abyssinia at a cost
of one-half of one dinar.
These persons were: Wthmm b. 'Aff~n and his wife Ruqayya, daughter of the
Messenger of God (SAAS), Aba Hndhayfa b. Wtba and his wife Sahla, daughter
of Suhayl, al-Zubayr b. al-'Aww%m, Mus'ab b. Wmayr, 'Abd al-Rahnan b.
'Awf, Aba Salama b. 'Abd al-Asad and his wife Umm Salama, daughter of Aba
Umayya, Wthman b. Mq'un, 'Amir b. Rabi'a al-'Anzi, his wife Lay[%, daughter
of Aba Hathma, Aha Sabra b. Abii Ruhm, H%<ib b. 'Amr, Suhayl b. Bayda' and
'Abd Allah b. Mascad. God bless them all! Ihn Jarir stated, "Others say, however,
that the group consisted of 82 men, not counting their women and children.
About 'Amma b. Ysir we have doubts; if he was among them, they totalled 83
men."
Muhammad b. Ishaq stated, "When the Messenger of God (SAAS), witnessed
the trials descending upon his Companions, he compared this with his own good
state that derived from his own status with God and from his uncle Abii Talib,
and, recognizing that he was unable to prevent the evil befalling them, he told
them, 'I wish you would go forth into the land of Abyssinia, for there is a king in
whose realm no one is harmed, where truth prevails. Stay there until God gives
you relief from your plight.'
"The Companions of the Messenger of God (SAAS), thereupon left for
Abyssinia, fearing the unrest and fleeing with their faith unto God. This was the
first emigration that occurred in Islam. The first Mush to depart was cUthman
b. 'Affm along with his wife Ruqayya, daughter of the Messenger of God
(SAAS)."
Al-Bayhaqi related, similarly, from a hadith of Ya'qiib b. Sufym, from 'Ahbas
al-cAnhzri, from Bishr h. Masa, from al-Hasan h. ZiyZd al-Burjumi, who said,