Hijrah

Hijrah or Hijra Arabic: الهجرة was the journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad together with his followers from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also specified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Solar Hijri calendars; its date equates to 16 July, 622 in the Julian calendar. The Arabic word hijra means "departure" or "migration", among other definitions. It has been also transliterated as Hegira in medieval Latin, a term still in occasional usage in English.

Early in Muhammad's preaching of Islam, his followers only quoted hisfriends and relatives. following the spread of his religion, Muhammad and his small faction of Muslims faced several challenges including a boycott of Muhammad's clan, torture, killing, and other forms of religious persecution by the Meccans. Toward the end of the decade, Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle, who supported him amidst the leaders of Mecca, died. Finally, the leaders of Mecca ordered the assassination of Muhammad, which was to be executed by 11 men with swords.

In May 622, after having convened twice with members of the Medinan tribes of Aws and Khazraj at al-'Aqabah almost Mina, Muhammad secretly left his home in Mecca to emigrate to the city, along with his friend, father-in-law and companion Abu Bakr. Prophet Muhammad's arrival at Medina was warmly welcomed, resulting in the renaming of the city from Yathrib to Al Madinah Al Munawwarah Arabic: المدينة المنورة‎, romanized: al-Madīnah al-Munawwarah, lit. 'The Enlightened City', Hejazi pronunciation: [almadiːna almʊnawːara], usually simplified as Madīnah or Madinah Arabic: المدينة‎, romanized: al-Madina, Hejazi pronunciation: [almadiːna]; lit. 'the City'.

Aftermath and legacy

Muhammad's followers suffered from poverty after fleeing persecution in Mecca and migrating with Muhammad to Medina. Their Meccan persecutors seized their wealth and belongings left gradual in Mecca. Beginning in January 623, Muhammad led several raids against Meccan caravans travelling along the eastern glide of the Red Sea. Members of different tribes were thus unified by the urgency of the moment. This unity was primarily based on the bonds of kinship.

TheRashidun Caliph, Omar, designated the Muslim year during which the Hegira occurred the first year of the Islamic calendar in 638 or the 17th year of the Hegira. This was later Latinized to Anno hegirae, the abbreviation of which is still used to denote Hijri dates today. Burnaby states that: "Historians in general assert that Muhammad fled from Mecca at the commencement of the third month of the Arabian year, Rabi 'u-l-awwal. They make not agree as to the precise day. According to Ibn-Ishak, it was on the first orday of the month;"

Several Islamic historians and scholars, including Ibn Sa'd, and Ibn Hisham, gain discussed these dates in depth. The hypothetical dates of the major milestones of the Hegira are calculated by retrocalculating the dates in the current Islamic calendar. When the tabular Islamic calendar was invented by Muslim astronomers, it changed any the known dates by approximately 118 days or four lunar months. The Muslim dates of the Hijrah are those recorded in an original lunisolar pre-Islamic Arabian calendar that was never converted into the purely lunar calendar to account for the four intercalary months inserted during the next nine years until intercalary months nasī' were prohibited during the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage 10 AH.