MIGRATION

[Hijrat]




K h a l i f a t u l l a h m e h d i . i n f o
Asad-ul-Ulama Hazrat Abu Sayeed Syed
Mahmood Tashrifullahi
RH

This paper describes Hijrat removing its
confinement of specificness and showing its
generality in the light of Quran and Sunnah, it is
excerpted from the authors work Tauzihat.

Excerpt from Tauzihat Asad-ul-Ulama Hzt Abu Sayeed
RH

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MIGRATION
[Hijrat]

The explications about migration [hijrat], which we find in the Quranic Verses
and the Traditions of Prophet
SLM
, show that it is not confined to going from the country of
the infidels [kafirs] to the abode of peace [from Dar-ul-Harb to Dar-al-Islam] for
protecting the religion alone. But migrating from a place, where there are restrictions on
the deeds in accordance with the Commandments of the Religion, on protecting the
religion and on demonstrating and exhibiting the religion, too is included in Hijrat.
Prophet Muhammad
SLM
is quoted as saying, The person who escapes from one place to
another for protecting his religion, even if the distance is just one balisht,
1
he would be
entitled to Paradise and would become a companion of his father Prophet Ibrahim
AS
and
Prophet Muhammad
SLM
[because both had performed hijrat (migration)].
2

Iqbal says: The result is destruction if the person is confined to a place; Live in
an ocean free of homeland like a fish; Giving up the homeland is the tradition of the
beloved [mahbub] of Allah; You too give the evidence of the Truth of apostleship.
Homeland is one thing in political parlance; it is something else in the realm of
Apostleship.
In addition to this, there are Verses in the Quran that give the meaning of
generality, such as: So those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and
suffered damage for My cause, and fought and were slain, verily I shall remit their evil
deeds from them and bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow.
3
Allah
further says, And [it is] for the poor fugitives who have been driven out from their
homes and their belongings, who seek bounty from Allah and help Allah and His
messenger.
4

These Quranic Verses show that the believers will suffer such situations till the
Day of Resurrection and the commandment of migration will continue to come into and
remain in force [whenever necessary] and it is also becoming obvious that hijrat means
giving up home on ones own and giving up home under compulsion is called ikhraj
[expulsion].
But the author of Hadiya-e-Mahdavia has specified that hijrat is only when one
goes from dar-ul-harb [abode of war] to dar-ul-Islam [abode of Peace]. He has also
criticized the importance Imam Mahdi
AS
has given to migration. The criticism has been
refuted and the matter has been discussed in detail in books like Subl-us-Sawa and Kohl-

1
The Persian word balisht means a span of the spread palm and fingers of one hand from the tip of the
thumb to the tip of the little finger, approximately nine inches. Its Arabic equivalent is shibr.
2
Tafsir-e-Baizawi.
3
Quran [S. 3: 195 MMP].
4
Quran, S. 59: 8 MMP.
Excerpt from Tauzihat Asad-ul-Ulama Hzt Abu Sayeed
RH

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al-Jawahir [Volume I]. Both the books have been published. The reality is that when
tolerance is dissociated from religion, the thinking and outlook become clouded by
human passions, which impede the path to reach to realities.
Everyone, who knows the History of Islam, will concede that some of the
Companions first went to Habashah [Abyssenia] in obedience to the orders of Prophet
Muhammad
SLM
, at a time when that country was not dar-ul-Islam [abode of Peace]. And
when Prophet Muhammad
SLM
himself migrated to Madina, that city was not dar-ul-Islam.
Similarly, other people have migrated from their homes to protect their religion from the
beginning of Islam to this day. Will the term hijrat not be applicable to the migrations of
such people? All the books of Traditions, History and biography call these movements as
hijrat.
Saying that the Hadis quotes Prophet Muhammad
SLM
as saying that There is no
migration after the conquest of Makkah, and that, on the basis of this, the commandment
of migration stands abrogated, is not correct, because the saying of the Prophet
SLM
is
specifically confined to the migration to Madina [from Makkah]. The reality too is that
the causes of migration to Madina had ceased to exist after the conquest of Makkah.
Tafsir Lubab at-Taveel says: Hasan has said that migration is not discontinued and the
reply to no migration after the conquest of Makkah is that this interdiction is specified
to the migration from Makkah to Madina. But for every believer, who lives in a town
where infidels are in a majority and exposition of religion is dangerous, it is wajib
[essential] to migrate to a town where the exposition of religion does not invite danger.
That the command about there being no migration after the conquest of Makkah is
specific to the migration to Madina and that the command for migration of the common
believers for religious causes continues without any hindrance, are proved by so many
writings in the books of tafsir, commentaries, Traditions, sayings of eminent scholars and
others that reproducing them here would make this book large and bulky.
Iqbal says, Story-tellers have concealed the truth. They have misunderstood the
meaning of migration [hijrat]. Migration is the law of the life of the Muslims. It is among
the causes of the endurance of the Muslims.
The biographical sketches of the saints of Allah also show that leaving ones
home and hearth and going to other places for purification of nafs [self, lust, life],
acquiring the bounty of the companionship of perfect people or for propagating the
religion also is hijrat [migration]. The importance and the generality of the migration are
present in the teachings of Islam. Then how can anybody object to or criticize the
importance Imam Mahdi
AS
has given to migration? The truth, however, is that if there had
been no teachings of or importance to migration [in the teachings of the Imam
AS
], the
truth of his claim to being Mahdi would have been adversely affected.
Under the Quranic Verse, Fallaziina haajaruu,
5
the author of Tafsir Mudarik,
says, Allah has said in this Verse that people have performed these lofty and excellent
deeds, which are migration or going to places, where there is peace to protect their
religion. In the last era too there will be migration as it was during the beginning of
Islam.

5
Quran, S. 3: 195 SAL.
Excerpt from Tauzihat Asad-ul-Ulama Hzt Abu Sayeed
RH

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Here, the last era means the period of Imam Mahdi
AS
. When he himself had been
performing hijrat, the people, who have affirmed and confirmed him as the Mahdi al-
Mauood, went with him to be in his company and receive his bounty, will essentially
achieve a rank higher than the musaddiqin who remained squatting in their houses
without a religious excuse. Please note Parable 111.
It says, The Imam
AS
has said, The person who has come into the daira in the
morning after migrating, is the murshid [spiritual guide] of the person who comes in the
evening, because the former is the imam [leader] of the latter.
6

Please also note Parable 95, which is attributed to Bandagi Miyan Syed
Khundmir
RZ
that he had narrated in his book, Aqida Sharifa, and Hazrat Bandagi Miyan
Abdur Rashid
RZ
too has narrated it. It says: Further, Miyan Syed Khundmir
RZ
has quoted
the Imam
AS
as saying, The person who has reposed faith in Imam Mahdi
AS
and refrains
from the obligation of migration with and in company of the Imam
AS
is a hypocrite, by
virtue of the Quranic Verse, Those of the believers, who sit at home, barring the
disabled, and those who fight in the cause of Allah with their properties and their persons
cannot be esteemed alike.
7
The meaning of this Verse is that the mujahidin had
superiority over the disabled by one rank and over the non-disabled by many ranks. For
these people, it will be losses instead of ranks and chastisements instead of salvation. And
the sanction against such hypocrisy on the non-disabled is obvious.
8

The author of Hadiya-e-Mahdavia has criticized the use of the Quranic Verse in
the argument and said sarcastically that it showed the comprehension of the Quran by
Imam Mahdi
AS
and his disciple Miyan Syed Khndmir
RZ
, because the Verse dealt with
jihad!
9

Comprehending Quran is difficult. But [unfortunately] the author of Hadiya is
incapable of understanding the parable itself. The parable clearly says that mujahidin are
superior to the uliz-zarar by one rank. This shows that the Verse is about the mujahidin
and this is obvious from the text of the parable. But the mind of the critic could not
comprehend the basis of the argument. He was agitated and in his zeal to criticize was
swept in the storm of his own passions.
It is not unknown to the scholars of Islam that a jihad with a sword is accepted as
jihad-e-asghar [smaller or minor holy war] while the struggle against ones own lust and
Satan is accepted as the jihad-e-akbar [greater or major holy war]. And the proof of this
is embodied in the text of the Quranic Verse. The author of Tafsir-e-Baizawi writes in his
exegesis of this Verse, And it is said that [in the said Verse] first mujahidin are those
who wage war against the infidels and, secondly, mujahidin are those who wage a holy
war against their own self [or lust---nafs]. And the proof is the saying of Prophet
Muhammad
SLM
that We have turned from the jihad-e-asghar towards jihad-e-akbar.

6
Naqliat Miyan Abdur Rashid
RZ
, Urdu translation by Hazrat Abu Sayeed
RA
, Hyderabad, 1369 AH, pages 71-
72.
7
Quran, S. 4: 95 SAL.
8
Naqliat Miyan Abdur Rashid
RZ
, Urdu translation by Hazrat Abu Sayeed
RA
, Hyderabad, 1369 AH, pages 94-
95.
9
Hadiya-e-Mahdavia, by Abu Raja Zaman Khan Rampuri, Kanpur, 1287 AH, page 11.
Excerpt from Tauzihat Asad-ul-Ulama Hzt Abu Sayeed
RH

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Jihad-e-akbar also includes migration. When giving up the homeland is necessary
for reasons and purposes of the religion, giving it up can never be excluded from the
concomitants of jihad, because when the love for the homeland becomes an idol [ilah]
and impedes the way of Divine Love, it becomes a necessity of the dictum, There is no
god but God, that this idol [ilah] be discarded. It is for this reason that the point has been
argued on the basis of the said Quranic Verse.
Iqbal says, What is the war of the mumin [believer]? Migration towards the
Friend [God]! Rejecting the world [ma sivallah --- other than Allah] is [gaining] the
control of the lane of the Friend [God].
It is only in the teachings of Imam Mahdi
AS
that you find all the aspects of hijrat
and its esoteric and exoteric specialties in the jihad-e-akbar. The text of the Quranic
Verse, La yastawil-qaa-iduuna
10
also embodies the specialty of the jihad-e-akbar.
And the commentators of the Quran too have accepted this view. It is on this basis that
the Quranic Verse has been used to argue the point in the above-mentioned parable. This
is perfectly correct. To say that this delicate understanding is against comprehending the
Quran shows the paucity of the critics own knowledge.
Iqbal says: Can a flower petal cut the core of a diamond? Civilized and refined
speech does not affect an ignorant person.
Immediately after the above Quranic Verse, comes the following one: Lo! As for
those whom the angels take [in death] while they wrong themselves, [the angels] will
ask: In what were ye engaged? They will say, We were oppressed in the land. [The
angels] will say: Was not Allahs earth spacious that ye could have migrated therein?
As for such, their habitation will be hell, an evil journeys end.
11

This Verse relates to the hypocrites and it is determined that the retribution for
giving up hijrat is Hell. Hence, hijrat becomes obligatory [farz] on principle. It is for this
reason that Imam Mahdi
AS
has said under Allahs command that hijrat is obligatory. Both
the esoteric and exoteric specialties are included in it. If the situation demands that one
should give up his abode, one should go to a safer place. Otherwise, rejecting world
[tark-e-dunya], which is giving up the concealed polytheism [shirk-e-khafi] and self
[khudi], becomes the esoteric journey, which, in a way, is equal to esoteric migration.
Similarly, leaving the home, going to the place of the murshid and staying in his
company to receive his bounty too is hijrat.
Hazrat Bandagi Miyan Syed Mahmood Syedanji Khatam-al-Murshidin
RZ
has said,
Establish your daira and stay wherever you find peace and comfort to follow the
religion [deen]. This commandment of Hazrat Syedanji
RZ
is included in rukhsat
[permitted].

10
Quran [S. 4: 95-96 MMP] The English translation of the Verse is as follows: Those of the believers who
sit still, other than those who have a [disabling] hurt, are not in an equality with those who strive in the
way of Allah with their wealth and lives. Allah hath conferred on those who strive with their wealth and
lives a rank above the sedentary. Unto each Allah hath promised good, but he hath bestowed on those who
strive a great reward above the sedentary. Degrees of rank from Him, and forgiveness and mercy. Allah is
ever Forgiving, Merciful.
11
Quran, S. 4: 97 MMP.
Excerpt from Tauzihat Asad-ul-Ulama Hzt Abu Sayeed
RH

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Besides the commandments relating to the exoteric migration, we find those
relating to the esoteric migration in the teachings of Imam Mahdi
AS
. And this is the
loftiest status of the jihad-e-akbar [the great or major holy war]. Please see Parable 268.
12
The mention of the subliminal journey purports to mean esoteric journey, which relates
to giving up self [khudi] and things other than Allah. Without this, one cannot achieve
application [itlaqiat], which is a necessary condition for the Vision of Allah.
The incident relating to lan-taraanii [You shall not see Me]
13
in Quran too
witnesses the same thing that Prophet Musa
AS
got the reply from Allah that You shall not
see Me. The reason for it was that the question by Prophet Musa
AS
had the import of
dualism and strangeness [dui and ghairiat]. He had said, O my Lord! Show me Thy
countenance that I may behold it. This question embodies the same matters, which are
against the holiness and purity of the Lord. They were the basis of the Mutazila criticism
and disavowal of the justification of the Vision of Allah. And it is for this reason that
Allah rejected the question. This was because the conditions of the Vision of Allah have
no relationship with those of the material bodies. We have discussed this matter in some
detail in our explications pertaining to the desire for the Vision of Allah. [See paragraphs
231 to 283 above.]
Our belief is that even Hazrat Musa
AS
was not personally at fault in asking [for
seeing Allah]. The purpose of his asking was to inform the mankind of Gods Existence
and Unity and the Glory of His Deanthropomorphism [tanzihi shan].
14
It was also to
show that it needed the application and the bestowal of the Vision [nazar] that is needed
to see Allah, which makes the seeing possible. Without this, it is impossible to see Him
with the limited power of seeing in a limited manner. In the same manner, Prophet
Ibrahim
AS
had shown as an exemplary argument of the setting of the stars, the moon and
the sun to explain the peculiarities of Allah Most High. Otherwise, imagining the moon
and the sun to be the God is against the Glory of the Prophet-hood and Divine Vice-
regency. We have shown in the discussion on the Quranic Verse, Afaman-kaana alaa
Bayyin-na-tim-mir-Rabbi-hii,
15
that the Prophet-hood cannot be achieved without
Vilayat [Sainthood]. This shows that every apostle and messenger of God receives the
bounty [faiz] of the Sainthood. It means that at the stage of the knowledge [marifat] of
the Existence and Unity of God, his rank would be very lofty in his capacity as masum-
anil-khata [infallible]. At this level of knowledge his rank would be so high that he
cannot consider anything other than Allah as his ilah [worshipped deity].
The question by Hazrat Musa
AS
, its reply and all the events following them guide
towards the Glory of deanthropomorphism of Allah Most High. Contrary to this, arguing
about the personal deficiency [nuqs] of Hazrat Musa
AS
or his [alleged] incapacity to see
Allah violates the principles of Islam and [the glory of] the Apostles
AS
. Same is the case

12
Parable 268 says: One day Imam Mahdi
AS
is narrated to have said, A journey appears to be imminent.
The companions started preparations for the journey. They bought animals for riding and other necessary
things. Some days later, the Imam
AS
said, The purport of the order is subliminal journey.
13
Quran [S. 7: 142 SAL]
14
It means the elimination of anthropomorphic elements [tajsimi anasir or jism and shakl (body and
shape)] from the concept of the deity.
15
Quran, S. 11: 17 SAL.
Excerpt from Tauzihat Asad-ul-Ulama Hzt Abu Sayeed
RH

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with finding fault of Hazrat Musa
AS
or using this question and answer as an argument
against the issue of the Vision of Allah Most High.
In short, the final purpose of the esoteric journey or migration [safar or hijrat] is
achieving the glory of perishing in and seeing Allah Most High.