According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad sent some of his followers to Abyssinia to escape from the persecution that he and his community experienced in Mecca. This first hijra (Arabic for “emigration”) is the first recorded instance of Muslims in Africa, and has become a story of great importance for many African Muslims, even today. The tradition relates how the Negus of Abyssinia received the Muslim emigrants well. He did not hand them over to the Meccan delegation that opponents to the Prophet had sent to bring them back. According to one tradition, the Negus even converted to Islam. The story is related, or alluded to, in two categories of sources that claim to describe the life of Muhammad: the biographies of his life, and some of the ?adiths, i.e. legal traditions said to record his sayings and doings. Modern scholars have debated to what extent these sources can be used in the study of the history of the Prophet; their positions range from total scepticism to more or less uncritical acceptance of the sources. In this study, two sources regarding the migration to Abyssinia are investigated, one from each of the above-mentioned categories: a letter describing the early work of the Prophet, purportedly written by the traditionist ‘Urwa b al-Zubayr (d. 713), and a ?adith about tensions between the migrants to Abyssinia and those who remained in Mecca. The conclusion is that there is reason to believe that the Abyssinian migration actually took place, although details, such as the dealings between the migrants and the Negus, are probably later additions to the story.
To improve our users’ experience, we use cookies on the du.se website for analytical purposes. By choosing to surf our website, you also accept the use of cookies.
