The weakest among the believers were being beaten to make them deny. Bilâl, the family of Yâsir: you have read it.
He ﷺ himself was shielded, the biographers write: by Allah, and by his uncle Abû Tâlib. His companions were not.
And he ﷺ could not shield them from what they were suffering. That is where the idea of leaving begins.
So he ﷺ said to them: “If you went out to the land of Abyssinia…”
“…there is a king there under whom no one is wronged. It is a land of truth.”
“…until Allah gives you a way out of what you are in.” A refuge, not a new home: until the way out.
Why they went: for fear of the trial, and fleeing to Allah with their religion.
It was the first emigration in Islam. Before Medina, there was Abyssinia.
'Â'isha (may Allah be pleased with her) tells what such a departure looked like. It is about her father.
When the Muslims were tried, Abû Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) set out as an emigrant towards Abyssinia.
At Bark al-Ghimâd, Ibn ad-Dughunna, chief of al-Qâra, met him: “Where are you going, Abû Bakr?”
He answered: “My people have driven me out. I want to travel the earth and worship my Lord.”
Ibn ad-Dughunna would not let such a man leave. He gave him his protection and brought him back to Mecca.
So Abû Bakr never reached Abyssinia. But he had shown the road, and the reason: to worship his Lord.
And those who emigrated for Allah after they had been wronged: We will surely settle them in this world in a good place,
but the reward of the Hereafter is greater, if only they knew.
Those who endured patiently and upon their Lord relied.
The commentators suggest this verse may have come down about the emigrants to Abyssinia.
Mecca had become a place where believing could cost you your skin. This book is about leaving.
Why that land, so far away, across the sea? And who gave the idea?
They left because faith had become impossible to keep at home, and someone pointed to a just king.
Tonight, name one place or one person that makes your faith easier to keep, and thank Allah for it.