It is extremely distasteful to hear those who have made comfortable lives in the west calling back to people living in the most horrendous of circumstances: “Stay where you are to defend your land!”
If that instruction were true, why did you not stay in your land, rather than settling five thousand miles away, leaving relatives left behind to squabble over your grandfather’s inheritance?
No, but that is not our sunnah. Rather, migration in pursuit of safety and opportunity has been encouraged from the earliest of times.
Did the Prophet, peace be upon him, not send the persecuted of Mecca to seek refuge in the Kingdom of Aksum? He certainly didn’t insist they remain in their holy land in the face of ongoing hostilities.
And did the larger community not then subsequently migrate en masse to Medina, to seek refuge with the Ansar? The most famous migration of all! Was their land not also sacred to them, home to the House of Abraham?
When the angels take the souls of those who have wronged themselves, they will ask them, ‘What circumstances were you in?’ They will reply, ‘We were oppressed in this land,’ and the angels will say, ‘But was God’s earth not spacious enough for you to migrate to some other place?’
Quran 4:97
Why not offer words of encouragement to the tyrannised from the Book you proclaim? Does it not repeatedly remind us that God’s earth is wide?
My believing servants! My earth is vast, so worship Me and Me alone.
Quran 29:57
Contrary to telling them to patiently bear suffering of unimaginable proportions, they should be told, “Ahlan wa sahlan! Welcome!” Our door is open. Come to refuge, come to help! Your home is our home. We are at your service. The Ansar to the Muharijun.
Instead of telling the Palestinians to die in their land as martyrs, let Al-Azhar fling its gates wide open, turning its arched courtyards into a home for the dispossessed. Let its learned sages read the verses of their Book anew, and demand safe corridor for all.
Say, ‘O My believing servants, be mindful of your Lord! Those who do good in this world will have a good reward – God’s earth is wide – and those who persevere patiently will be given a full and unstinting reward.’
Quran 39:10
Have mercy on these poor, oppressed people, and grant them safe passage. All of the Prophets of God were forced to migrate in time. You could say that migration is of the Prophetic way.
Last modified: 21 September 2024
