What’s Hegira?

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Hijrah means migration. The term specifically refers to Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina in AD 622. Muhammad’s teachings were not well received in Mecca, which ironically became the holiest of cities for the religion of Islam.
With his followers, Muhammad fled to Medina, then called Yathrib, and the Islamic religion probably owes its survival to the Hijra. In Medina, Muhammad’s teachings gained a larger and much more receptive audience. Therefore, this migration is for many the moment when Islam becomes an established religion.

Medina allowed nascent Islamic adherents to raise their children in relative peace and to develop the principles that would govern their society. Furthermore, Medina has allowed Islam to mature and gain strength as a community. This led to a mature and active Islam that would soon be an extremely strong force in the area now called Saudi Arabia.

For this reason, the Hijra marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar every year. The Muslim calendar is based on lunar cycles, making it difficult to match traditional Gregorian calendars. Therefore, the date for the start of the first month of the year changes every year.

In fact, the calendar of Islam is often called the Hegira calendar, due to its legendary beginning. Muslims do not technically celebrate “New Year” as they do in the Western world. However, the beginning of the calendar is a time for reflection on the strength of Islam and one’s life.

Today the term can refer not only to “Hijrah” but also to any migration that allows one to raise one’s family in a more Islamic culture. Hijrah can also mean embarking on a new path that allows one to become a better person. A person who committed acts considered sinful could transform the Hegira into a sin-free life. Thus, it can be a physical or a spiritual migration.

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