The prophet Muhammad completes his Hegira - September 24th, 622

On this day in 622, the prophet Muhammad completed his Hegira, or “flight,” from the city of Mecca to what is now known as Medina.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that uncovers a little bit more about history
every day. I'm Gabe Bluzier, and today we're talking about
the time when one man's flight from an intolerant city

(00:22):
led to the birth of a new religion. The day
was September six two, the prophet Muhammad completed his hijira,
or flight, from the city of Mecca to what is

(00:43):
now known as Medina. He fled to escape religious persecution
and to live where he would be free to gather
followers for his new religion, Islam. The day of Mohammed's Hijira,
that is, the day he arrived in future Medina, would
later be used as the starting point for year one

(01:04):
of the Muslim calendar. Mohammed was born in Mecca around
the year five seventy. He was orphaned before he turned
six and was raised by his uncle Abu Talib, who
was the head of the prestigious Hasham clan. When he
was older, Mohammed worked as a merchant and gained a
reputation for his honesty. In his mid twenties, Mohammed standing

(01:26):
in society got a nice boost when he married a
wealthy widow named Kaja. They had four daughters and two
sons together, though sadly the sons both died in infancy.
Although now a family man, Mohammed still valued solitude and
would occasionally spend nights in a cave on Mount Hira,
just north of Mecca. On one night of Ramadan, when

(01:50):
Mohammed was about forty years old, he experienced a vision
in the cave. He later reported that he had been
visited by the angel Gabriel, who told him you are
the messenger of God. This proved to be the first
of many religious revelations for Muhammad, which he and his
followers would later collect as the Kuran. If you're unfamiliar

(02:13):
with Islam, which may be unlikely since it's now the
second most practiced religion in the world, it helps to
know that Muhammed believed himself to be the final prophet
of the Judeo Christian tradition. His theology combined aspects of
those older religions with new doctrines inspired by his personal revelations.

(02:35):
Over time, these teachings became known as Islam, which means
surrender to God, and its followers became Muslims, those who
have surrendered to God. At the time, though, in about
the year six ten, Muhammed's new faith had attracted only
a few followers, most of whom were young and of

(02:55):
low social standing. By six fifteen, Muhammed had gathered about
a hundred converts in his native town, which was enough
to attract the attention of his fellow merchants. Most people
in Mecca believed in multiple gods and goddesses, and here
was Muhammed preaching that there was only one. To the merchants,

(03:16):
this was blasphemy, and since Muhammed was one of their
industry's own, they worried that his behavior might upset the
gods and hurt their business. As a result, city leaders
began to harass Muhammed and his followers, and things only
got worse from there. His wife Kaja died unexpectedly in
six nineteen, and soon after Mohammed's persecution intensified when his

(03:39):
uncle also died and was succeeded as head of the
Hasham clan by another less agreeable uncle. Without Abu Talib's protection,
Muhammed's life in Mecca went from bad to hopeless, or
at least, that's how it seemed until the summer of
six twenty one, when a dozen or so men and

(04:00):
traveled over two hundred miles south to Mecca from an
oasis community called Yathrib in the location of present day Medina.
The men had seemingly made the pilgrimage to visit the
town's pagan shrines, but in reality they had come to
meet with Muhammed and to be counted as his followers.

(04:21):
Despite the best efforts of the ruling class, Muhammed's teachings
had traveled as far as two hundred miles north. A
year later, and even larger group of converts came to Mecca.
Sensing that Muhammed had more than worn out his welcome,
the followers invited him to settle with them in Yathrib.

(04:41):
Muhammed accepted the invitation and encouraged his followers in Mecca
to start making the journey in small groups to avoid
drawing attention from city authorities. Unfortunately, officials got wise soon
enough and began hatching a plan to kill Muhammed and
hopefully put an end to his religious revolution. When Mohammed

(05:03):
heard of the plot to murder him, he decided it
was time for him to leave. He made his way
to Yathrip along back road paths and completed his hygia
from Mecca when he arrived safely at the oasis on September.
One reason that day remains of such deep importance to

(05:24):
later Muslims is that it marked the first time in
the Arabian Peninsula when the members of a community were
united by a shared belief in God and not by
the bonds of a clan or tribe. Over time, the
community of Yathrid came to be called Medina, or the
City of the Prophet. Mohammed spent the next decade in Medina,

(05:47):
gathering followers and raiding supplies from trading caravans that passed
by from Mecca. Finally, in the year six thirty, Mohammed
returned to his birthplace with an army of ten thousand.
The people of Mecca swore allegiance and swiftly converted to Islam.
Over the next few years, more and more Arab tribes

(06:10):
joined Muhammed's alliance and converted to his religion, until the
prophet had become the most powerful man in a newly
united Arabia, But his reign would be short lived. On
June eight thirty two, a little less than a decade
after his Hijira, the prophet Muhammed died suddenly at the

(06:31):
age of sixty. His faith, however, lived on. I'm Gabe
Louzier and hopefully you now know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. If you're feeling friendly,
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(06:53):
this Day at i heart media dot com. Thanks to
Chandler May's for producing the show, and thank you for listening.
I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day
in History class. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,

(07:17):
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