Tafheem ul Quran

Surah 4 An-Nisa, Ayat 97-100

اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ تَوَفّٰٮهُمُ الۡمَلٰٓـئِكَةُ ظَالِمِىۡۤ اَنۡفُسِهِمۡ قَالُوۡا فِيۡمَ كُنۡتُمۡ​ؕ قَالُوۡا كُنَّا مُسۡتَضۡعَفِيۡنَ فِىۡ الۡاَرۡضِ​ؕ قَالُوۡۤا اَلَمۡ تَكُنۡ اَرۡضُ اللّٰهِ وَاسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوۡا فِيۡهَا​ؕ فَاُولٰٓـئِكَ مَاۡوٰٮهُمۡ جَهَـنَّمُ​ؕ وَسَآءَتۡ مَصِيۡرًا ۙ‏ ﴿4:97﴾ اِلَّا الۡمُسۡتَضۡعَفِيۡنَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَآءِ وَالۡوِلۡدَانِ لَا يَسۡتَطِيۡعُوۡنَ حِيۡلَةً وَّلَا يَهۡتَدُوۡنَ سَبِيۡلًا ۙ‏ ﴿4:98﴾ فَاُولٰٓـئِكَ عَسَى اللّٰهُ اَنۡ يَّعۡفُوَ عَنۡهُمۡ​ؕ وَكَانَ اللّٰهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُوۡرًا‏ ﴿4:99﴾ وَمَنۡ يُّهَاجِرۡ فِىۡ سَبِيۡلِ اللّٰهِ يَجِدۡ فِى الۡاَرۡضِ مُرٰغَمًا كَثِيۡرًا وَّسَعَةً​ ؕ وَمَنۡ يَّخۡرُجۡ مِنۡۢ بَيۡتِهٖ مُهَاجِرًا اِلَى اللّٰهِ وَرَسُوۡلِهٖ ثُمَّ يُدۡرِكۡهُ الۡمَوۡتُ فَقَدۡ وَقَعَ اَجۡرُهٗ عَلَى اللّٰهِ​ ؕ وَكَانَ اللّٰهُ غَفُوۡرًا رَّحِيۡمًا‏ ﴿4:100﴾

(4:97) While taking the souls of those who were engaged in wronging themselves,129 the angels asked: 'In what circumstances were you?' They replied: 'We were too weak and helpless in the land.' The angels said: 'Was not the earth of Allah wide enough for you to emigrate in it?'130 For such men their refuge is Hell - an evil destination indeed; (4:98) except the men, women, and children who were indeed too feeble to be able to seek the means of escape and did not know where to go .- (4:99) maybe Allah shall pardon these, for Allah is All-Pardoning, All-Forgiving. (4:100) He who emigrates in the way of Allah will find in the earth enough room for refuge and plentiful resources. And he who goes forth from his house as a migrant in the way of Allah and His Messenger, and whom death overtakes, his reward becomes incumbent on Allah. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.131

Notes

129. The reference here is to those who stay behind along with the unbelievers, despite no genuine disability. They are satisfied with a life made up of a blend of Islamic and un-Islamic elements, even though they have had the chance to migrate to the Dar al-Islam and thus enjoy a full Islamic life. This is the wrong that they committed against themselves. What kept them satisfied with the mixture of Islamic and un-Islamic elements in their life was not any genuine disability but their love of ease and comfort, their excessive attachment to their kith and kin and to their properties and worldly interests. These concerns had exceeded reasonable limits and had even taken precedence over their concern for their religion see also( n. 116 )above).

130. Those people who had willingly acquiesced to living under an un-Islamic order would be called to account by God and would be asked: If a certain territory was under the dominance of rebels against God, so that it had become impossible to follow His Law, why did you continue to live there? Why did you not migrate to a land where it was possible to follow the law of God?

131. It should be understood clearly that it is only permissible for a person who believes in the true religion enjoined by God to live under the dominance of an un-Islamic system on one of the following conditions. First, that the believer struggles to put an end to the hegemony of the un-Islamic system and to have it replaced by the Islamic system of life, as the Prophets and their early followers had done. Second, that he lacks the means to get out of his homeland and thus stays there, but does so with utmost disinclination and unhappiness.

If neither of these conditions exist, a believer who continues to live in a land where an un-Islamic order prevails, commits an act of continuous sin. To say that one has no Islamic state to go to does not hold water. For if no Islamic state exists, are there no mountains or forests from where one could eke out a living by eating leaves and drinking the milk of goats and sheep, and thus avoid living in a state of submission to unbelief.

Some people have misunderstood the tradition which says: 'There is no hijrah after the conquest of Makka' (Bukhari, 'Sayd', 10; 'Jihad', 1, 27, 194; Tirmidhi, 'Siyar', 33; Nasa'i, 'Bay'ah', 15, etc. - Ed.) This tradition is specifically related to the people of Arabia of that time and does not embody a permanent injunction. At the time when the greater part of Arabia constituted the Domain of Unbelief (Dar al-Kufr) or the Domain of War (Dar al-Harb), and Islamic laws were being enforced only in Madina and its outskirts, the Muslims were emphatically directed to join and keep together. But when unbelief lost its strength and elan after the conquest of Makka, and almost the entire peninsula came under the dominance of Islam, the Prophet (peace be on him) declared that migration was no longer needed. This does not mean, however, that the duty to migrate was abolished for Muslims all over the world for all time to come regardless of the circumstances in which they lived.