Migration to Abyssinia

• In the 5th year of prophethood the prophet advised the Muslims to migrate to Abyssinia to escape the intensified persecution of the Quraysh
• The migration would serve a dual purpose of giving the Muslims refuge from the oppression/persecution and spreading islam to distant places.
• 11 men and 4 women migrated to Abyssinia.
• A few days later, a rumour was spread of the Meccans embracing islam which caused most of the Muslims to return back to Mecca but seeing as the report was untrue, most muslims went back to abyssinia while some took the protection of influential people.
• With the hostilities of the Quraysh further increased, the prophet again advised his followers to migrate to Abyssinia and this time 101 muslims went of which 18 were women.
• Hearing of the Muslims migration to abyssinia the Quraysh sent a delegation including amr bin Aas and Abdullah bin Abi Rabiah to Negus, the king of abyssinia with a request to expel the muslims as they had abandoned the religion of their king and forefathers.
• Since Negus was just, he wanted to hear both sides and so the Muslims were represented by Jaffar bin Abu Talib who gave an impressive speech after which Negus asked him to recite a portion of the Qur'an, so Jaffar recited verses of Surah Maryam and Negus replied "By god, this discourse and the bible are 2 brands of the same lamp". Negus then refused to handover the Muslims and allowed Muslims to live in abyssinia for as long as they wanted.
• The migration to abyssinia gave birth to the idea of greater hijrah of the immigration from Makkah to Madinah.
• Hamza and Umar embraced Islam in the 6th year of prophethood.