Friday sermon: Prophet’s hijra heralded new era for civilisation

'Muslims have chosen the prophet’s hijra (immigration) as a basis for their calendar because it was a turning point that carried Islam’s message with its civilised image to all of humanity,' says Friday's sermon.

With the Prophet Mohammed’s migration from Mecca to Madina a new era of civilisation, human and women’s rights was born, this week’s sermon reminds worshippers.

“Muslims have chosen the Prophet’s hijra [migration] as a basis for their calendar because it was a turning point that carried Islam’s message with its civilised image to all of humanity,” says the sermon.

When the Prophet reached Madina he planted the roots of Islam and spread its teachings.

The sermon cites an incident reported by one of the Prophet’s companions: “When the Prophet came to Al Madina, the people rushed to meet him, and it was said: ‘The Messenger of Allah has come! The Messenger of Allah has come! The Messenger of Allah has come!’ Three times. I came with the people to see him, and when I saw his face clearly, I knew that his face was not the face of a liar. The first thing I heard him say was when he said: ‘O people! Spread the greeting of Salam, feed others, uphold the ties of kinship, and pray during the night when people are sleeping, and you will enter paradise with Salam.”

He also created the basis of a healthy society based on brotherhood and compatibility between the muhajereen (migrants) and the ansar (residents of Madina).

A verse from the Quran says: “Those who entered the city and the faith before them love those who flee unto them for refuge, and find in their breasts no need for that which hath been given them, but prefer the fugitives above themselves though poverty become their lot. And who so is saved from his own avarice – such are they who are successful.”

Breakthroughs in science, education and knowledge were all made during the Islamic golden era, driven from the very first verses that were revealed in the Quran: “Read: In the name of thy Lord who createth, createth man from a clot. Read: And thy Lord is the most bounteous, who teacheth by the pen, teacheth man that which he knew not.”