The Hijrah Mindset

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “After the conquest of Mecca, there is no more hijrah, but there remains jihad and intention” (Narrated by Bukhari).

The Islamic New Year is a crucial moment for us, the followers of Prophet Muhammad, to introspect. Have we truly undergone a hijrah? Are we better today than we were yesterday?

Thus, more important than merely commemorating and celebrating the Islamic New Year with various events is looking within ourselves. What have we done, and what will we do to become better?

In the above hadith, the Prophet indicated that hijrah, in the sense of an exodus from one place to another for specific reasons—like the migration he and the Muslims undertook from Mecca to Medina, and earlier to Abyssinia—no longer exists in that form. What remains is jihad and intention.

Jihad linguistically, as written by Yusuf Qardhawi in his book Fiqh Jihad, means exerting all effort, ability, and energy. Meanwhile, intention linguistically means qashd, which is a desire, will, aspiration, and hope for something.

The word jihad in the Qur’an is usually accompanied by the phrase fi sabilillah, meaning in the path of Allah. This signifies that jihad must be within the corridor of Allah’s teachings and oriented towards obtaining His pleasure.