Reverse Hijrah

Hijrah for the sake of Allah is when a believer moves from a land of shirk and kufr to a land of iman to increase his iman. Reverse Hijrah is when a Muslim in a land of iman moves to a land of shirk and kufr to increase his duniya. This is not an official term but I will be using it to express this phenomenon.

It is obligatory for Muslims living in the lands of shirk and kufr to make hijrah to the lands of iman and the proof of this from the Book of Allah:

"As for those whose souls the angels take in a state of having earned Allah's anger; then the angels will say to them: "in what condition were you regarding your Religion?" They will say: "we were weakened by the great numbers and strength of the people of shirk in our land who prevented us from iman and from following the Messenger." They (the angels) will reply: "was not Allah's earth spacious so that you could leave your land and homes where the people of shirk dominate and go to a land where you could worship Allah alone and follow His Prophet?" So these people will find their abode in Hell, and what an eveil destination that is. Except for the weak ones from the men, women and children who were unable tomigrate or find a way to do so. As for such, it may be that Allah will pardon them, and ALlah is ever One who pardons and forgives the sins of His servants" Surat an-Nisaa 97-99

In the case of reverse hijrah, there are three conditions on such travel.

1. That the person has knowledge to repel doubts.
2. That he isa person adhering to the Religion such that it will prevent him from following desires that are openly practiced in lands of shirk and kufr.
3. That he has a need to do so - this includes medical treatment and higher education.

Notice that tourism is not listed. It is not necessary for Muslims residing in lands of iman to travel to lands of shirk for tourism, when there are plenty of touristic places to visit within the lands of iman.

As for residing in the lands of shirk and kufr, one must safegaurd his or her religion and will not be corrupted or deviate from the correct path and to remain removed emotionally from the people of that land and not love them as this can corrupt one's iman. Allah the Most High says:

"You will not find a people who believe in ALlah and the Last Day having love for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger and contradict Allah's Commands, even if they be their fathers, or their sons or their brothers or their tribe." al-Mujaadilah 58:22

A Muslim living in the lands of shirk and kufr must be able to manifest the outward signs of Islam without being prevented. In my opinion this is not possible in all the large Western countries.

If a Muslim is residing in the lands of shirk and kuft he must be there to call people to Islam. This is a type of jihad and it is fard kifaya - that means that not everyone needs to do it, if one person is doing it then the rest of us are exempt.

Some scholars have said that it is permissible for a da'i (caller to faith) to reside in lands of kufr and shirk to study the conditions of the unbelievers and become aware of their state with regard to the corruptopn of their beliefs, false worship, degenerate manners and behaviour. I do not fully agree with this in this modern time we can see all of this on the vast media available to us.

It is also allowed for a Muslim to reside in the lands of disbelief to maintain diplomatic relations with the state of disbelief and an Islamic state and provide consular services to any citizens of that state residing there and to encourage them in their religious matters and behaviour. This helps repel evil and corruption that surround Muslims living in that land.

The categories covered here are all temporary living situations. Residing permanently amongst the disbelievers in their lands is never acceptable.

More to come on this topic soon.