The Anniversary of the Hijra, 1369

On the twenty-third of October, the Islamic world celebrated the anniversary of the Prophet's Hijra, in the East of the earth and its West. The Woman's Voice, in presenting this article, extends to the Arab world its congratulations on the new year.

To the sound of drums... and the melodies of the flute... amid the throngs of the Emigrants and the Helpers, the procession moves, bearing Muhammad and his faithful friend Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, in flight to save life and faith — faith in God alone, who has no partner — while Quraysh, who had turned away from God's religion, who had injured the Messenger and insulted him and conspired against him, were caught unawares!

The first gleams of morning appeared, and the birds awoke proclaiming glad tidings of joy; the universe smiled and the heavens exulted... Muhammad had entered the land of Medina — that city which opened its breast to gather him in, to support him and champion him, having made covenant with him to spread the truth and to summon men to it...

Muhammad emigrated to Yathrib as a struggle in the cause of human happiness and complete, everlasting peace. The religion of Islam, then, is a religion of struggle and of peace!... Struggle, to repel whoever turns away from it and turns people from embracing it; and peace... the peace of the soul by way of contentment, mutual nearness, love of one another in God, and brotherhood among Muslims. For the Almighty said in His Book: "The believers are but brothers; so make peace between your brothers."

There is no day holier or dearer than this day in our glorious Islamic history — a day that reminds us of the journey of our savior and our guide to the road of right, the beacon of truth, the resort of guidance, when the unbelievers drove him out: "Then God sent down His tranquility and aided him with hosts you did not see, and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest, while the word of God is the highest." The call to the religion of truth stood facing idolatry; faith in God stood against polytheism and the worship of idols, until victory was complete for God's religion and for those who believed in it... And thus it is with truth: it prevails, and nothing prevails over it...

Muhammad — that great striver, steadfast in the face of hardships and adversities, whom the treachery of the unbelievers could not turn from his Lord's summons. What immortal words are those that show the strength of his faith, his hold upon his supreme creed, and his reliance, when the men of Quraysh came to his uncle and asked him to speak to Muhammad, that he might leave them in peace and cease breaking their gods, in return for wealth and chieftainship. He said, with the tears of patience upon his cheeks... tears of mercy... tears of pain: "By God, O my uncle, if they placed the moon in my right hand and the sun in my left, on condition that I abandon my Lord's summons, I would not abandon it. Do then what you will; I have a Lord who protects me." Such patience and such resolve brought his nation out of the darkness into the light, with a determination before which all determinations fall short!

In a year like this one, a thousand three hundred and sixty-nine years gone by, our Messenger was patient and earnest in guiding those astray from the road of right guidance... And in that year his mount set forth, surrounded by a band of his loyal followers... journeying toward the land of guidance and truth!... toward the place of his trust in the people of Yathrib. And he entered Medina amid rejoicing and generous welcome... amid honor and glad faces, and found there hearts alert, alive, filled to overflowing with faith; and circumstances allowed him, within a short space, to spread what had been revealed to him, so that it became light and guidance for Islam, after its tribes had been

scattered and rivalrous!...

And thus we find that the man of principle and creed, the believer in God's religion, is not weighed down by any obstacle, nor is his resolve bent by the fabrications of the gloaters and the mutterings of the hired and the malicious... Rather he goes his way with giant strides and a determination that knows no flagging and no standstill, until he achieves what he wills, whole and undiminished!... Indeed we find there is no doubt whatever that, had we followed the steps of Muhammad, God's blessings upon him, step by step — in striving, in struggle, in long and arduous patience, in overcoming rivals and enemies, and in uprooting the seats of illusion and the sources of the ills and pains which can be reached only by some measure of personal sacrifice and of useful, profitable effort — we would today be in a condition other than this condition, and in a situation other than this situation... in a situation inspiring confidence and hope of relief and success in the arena of this worldly life... And this is what we all strive for today, having felt the folly of the policy by which we walked and whose course we followed for no short stretch of time!...

O my Arab brother! Whoever you may be, and whosesoever son you may be, you must know well that everything has a limit at which it ends, and that whoever oversteps it has missed the road of right guidance and wandered lost among errors and illusions. And likewise, it is hideous injustice, and among the greatest of crimes, that you should go on clinging to words without deeds in an age that gives words no weight... The worth of a man is in his deed and his work, his striving and his struggle. Be, then, one of those who speak and do, if you desire the free and honorable life, and seek glory and independence — otherwise there is neither life nor hope. Will you do what I ask?

No doubt you will! O God, by the right of him whom You sent as a guide to truth... and a leader to justice: unite our ranks, gather our scattered company, and take us by the hand, and grant us victory over a people dispersed, who associate partners with You and deny Your blessings... for You are the Hearer of prayer!

Iraq, 1369