Hijrah Is Uprooting the Self and Renewing the Intention

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 16 June 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

At the beginning of the new Hijri year we ask Allah, glorified and exalted, to make it a year of right guidance and direction for the Ummah. O Allah, Āmīn.

Hijrah Is Not Only a Change of Place

People always speak of hijrah as a move from one place to another, and indeed it is so in its outward form, as you see people leaving one homeland for another. But enter into the depths of these people and you will see that they are uprooting themselves from a place, and then the person begins a new journey in search of a homeland in which to put his memories, dreams, hopes, ambitions, knowledge, relationships, and experiences, a homeland to which he can take refuge. We call that asylum, but it is a tangible asylum, accommodating the body and giving the physical frame its material rights: the asphalt is smooth, the street is beautiful, the trees are well-kept, and the view is good.

Which Kind of Emigrants Are We?

But from within, emigrants come in kinds. Whoever emigrated from one worldly life to another does not feel a great emptiness. Whoever emigrated from a worldly life to religion, these feel a great achievement. Whoever emigrated from one religion to another, for them worldly life has a similar appearance, and they are not much affected by this. But those who emigrated from religion to worldly life, these are the wretched ones, and we seek refuge in Allah. So which kind of emigrants are we, when we left our countries and came to this land?

Yesterday I had a meeting with one of the people. He had an appointment and sat with the imam complaining that a man came to this country long ago, a religious man of taqwā and knowledge, not much learning but knowledge nonetheless, and he began an Islamic activity, people moved at his hands, and the mosque was established. And now we are dealing with their grandchildren, who are not on the path at all, not on the path whatsoever. They have gone out to where Allah, glorified and exalted, does not want. So we ask ourselves: where are we heading? We have much to say on this, but the general picture: if someone went out for the sake of religion and Allah, exalted is He, knew his sincerity, then by Allah, other than whom there is no god, his Lord will not let him be lost in his children or in his grandchildren. The foundation lies with you: what do you intend? What do you want? Why did you come to any homeland? And what do you wish for after your death?

What Cannot Be Built Late

Let us say again: hijrah is the uprooting of the heart, memory, mind, and inner being from one homeland to another, in which the person begins building anew.

I heard one of the speakers in the world of weight loss and dieting talk about the danger of people losing their weight suddenly, for they lose their muscles. Losing fat is a very good gain, but losing muscle is a problem, and what caught my attention was his saying that muscles are built over the stages of life, and if you reach a certain stage you have no ability to build them again. If we take this charming medical piece of information, if it is correct, and transfer it to our reality, there are things that cannot be built when you are old, things you cannot do well to begin when you are forty, and things you cannot do well to begin when you are fifty. The things we came out with while running through the fields and farmlands, teasing this one and moving about in that atmosphere, it is impossible to find again after you have emigrated, and you cannot plant it in your children, and you cannot do well to leave it as a legacy for those who come after you. There are particular things you left when you emigrated, left entirely behind your back. So if the Lord of the worlds, glorified is He, decrees it and you return to the country and breathe in the fragrance of the traces that express history to you, you realize what you missed.

No Hijrah After the Conquest

And when we speak of hijrah and the merit of the emigrants, the Prophet ﷺ said: «لا هجرة بعد الفتح» ("There is no hijrah after the conquest").^[1] That is, after the Prophet's ﷺ conquest of Makkah the matter ended: there was no longer a move from Makkah to Madinah that we call hijrah, and the world became safe. As for moving from one homeland to another, it became striving and intention, meaning that you look at where you worship Allah, and what your intention is in residing; you look at where you worship Allah. And this is the striving: that you strive against yourself to remain where you are fit to be.

And I remember, more than twenty years ago, I attended a conference and was on a visit here before the long residence, and I met one of the people of knowledge and asked him, and he said to me: My son, the homeland in which you can worship Allah well is your earth and your sky, so do not pay attention to names.

Renew Your Intentions

So take good care of yourselves, and renew the intention with these dates that pass by people as mere dates, whereas for us they are axes at which our behaviors in life change, and the junctures from which we move from one homeland to another, but by your intention. So what do we want? The poorest of people here live a life that people in other homelands wish for, and the simplest components of life in this country are far higher in form. And people of course think, as we said before, that we are planting trees behind the house that grow dollars! Allah is the one whose help is sought.

The point: with these occasions, renew your intentions. Why stay here? What do we hope for and aspire to in our children and grandchildren? And what do we arrange for, as Muslims living on this land?

I ask Allah, glorified is He, to let us live in obedience to Him and to let us die in obedience to Him, and to write us among those who race to His good pleasure. And I ask Him, blessed and exalted, that we not die and leave behind us offspring who do not worship Him, the Mighty and Majestic, and that He make everyone who comes forth from our descendants servants of Him alone, who associate nothing with Him and do not deviate from the path of prophethood.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth is agreed upon, and its completion is «ولكن جهاد ونية» ("but striving and intention"); the speaker mentioned its meaning in his explanation.