Azami 8142

Ahmad (1671) narrated it from Hakam bin Nafi, who said, Ismail bin Ayyash told us, from Damdam bin Zura, from Shurayh bin Ubayd, who traced it back to Malik bin Yakhamir, from Ibn Saadi, and he related it. This is a hasan Syrian chain, for Damdam bin Zura is hasan al-hadith, and Ismail bin Ayyash is truthful in what he narrated from the people of Syria. Ibn Saadi is Abdullah bin Saadi Qurashi Amiri, the companion who lived until the time of Muawiya, though it is also said that he died during the caliphate of Umar.Abu Dawud (2479), Ahmad (16906), and Nasai in Kubra (8658) narrated through various routes from Hurayz bin Uthman, from Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Awf, from Abu Hind Bajali, from Muawiya, who said, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "Hijrah does not cease until repentance ceases, and repentance does not cease until the sun rises from its place of setting." In its chain is Abu Hind Bajali, and in his biography no one is mentioned as narrating from him except Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Awf. No one has affirmed his reliability, and so Dhahabi said in al-Mizan, "He is not known," and Ibn Qattan said, "Unknown." Ibn Hajar said, "Acceptable," meaning when corroborated.A benefit, Muslims who live in the lands of the disbelievers and are unable to perform their religious duties and obligations must emigrate from them, as happened in the past century when the communists took control of Soviet Russia and forbade the practice of religious rites and the reading of the Quran. Emigration then became obligatory for them, in accordance with the words of Allah Most High, "Indeed, those whom the angels take in death while they were wronging themselves, the angels will say, In what state were you? They will say, We were oppressed in the land. The angels will say, Was not the land of Allah spacious enough for you to emigrate therein? For such, their refuge is Hell, and evil it is as a destination." [Nisa 4:97]As for whoever is unable to emigrate, he is excused, in accordance with the words of Allah Most High, "Except for the oppressed among men, women, and children who cannot devise a plan nor are they guided to a way. For those, perhaps Allah will pardon them, and Allah is ever Pardoning and Forgiving." [Nisa 4:98–99]But as for those who live in the lands of the disbelievers while enjoying freedom to worship Allah alone and to perform the other rites of Islam, emigration is not obligatory upon them. Rather, remaining there is better, for the sake of calling non-Muslims to Islam, as happened in the distant past when Muslims went out from the Arabian Peninsula for religious reasons, such as jihad for the sake of Allah and calling people to Allah, or for worldly reasons, such as trade, education, medical treatment, marriage, and other matters, traveling to the lands of the disbelievers from Afghanistan, passing through Hind, all the way to farthest Bukhara and Samarqand, as well as to the countries of central and northern Africa. In a short span of time, Islam spread throughout these vast lands until they turned from lands of disbelief into lands of Islam. This demonstrates the universality of Islam and that it is a religion suited to every time and place.Today we stand in confrontation with the West, for the Western peoples do not wish for Muslims to emigrate into their countries. That is why we hear every day of new conditions being devised to prevent Muslims from immigrating to them, so that the Christian majority does not turn into a minority. The recent past bears witness to this, for how many European cities had no masjid and no Islamic center in the past century. Yet through the efforts of callers to Islam and the immigrants who settled there, who possessed knowledge and insight into their religion, Islam spread and masjids and centers multiplied in these cities, and the call of Islam can now be heard from the pulpits there just as in Muslim lands. So for these people, remaining in these lands is better than emigrating from them.