to the land of Abyssinia, fearing persecution and fleeing to Allah with their faith. Thus it was the first emigration in Islam.

The very first among the Muslims to depart was ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, together with his wife Ruqayyah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Al-Bayhaqī (1) likewise narrates—through Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān, ʿAbbās al-ʿAnbarī, Bishr ibn Mūsā, and al-Ḥasan ibn Ziyād al-Burjumī—that Qatādah said:

“The first person to emigrate to Allah with his family was ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him). I heard al-Naḍr ibn Anas say: I heard Abū Ḥamzah—meaning Anas ibn Mālik—say: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān set out for Abyssinia with his wife Ruqayyah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. News of them was slow in reaching the Prophet ﷺ until a woman from Quraysh arrived and said, ‘Muḥammad, I have seen your son-in-law with his wife.’ He asked, ‘In what condition did you see them?’ She replied, ‘I saw him seating his wife on a stout donkey, and he was leading it.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘May Allah keep them in His care. ʿUthmān is the first man, after Lot (peace be upon him), to emigrate with his family.’”

Ibn Isḥāq (3) adds: Also among those who left were Abū Ḥudhayfah [ibn ʿUtbah, whose wife was Sahlah bint Suhayl ibn ʿAmr—and she bore him Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥudhayfah in Abyssinia]; al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām; Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf; Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Asad together with his wife Umm Salamah bint Abī Umayyah ibn al-Mughīrah—who there bore him Zaynab; ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn; ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah—an ally of the Banū al-Khaṭṭāb, from Banū ʿAnz ibn Wāʾil—along with his wife Laylā bint Abī Ḥathmah; Abū Sabrah ibn Abī Ruhm al-ʿĀmirī and his wife Umm Kulthūm bint Suhayl ibn ʿAmr. Some reports include Abū Ḥāṭib ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAbd Shams ibn ʿAbd Wudd ibn Naṣr ibn Mālik ibn Ḥisl ibn ʿĀmir—said to have been the first to arrive there—and Suhayl ibn Bayḍāʾ.

These ten, according to what has reached me, were the first Muslims to depart for Abyssinia.

Ibn Hishām (5) records that, according to some scholars, ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn was placed in charge of them.

Ibn Isḥāq (6) continues: Later Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib set out, accompanied by his wife Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays, and there she bore him ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar. The Muslims kept emigrating in successive groups until they were all gathered in Abyssinia.

Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah claims that the first emigration to Abyssinia occurred when Abū Ṭālib and those who supported him entered the mountain pass with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. This, however, requires further examination—and Allah knows best. He also maintains that Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib’s departure was in