which Allah prescribed through His Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him. Such a person attains goodness and reaches his goal; for that reason the Prophet said, “his hijrah was indeed to Allah and His Messenger,” meaning that he has secured what he intended.
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The second type of emigrant is someone who moves for some worldly advantage: a man who loves amassing wealth hears that the lands of Islam are rich and fertile, a place where money can be readily earned. He therefore leaves the land of disbelief for the land of Islam solely to increase his fortune. Straightening his religion is not his concern; his only preoccupation is money.
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The third is a man who emigrates from the land of disbelief to the land of Islam because he wishes to marry a particular woman. He is told, “We will not marry her to you except in a Muslim country, and you may not take her back to a land of disbelief.” So he leaves his homeland for the land of Islam purely to marry that woman.
The seeker of worldly gain and the seeker of the woman have not emigrated for Allah and His Messenger. That is why the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “his hijrah is to whatever he emigrated for.” Here he said, “to whatever he emigrated for,” and did not repeat, “to some worldly benefit or to a woman he marries.” Why?
One explanation is that mentioning both motives again would have made the wording unnecessarily long, so he summarized with, “to whatever he emigrated for.”
Another explanation is that he purposely left them unnamed out of disdain, refusing even to mention them because they are insignificant—merely the lower world and a wife—whereas directing one’s intention in the great act of hijrah toward worldly profit or a woman is a base, debased intention. Hence he said, “his hijrah is to whatever he emigrated for,” omitting them in contempt, for such an intention is corrupt and degraded.