the explicit wording of Allah’s saying:

“Indeed, when the angels take in death those who have wronged themselves, they will ask, ‘What was your condition?’ They will reply, ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ The angels will say, ‘Was not Allah’s earth spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?’ Such people will have Hell as their refuge—what an evil destination! Except for the oppressed among men, women, and children, who have no means at their disposal and can find no way out. It is they whom Allah may pardon; and Allah is Ever-Pardoning, Ever-Forgiving. Whoever emigrates in the cause of Allah will find many places of refuge in the land and great abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allah and His Messenger, then death overtakes him, his reward has become incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (al-Nisa 4:97–100)

Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir said in his Exegesis (1/542): “This noble verse was revealed as a general ruling concerning everyone who resides among the polytheists while able to emigrate, yet unable to practise his religion. Such a person is wronging himself and committing what is forbidden, by consensus and by the explicit wording of this verse.”

There can be no doubt in the mind of any learned jurist that, by virtue of its general wording, the verse extends beyond emigration from lands of disbelief. Imam al-Qurtubi stated in his Exegesis (5/346): “This verse is evidence for leaving a land in which sins are committed. Sa‘id ibn Jubayr said: ‘If sins are committed in a land, then leave it,’ and he recited: ‘Was not Allah’s earth spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?’”

Ibn Abi Hatim related this report in his Exegesis (2/174/1) through an authentic chain from Sa‘id. Al-Hafiz also alluded to it in Fath al-Bari (8/263), saying: “Sa‘id ibn Jubayr deduced from this verse the obligation to emigrate from a land in which sin is committed.”