Exile and migration: living far from home

In Brief

In the Qur'an, migration first arrives as a question: "Was not the earth of Allah spacious?" (4:97). It is addressed to those who stayed put under oppression while movement was possible. The two verses that follow (4:98-99) immediately place beyond that reproach anyone who could find no means and no way - the text writes its own exception into its own standard. To the one who leaves, two things are said: he will find many places and abundance on the earth (4:100), and those who migrated after being wronged will be settled well in this world (16:41). The same text also lays a duty on the receiving side: in 59:9 the hosts love those who came to them, feel no want in their breasts over what the newcomers were given, and prefer them over themselves even in their own privation. This article follows both faces of migration - the trial of the one who goes, and the generosity of the one who stays.

The Verses

• 4:97 - The angels' question to those who stayed under oppression: was the earth not wide?
• 4:98 - Those who can devise no plan and find no way are excepted.
• 4:99 - The door left open for them: it is expected that Allah will pardon.
• 4:100 - The emigrant finds many locations and abundance; if death overtakes him on the way, the reward stands.
• 29:56 - "My earth is spacious" - space opened so that worship remains possible.
• 16:41 - Those who emigrated after being wronged will be settled in a good place.
• 16:42 - The reward belongs to those who endured and relied on their Lord.
• 2:218 - Believers, emigrants, and those who strive may hope for mercy.
• 59:8 - The emigrants: the poor, expelled from their homes and their properties.
• 59:9 - The host community: they love, they do not envy, they give preference in their own need.
• 22:40 - Those evicted without right for saying "Our Lord is Allah."
• 9:100 - Emigrants and helpers named in one sentence, inside one praise.

The earth was not narrow

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ تَوَفَّىٰهُمُ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ ظَالِمِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ قَالُوا۟ فِيمَ كُنتُمْ ۖ قَالُوا۟ كُنَّا مُسْتَضْعَفِينَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ قَالُوٓا۟ أَلَمْ تَكُنْ أَرْضُ ٱللَّهِ وَٰسِعَةً فَتُهَاجِرُوا۟ فِيهَا ۚ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ مَأْوَىٰهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَسَآءَتْ مَصِيرًا

"Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves - [the angels] will say, "In what [condition] were you?" They will say, "We were oppressed in the land." They [the angels] will say, "Was not the earth of Allāh spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?" For those, their refuge is Hell - and evil it is as a destination." (4:97)

(interpretation) The reproach falls on the one who did not move while movement was possible, not on the one who left. Notice the tension between claim and answer: "We were oppressed in the land" is met with "Was not the earth spacious?" The text does not automatically accept the plea of powerlessness; it turns it into a claim that can be examined. The same idea of spaciousness appears elsewhere with no historical anchor at all:

يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّ أَرْضِى وَٰسِعَةٌ فَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱعْبُدُونِ

"O My servants who have believed, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship only Me." (29:56)

(interpretation) 29:56 frames migration not as punishment or banishment but as room opened so that devotion remains possible. "My earth is spacious" says less about the size of the ground than about the fact that a person is not sentenced to a single place.

The exception comes immediately after

إِلَّا ٱلْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ ٱلرِّجَالِ وَٱلنِّسَآءِ وَٱلْوِلْدَٰنِ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةً وَلَا يَهْتَدُونَ سَبِيلًا

"Except for the oppressed among men, women, and children who cannot devise a plan nor are they directed to a way -" (4:98)

فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ عَسَى ٱللَّهُ أَن يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا

"For those it is expected that Allāh will pardon them, and Allāh is ever Pardoning and Forgiving." (4:99)

(interpretation) These two verses narrow the standard of the one before them. People who can devise no plan, know no route, lack the strength to move - listed one by one as men, women and children - are held outside the reproach. A text that writes its own exception is admitting that staying is not always a choice. That admission is worth remembering behind every modern question of the form "why did they not come" or "why did they leave".

What is promised to the one who leaves

۞ وَمَن يُهَاجِرْ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ يَجِدْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مُرَٰغَمًا كَثِيرًا وَسَعَةً ۚ وَمَن يَخْرُجْ مِنۢ بَيْتِهِۦ مُهَاجِرًا إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ ثُمَّ يُدْرِكْهُ ٱلْمَوْتُ فَقَدْ وَقَعَ أَجْرُهُۥ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا

"And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allāh will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance. And whoever leaves his home as an emigrant to Allāh and His Messenger and then death overtakes him - his reward has already become incumbent upon Allāh. And Allāh is ever Forgiving and Merciful." (4:100)

(interpretation) The promise has two layers. The first is concrete: place and room. The second is independent of outcome - the one who sets out and dies before arriving does not lose the reward. Migration is therefore not an enterprise that is valuable only if it succeeds; setting out counts alongside arriving. For those who drown, who are stranded, who never reach the destination, the weight of that sentence is plain.

وَٱلَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا۟ فِى ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعْدِ مَا ظُلِمُوا۟ لَنُبَوِّئَنَّهُمْ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً ۖ وَلَأَجْرُ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ ۚ لَوْ كَانُوا۟ يَعْلَمُونَ

"And those who emigrated for [the cause of] Allāh after they had been wronged - We will surely settle them in this world in a good place; but the reward of the Hereafter is greater, if only they could know." (16:41)

ٱلَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا۟ وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ

"[They are] those who endured patiently and upon their Lord relied." (16:42)

(interpretation) In 16:41 the subject of "We will settle them" is God, but the place where such settling actually happens is inside some community. 16:42 then conditions the reward on patience and reliance: migration alone does not manufacture entitlement; it is named together with the disposition carried through it.

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَٱلَّذِينَ هَاجَرُوا۟ وَجَـٰهَدُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ يَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

"Indeed, those who have believed and those who have emigrated and fought in the cause of Allāh - those expect the mercy of Allāh. And Allāh is Forgiving and Merciful." (2:218)

(interpretation) 2:218 places emigration alongside faith and striving and ends not with a guarantee but with a hope - "those expect the mercy of Allah". Even here the text declines to close the sentence with certainty.

Being driven out: migration that is not chosen

ٱلَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا۟ مِن دِيَـٰرِهِم بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ إِلَّآ أَن يَقُولُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ ٱللَّهِ ٱلنَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍ لَّهُدِّمَتْ صَوَٰمِعُ وَبِيَعٌ وَصَلَوَٰتٌ وَمَسَـٰجِدُ يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا ٱسْمُ ٱللَّهِ كَثِيرًا ۗ وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ ٱللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُۥٓ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَقَوِىٌّ عَزِيزٌ

"[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, "Our Lord is Allāh." And were it not that Allāh checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allāh is much mentioned [i.e., praised]. And Allāh will surely support those who support Him [i.e., His cause]. Indeed, Allāh is Powerful and Exalted in Might." (22:40)

(interpretation) Here the verb is passive: they were evicted. The cause is reduced to a single clause - that they said "Our Lord is Allah." And when the verse lists the places of worship that would otherwise have been destroyed, it names monasteries, churches and synagogues before mosques. The objection to eviction is not confined to the grievance of one community.

The duty of the host

لِلْفُقَرَآءِ ٱلْمُهَـٰجِرِينَ ٱلَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا۟ مِن دِيَـٰرِهِمْ وَأَمْوَٰلِهِمْ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرِضْوَٰنًا وَيَنصُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥٓ ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلصَّـٰدِقُونَ

"For the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes and their properties, seeking bounty from Allāh and [His] approval and supporting [the cause of] Allāh and His Messenger, [there is also a share]. Those are the truthful." (59:8)

وَٱلَّذِينَ تَبَوَّءُو ٱلدَّارَ وَٱلْإِيمَـٰنَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ يُحِبُّونَ مَنْ هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَا يَجِدُونَ فِى صُدُورِهِمْ حَاجَةً مِّمَّآ أُوتُوا۟ وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ ۚ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِۦ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ

"And [also for] those who were settled in the Home [i.e.,al-Madīnah] and [adopted] the faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them and find not any want in their breasts of what they [i.e., the emigrants] were given but give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation. And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his soul - it is those who will be the successful." (59:9)

(interpretation) 59:8 defines the emigrant: poor, expelled from home and property. The definition describes the newcomer through loss, not through threat or burden. 59:9 then describes the host community with three verbs: they love, they find no want in their breasts, they give preference. The third is the hardest, because of the clause "even though they are in privation". Generosity is defined not as giving from surplus but as sharing while lacking.

وَٱلسَّـٰبِقُونَ ٱلْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُهَـٰجِرِينَ وَٱلْأَنصَارِ وَٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُوهُم بِإِحْسَـٰنٍ رَّضِىَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا۟ عَنْهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّـٰتٍ تَجْرِى تَحْتَهَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ أَبَدًا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْعَظِيمُ

"And the first forerunners [in the faith] among the Muhājireen and the Anṣār and those who followed them with good conduct - Allāh is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. That is the great attainment." (9:100)

(interpretation) 9:100 names both groups - those who came and those who received - in a single sentence, inside a single praise. No hierarchy is built: the host does not stand above the guest. That moves the whole question off the axis of giver and receiver, and makes it a shared test.

Root and Word Note

The counts below were taken from this platform's word table.

Three notes:

1. The root هجر is not single-sensed. Of its 31 words, 7 carry the sense of leaving, avoiding or keeping away (e.g. 19:46, 25:30, 73:10, 74:5); the remaining 24 carry the sense of changing one's dwelling. What sits at the centre of the root is "leaving something behind" - migration is one form of that.
2. The root بوأ ties the two ends of migration together. In 16:41 the subject of the verb is God (We will settle them); in 59:9 it is the host community (those who were settled in the Home). The same promise recurs in 29:58.
3. The root خرج separates two migrations by voice. In 4:100 the verb is active - a person leaves his own house. In 59:8 and 22:40 it is passive - they were driven out. The same root, a different voice, two very different departures.

Different Readings

(interpretation) These verses are not read in one way only. At least four readings compete:

• Historical reading. 4:97-100 and 59:8-9 are tied to one event, the migration from Mecca to Medina; the ruling belongs to that situation and does not transfer directly.
• Principled reading. 29:56 says "My earth is spacious" with no event attached; that is a standing principle independent of context.
• Narrow reading. "Hijra" means relocation for the sake of freedom of belief only; economic migration falls outside the frame.
• Broad reading. The "abundance" of 4:100 includes provision, and the ground of the exception in 4:98 is helplessness rather than religious persecution - so the frame is not limited to persecution of belief.

The wording rules none of these out.

Honest Boundary

What the text states plainly:

• The reproach falls on immobility when movement was possible, not on leaving (4:97).
• The exception is in the text itself; those without means are not held responsible (4:98-99).
• The reward of the one who sets out is not tied to arrival (4:100).
• The emigrant is defined through loss: poor, expelled from home and property (59:8).
• What is praised in the host is sharing while in need (59:9).
• Eviction is called wrongful, and the protected houses of worship include more than mosques (22:40).

What remains interpretation:

• How closely today's refugee maps onto the text's emigrant.
• Whether 59:9 states a legal obligation or a moral measure; the verse is praise, not an imperative.
• Who counts as "unable"; the text gives examples, not a threshold.
• Whether economic causes fall inside the frame.

What this article is not: it is not a guide to immigration law, not a verdict on who should or should not migrate, and not a judgement on any country's policy.

Conclusion: The Qur'an tells migration by saying that a human being is not sentenced to one patch of ground - and in the same breath it refuses to burden those who cannot move, and praises the one who opens the door alongside the one who walks through it. The centre of gravity lies neither with the one who leaves nor with the one who stays, but in their meeting.

Source: Qur'anic verses (Saheeh International, with the Turkish rendering of M. Okuyan) + kuranokuyan.com. Qur'an-centred, non-sectarian, cited.