The Ships to Abyssinia

By the fifth year, the persecution had grown past endurance for those without protectors. The Prophet ﷺ, unable to shield his followers, pointed them to a refuge beyond Quraysh's reach: if you went to the land of the Abyssinians, you would find there a king under whom no one is wronged; it is a land of truthfulness, until Allah grants you relief.

So the first hijrah in Islam was made by sea, away from the Sacred House, in obedience to its Lord. A first group of about a dozen slipped down to the coast and found ships; among them were Uthman ibn Affan (ra) and his wife Ruqayyah (ra), the Prophet's ﷺ daughter. He ﷺ said of them: they are the first household to emigrate in Allah's cause since Ibrahim (as) and Lut (as).

Word of the king's good reception drew a second, larger emigration: over eighty men besides women and children, led in dignity by Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (ra), brother of Ali (ra), with his wife Asma bint Umays (ra). Believers had begun choosing exile with their religion over home without it, a trade Islam would ask of its people again.

Quraysh could not tolerate even distant disobedience. They prepared gifts of fine leather for the Negus and his generals and sent two clever envoys, Amr ibn al-As and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabi'ah, with one mission: bring the runaways back in chains. The stage was set for one of the noblest scenes in the whole story.