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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rania Hafez, senior lecturer at the University of Greenwich.

Good Morning!

A few days ago we marked the Islamic new year. It is now the year 1441.

Although Islam as a faith traces its roots to the patriarch Abraham, our calendar started in 622 AD with a significant event in Muslim history called the Hijra, meaning Migration. It was the year the prophet and his small band of followers, having endured a decade of oppression in Makka, decided to migrate, individually and in small groups, to the oasis of Yathrib, where they had been pledged sanctuary.

The decision to leave their homes and possessions, and risk their lives across the desert taking very little with them, has marked the start of the calendar for Muslims, and has also been an inspiration to successive generations. Migration, which was necessary to save the nascent faith, became an act of faith. In a world where borders define and constrain us, Islam was protected and flourished on the premise of movement beyond those borders.

When the early Muslims sought sanctuary with strangers, they were welcomed with open arms. It was said that the residents of Yathrib shared their belongings equally with the asylum seekers, each resident choosing a ‘brother’ from amongst the migrants. And when the prophet finally arrived in Yathrib, the residents welcomed him with poetry and song and renamed their oasis Medina, the city of the prophet.

These days we’re more aware than ever of the way borders divide us, allowing some in and keeping many out. We could learn much from our forebears who welcomed strangers as brothers, and together created a community of faith, marking the beginning of a new era and a new calendar.

Gracious Beloved, help us transcend barriers and borders, and open our hearts and homes to those who would seek sanctuary with us.

Amen.

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