<aside> 💡 Excellent answers will give in-depth details of the story, name the Muslims who migrated, and elaborate on any points mentioned.
</aside>
The Muslims in Makka, mainly those without tribal protection and slaves, were being persecuted by the Quraysh. An ayat was revealed about the earth being spacious for believers.
Say, "O My servants who have believed, fear your Lord. For those who do good in this world is good, and the earth of Allah is spacious. Indeed, the patient will be given their reward without account." (Surah Al-Zumar, 39:10)
The Prophet (pbuh) allowed some followers to go to Abyssinia to seek protection from its king, the Negus, in the 5th year of prophethood (614/615).
No. of Delegetees: 102 [83 Men and 19 Women]
The persecutions increased and later the second delegation, of 83 men (including Uthman ibn Maz'un, al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, and Abu Salamah) and 19 women, was led by the Prophet’s cousin, Ja’far Ibn Abi Talib.
‘Amr ibn al-‘As and ‘Abdullah bin Abi Rabi’a followed them and asked the king to return the Muslims, bringing a variety of gifts.
The Emperor refused to hand over any of the Muslims until he had spoken to them about this new religion of theirs.
The Negus called the Muslims to give their account and when they entered, they did not kneel down as was the custom of Abyssinia.
One advisor asked why they did not kneel down, they said,
“We kneel down only to Allah”.
Hence, they were brought before him along with the two messengers from Quraysh, and he said to them,
"What is this religion which has caused you to part ways with your people, and to enter neither my religion nor any other?"
Ja’far ibn Abi Talib told him of the way they lived before Islam:
"King, we were once a people living in ignorance: worshipping idols, eating the flesh of animals that had died without being slaughtered, committing acts of abomination, neglecting our kith and kin, treating our neighbours badly, and allowing the strong among us to oppress the weak.
Thus we lived until God sent us a messenger from among ourselves, a man whose family origin, honesty, integrity, and chastity were well known to us.
He called upon us to worship God alone and to do away with the stones and idols which we worshipped as our forefathers had done. He instructed us to be truthful in our words, to fulfil our promises, and to respect our obligations to our blood relations, and he forbid us to commit abominations. So, we believed him and placed our trust in him, obeying the message which he had brought from God.
As a consequence, however, our people denounced us, tortured us, and did everything in their power to make us tum away from our religion and revert to the worship of idols. Then they continued to oppress us, wrong us, and persecute us, we came to your land, choosing you above all others as the one from whom we could hope to receive protection and be treated with impartiality."
The Negus was moved by these words.
He told them to recite some words from the Holy Quran about Jesus and Mary, so he recited the verses of Surah Al-Maryam.
When the Negus heard this, his eyes filled with tears, and he said to them:
"This message and that which was brought by Jesus are from a single source."