The
Migration to Abyssinia (,
al-hijraʾilā al-hābsḥa), also known as the
First Hegira (
hijrah), was an episode in the early history of
Islam, where Prophet
Muhammad's first followers (the
Sahabah) fled from the persecution of the ruling
Quraysh tribe of
Mecca. They sought refuge in the Christian
Kingdom of Aksum, present-day
Ethiopia and
Eritrea (formerly referred to as
Abyssinia, a name derived from the Arabic
Al-Habash), in or . The
Aksumite monarch who received them is known in Islamic sources as the
Negus (
najāšī)
Ashama ibn Abjar. Modern historians have alternatively identified him with
King Armah and Ella Tsaham. Some of the exiles returned to Mecca and made the
hijra to Medina with Muhammad, while others remained in Abyssinia until they came to Medina in 628.