Meaning of Hijrah Today

If everybody was ideally supposed to live in Madinah, the entire global Muslim population could not logistically fit there — so that conclusion falls apart immediately.

Allah told us to travel in the earth. He said that trade ships sailing in the sea are one of His great signs. He spoke extensively about people that travel long distances in the land to pursue His favor. The Quran paints a picture of human beings meant to travel around the world, engage in trade, and make a living. There is nothing in the Quran that says certain countries are haram for Muslims to live in. I absolutely, categorically disagree with that claim. Allah opened the entire earth for human beings and for believers.

The concept of hijrah has a specific context in the Seerah — it was migration away from active persecution and toward a place where the religion could be practiced and established. For the specific question of where Muslim loyalties lie, where they can and cannot reside, and what Muslim migration means today: I recommend going through my Deeper Look series on Surah Al-Mumtahanah, which addresses these subjects exhaustively.

The idea that some scholars have developed — that any country governed by non-Muslims is haram to live in — is an oversimplification with no rigorous Quranic grounding. It is not there explicitly in the Quran at all.