Qur'an & Hadith

In the above context, the term muhajirun - lit., "emigrants", rendered by me as "those who have forsaken the domain of evil" (see surah {2}, note [203], and surah {4}, note [124]) - applies primarily to the Meccan followers of the Prophet who migrated (hajaru) from Mecca to Medina - which until then was called Yathrib - at a time when Mecca was still in the possession of the enemies of Islam, the "first and foremost" among them were the earliest emigrants, i.e., those who left Mecca in or before the year 622 of the Christian era (which marks the beginning of the Islamic hijri era) and in the course of the next few years, when the Muslim community at Medina was still in danger of being overrun by the powerful Quraysh of Mecca. Similarly, the term ansar (lit., "helpers") applies here to the early converts from among the people of Medina who sheltered and succoured (nasaru) their brethren in faith - the "first and foremost" among them being those who embraced Islam before and shortly after the Prophet's and his Companions' exodus (hijrah) from Mecca, and particularly those who did so on the occasion of the two meetings, at Al-'Aqabah near Mecca between the Prophet and deputations of the Yathrib tribes of Al-Aws and Khazraj (a little over a year and a few months, respectively, before the Prophet's hijrah). Apart, however, from their purely historical connotations, both the terms muhajirun and ansar bear in the Qur'an a spiritual meaning as well, and are often used to describe those who morally "forsake the domain of evil" and those who "shelter and succour the Faith" (see surah {8}, note [78]).