Hegira

The Hegira or Hijrah (Arabic: هِجْرَة‎), also romanized as Hijra and Hejira, is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, later renamed by him to Medina, in the year 622 CE. In June 622 CE, after being warned of a plot to assassinate him, Muhammad secretly left his home in Mecca to emigrate to Yathrib, 320 km (200 mi) north of Mecca, along with his companion Abu Bakr. Yathrib was soon renamed Madīnat an-Nabī, literally "the City of the Prophet", but an-Nabī was soon dropped, so its name is "Medina", meaning "the city".

The Hijrah is also often identified erroneously with the start of the Hijri calendar which was set to Julian 16 July 622.

First Hijrah

The first Hijrah is dated to 615 or Rajab (September-October) 613 when a group of Muslims counseled by Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca arrived at the court of a Christian king, the Negus in Ethiopia (who ruled Abyssinia at the time). Muhammad himself did not join this emigration. In that year, his followers fled Mecca's leading tribe, the Quraysh, who sent emissaries to Ethiopia to bring them back to Arabia. However Negus refused to send them back.

Hejira (album)

Hejira is the eighth studio album by the Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1976.

The album title is a transliteration of the Arabic word hijra, which means "journey", usually referring to the migration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (and his companions) from Mecca to Medina in 622. The songs on the album were largely written by Mitchell on a trip by car from Maine back to Los Angeles, California, with prominent imagery including highways, small towns and snow. The photographs of Mitchell on the front and back cover were taken by Norman Seeff and appear against a backdrop of Lake Mendota, in Madison, Wisconsin, after an ice storm.

The album did not sell as well as its predecessors, peaking at #22 in Mitchell's native Canada, although it still reached #13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart and was certified Gold, and #11 in the UK where it has been certified Silver. Critically, the album was generally well received and has since been recognized as one of the high-water marks in Mitchell's career.

Hejira (song)

"Hejira" is the title track from Joni Mitchell's 1976 album. It is the fifth track on the album (the last song on Side One of the original vinyl LP), and the second of four tracks on Hejira which fretless bassist Jaco Pastorius plays on.

The track itself features a distinctive open tuning, B-F#-C#-E-F#-B, which allows Joni to play her unorthodox chord voicings and distinctive fingerpicking pattern.

Trivia

The song title is also the title of a chapter from David Sedaris' book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. He mentions Joni Mitchell in the first paragraph of the chapter: "After six months spent waking at noon, getting high, and listening to the same Joni Mitchell record over and over again, I was called by my father into his den and told to get out." Sedaris mentions Mitchell again on the second page of the chapter: "My sister Lisa had an apartment over by the university and said that I could come stay with her as long as I didn't bring my Joni Mitchell record." The chapter is decidedly melancholy, much like the song itself.