Hijra

Hijra or Hejira may refer to:

Arabic word for "migration"

Other uses

See also

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.

Hijra (South Asia)

Hijra (for translations, see ) is a term used in South Asia – in particular, in India – to refer to transwomen (male-to-female transsexual or transgender individuals). In other areas of India, transgender people are also known as Aravani, Aruvani or Jagappa.

In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the hijras are officially recognized as third gender by the government, being neither completely male nor female. In India also, transgenders have been given the status of Third gender and are protected as per the law despite the social ostracism. The term more commonly advocated by social workers and transgender community members themselves is khwaaja sira (Urdu: خواجه سرا‎) and can identify the individual as a transsexual person, transgender person (khusras), cross-dresser (zenanas) or eunuch (narnbans).

Hijras have a recorded history in the Indian subcontinent from antiquity onwards as suggested by the Kama Sutra period. This history features a number of well-known roles within subcontinental cultures, part gender-liminal, part spiritual and part survival.