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ʾinna lladhīna tawaffāhumu l-malāʾikatu ẓālimī ʾanfusihim qālū fī-ma kuntum qālū kunnā mustaḍʿafīna fī l-ʾarḍi qālū ʾa-lam takun ʾarḍu llāhi wāsiʿatan fa-tuhājirū fīhā fa-ʾulāʾika maʾwāhum jahannamu wa-sāʾat maṣīran
Indeed, those whom the angels take away while they are wronging themselves, they ask, ‘What state were you in?’ They reply, ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ They say, ‘Was not Allah’s earth vast enough so that you might migrate in it?’ The refuge of such shall be hell, and it is an evil destination.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah An-Nisa', Verse 97
Too weak to fly to their homes – those who fly to their homes not to fear strait ness
97. "Verily (as for) those whom the angels cause to die while they are unjust to their own selves, they (the angels) will ask: 'In what state were you?' They will reply: 'We were oppressed in the land'. (The angels) will say: 'Was not Allah's land vast so that you could have migrated therein?' So these (are those) whose abide is Hell, and an evil destination it is! "
Before the occurrence of the Battle of Badr, the pagans of Mecca called the citizens of Mecca to fight against the Muslims. They ordered that all men should participate in the war. They threatened people that the houses of those who might offend the issue would be ruined and their property could be confiscated. Some of the Muslims, who were still living in Mecca and had not immigrated to Medina, for the fear of their lives, accompanied the pagans in the war against the Muslims in the Battle of Badr, where they were killed.
The verse was revealed and counted guilty those who did not migrate and stayed in the environment of infidelity. The verse blamed them because they had wronged against themselves. Thus, it is obligatory to migrate from the centre of infidelity, and staying there to be a multitude of the soldiers of disbelievers, is unlawful. If you can change the circumstances of the environment, do it, else you should migrate from there in order not to be called to account, because justification of faults will not be accepted.
We should know that the principle is the goal and belief, not the life and the house. Or, in other words, we must be careful that theism is the principle, not patriotism. By the way, according to the Islamic literature, an oppressed person is he who cannot recognize the path of responsibility and the difference between right and wrong. 1 Some Islamic traditions denote that he who migrates a distance, even as long as a span, in order to protect the religion, will be admitted to Heaven and will be companion of the holy Prophet (S) and Abraham (as). 2
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