
The hijrah is a physical journey undertaken by the Prophet Muhammad (saw) and his companions from Makkah to Madinah. It is a story of planning, patience, endurance, striving, and eventual triumph in the face of seemingly extreme hopelessness.
Compared with non-believers, the fact that Muslims all believe in the reality of souls and that our lives are eternal, places a different emphasis on the value of life on earth, as it also does for a true Christian. Muslims accept that the purpose of human life is to test us. All people will suffer at some point or another, some appallingly. Occasionally, you hear ignorant people suggest that their suffering or misfortune is in some way a punishment from God for something they have done, or even something that someone else did.
The pilgrimage has economic benefits for Muslims. They come from various walks of life; some are traders or industrialists; others are capitalists or farmers. They can discuss the financial problems of their mutual benefits; exchange of technical know-how or skill, or exchange of goods and machinery between them.