JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - The route from Makkah to Madinah passing through Saudi Arabia's rocky Hijaz mountains is not a well - trodden one today. But 1,400 years ago, the Prophet Muhammad, Islam's founder, was forced to take it when he had to leave Makkah to escape persecution for his religious teachings.
He and his followers set off overland for Madinah, some 450 kilometers to the north, on a journey that became known as the Hijrah.
To mark the anniversary of the defining moment in the history of Islam, the journey undertaken in 622 has been told through a comprehensive exhibition in Dhahran, in the Kingdom's Eastern Province. The display aims to share the impact and relevance of the Hijrah through its themes of love, peace, freedom, tolerance, perseverance, courage, and companionship.
Ashraf Ehsan Fagih, head of programs at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) where the exhibition is currently taking place, told Arab News: 'We are targeting a global audience, not Arabs or Muslims per se, with this exhibition. We are targeting everyone who wants to be enlightened by the universal message of Hijrah'.
Ithra is one of the Kingdom's foremost cultural institutions, built by Saudi Aramco and inaugurated by King Salman in December 2016.
The team at Ithra spent three years preparing the exhibition, titled: 'Hijrah: In the footsteps of the Prophet', which will run for five years. Following its initial nine months at Ithra, the exhibition will move to Riyadh and Jeddah before heading overseas.
It was curated by Ithra's in - house team of experts in collaboration with Dr. Abdullah Hussein Alkadi, who is considered the world's leading authority on the Hijrah and one of the greatest living biographers of the Prophet Muhammad.
The first - of - its - king exhibition charts the sequence of events which led to the Prophet Muhammad's decision to leave Makkah for the city of Yathrib, the pre - Islamic name of Madinah, and the struggles he face along the way.
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