The exile, or migration, of Muhammad and his followers in September 622 from Mecca to Medina was a seminal event in the history of Islam. This event was named , originally meaning "the breaking of the ties of kinship or association", and those Meccan supporters who followed Muhammad into exile—as well as those who had earlier gone into exile in Abyssinia—became known as the , a title that acquired enormous prestige in later years. In the Quran, the is considered as an obligation of all Muslims, notably in the injunction that all Muslims residing in the lands of non-believers (the ) and thus unable to practice their religion freely and be liable to commit wrong-doing, should migrate to Islamic lands; else they are to be condemned to hell.