Muhammad's position in Mecca was becoming more and more unsupportable (due to his insistence on one god rather than the many that the Meccans worshipped). He sought to establish himself in Taif without success.
Muhammad met a group of people from the oases of Yathrib (or Medina, as it later came to be known), who realized that Muhammad might help them with their domestic political problems. They absorbed Islam from Muhammad and returned to Medina to preach the new religion. In 622, a larger group of Medinese pledged their support and agreed to grant him protection.
Muhammad urged his Meccan supporters to emigrate to Medina. Being a great leader, he himself became the last to leave the town. A true leader and pioneer of "The People First" leadership concept.
The migration (or Hijra) of the Prophet was later taken as the starting point of Muslim chronology. (According to tradition, the Hijra took place in September 622; however, the Muslim era starts at the beginning of the Arab year in which the Hijra took place, i.e. 16 July 622.)
