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Emigration to the West — hope or pain (the brain drain)

الهجرة إلى الغرب — أمل أم ألم (هجرة العقول)

The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode on emigration to the West. The youth voted: 34% would emigrate immediately, 26% would hesitate, 40% would not; 1 and 84% saw the phenomenon as large and dangerous. 2 The host's figures: 54% of scholarship students never return, 50% of doctors and 29% of engineers; and 75% of the scientist class among migrants to America. 3 4 5 The panel concluded that 2 million high-skilled leave yearly — while nations are developed by their 1-2% — and the cure is an attracting environment: good governance, human rights, rule of law and a welfare state. 6 {cite:assabile-tareq-al-suwaidan/al-wassitiya/ep11 01:17:30} 7

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Contemporary Era
Region
Arab world · al-Andalus & Europe · Americas & Oceania
Review
Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

Refugees, migrants and diaspora

The episode and the votes

The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode debated emigration to the West — 'they imagine it paradise and meet racial discrimination, family dissolution and loss of identity' 8 9. The youth voted: 34% would emigrate immediately, 26% would hesitate, 40% would not; 1 and 84% saw the phenomenon as large and dangerous 2.

Figures of the haemorrhage — as presented by the host

The host presented figures: 54% of state-funded scholarship students never return, 50% of doctors and 29% of engineers; and 75% of migrants to America are from the scientist class 3 4 5. An objector noted emigrants are two million of 300 million — under 1% — but the reply: the emigrants are the leaders and thinkers; 'nations are developed by their 1-2%, the rest are followers' 10 7.

The repelling environment and the attracting one

Panelists traced the phenomenon to converging causes: political suffocation and despotism, weak research and education — 'they ask not for higher salaries but merely an advanced library' — and the economic side 11 12 13. And 'in an atmosphere of freedom ideas cross-pollinate; in an atmosphere of suffocation everyone is afraid' 14.

The cure — a state that attracts, not expels

One panelist compressed the medicine: deepening good governance, a culture of human rights, and building a welfare state and a state of law — 'restoring the peoples' belonging to their systems and countries' 6 15. Another proposed linking emigrants through shares in small projects that invest their savings at home 16.

Opinions on the question

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Basis: Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) al-wassitiya ep11, 00:38:30-01:20:30

People and things also explored

Integration and identity (al-indimaj wa-l-huwiyya)· The Arabs and their peoples before Islam· Hijra (migration for the sake of religion)· Judaism in Arabia before Islam· The emigrants to Abyssinia· The brotherhood of the Muhajirun and Ansar· The first migration to Abyssinia· The three nights in the cave of Thawr

Sources

  1. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:09:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  2. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:38:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  3. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  4. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  5. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:17:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  6. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:17:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  7. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:18:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  8. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:01:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  9. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:02:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  10. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 00:39:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  11. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  12. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:19:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  13. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:19:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  14. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:20:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  15. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:17:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  16. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 11, at 01:16:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Emigration to the West — hope or pain (the brain drain)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-hijra-ila-al-gharb/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Integration and identity (al-indimaj wa-l-huwiyya)

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's view of how a believer integrates into a society that is not wholly Muslim while keeping his characteristics and identity, following the experience of the first Muslims, as set out in his example of the egg, the carrot and the coffee bean.