VOL 5.11

Abrahah set himself up as ruler over San'a’ and its dependent

districts ( makhalif ), 531 but did not send any tribute or captured

plunder back to the Najashi. The latter was informed that Abrahah

 had thrown off his obedience and now considered himself an

independent potentate. Hence the Najashi sent against him an

army commanded by one of his retainers called Aryat. When

Aryat reached his camping place, Abrahah sent a message to him

in these terms: "We are linked together by both the same homeland

and the same faith, so we ought to look to the interests of our

fellow countrymen and coreligionists who make up the troops

who are with us respectively. So if you are agreeable, engage me in

single combat, and whichever of us overcomes his opponent shall

have the kingship, and the Abyssinians will not be killed because

531. For mikhlaf, see n. 462 above.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

213

of our quarrel.'" Aryat agreed to this, but Abrahah planned to act

deceitfully with him. They appointed a place where the two of

them were to meet [for the fight], but Abrahah placed in an ambush

for Aryat one of his slaves called \r.n.j.d.h (?), in a depression

in the ground, near the spot where they were to fight. When they

met together, Aryat moved forward first and lunged at Abrahah

with his spear; but the spear slipped from off Abrahah's head and

sliced off the end of his nose, hence his nickname of al-Ashram.

Then \r.n.j.d.h rose out from the depression and lunged with his

spear at Aryat, piercing his body and killing him. Abrahah said to

\r.n.j.d.h, "Name your own reward!" The latter said, "I claim the

right to sexual intercourse with every women of Yemen before her

marriage with her husband." Abrahah replied, "I concede that to

you." ’.r.n.j.dh continued to enforce this right 532 for a long period,

until the people of Yemen rose up against him and killed him.

Abrahah said, "The time has at last come for you to act as free

men." 533

News of the killing of Aryat reached the Najashi, and he therefore

swore that he would not rest in his mind until he had shed

Abrahah's blood and overrun his land. News of the Najashi's oath

reached Abrahah, and he accordingly wrote back to him, "O king,

Aryat was merely your slave, and I am your slave also, He advanced

against me with the intention of weakening your royal

power and of slaughtering your troops. I asked him to stop fighting

me until until I might send an envoy to you; if, then, you should

order him to desist from attacking me, [all right,} but if not, I

would hand over to him all my power and possessions. However,

he refused to accept anything except to make war on me. I thus

attacked him and gained the upper hand over him. Any power that

I possess is yours, but I have heard that you have sworn not to stop

until you shed my blood and overrun my land. Hence I have now

forwarded to you a phial of my blood and a leather bag of soil from

my territory. By means of these, you will be able to secure release

532. Reading, with Addenda et emendanda, p. dxci, fa-ghabaia for the text's

fa-'abaia.

533. That is, for them no longer to support the dishonoring of their womenfolk.

On the military struggle beween Aryat and Abrahah, see al-Tabari, I, 943, p. 232

and n. 571 below.

214

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

from your oath. I ask for the completion of your favor upon me, O

king, for I am merely your slave,- any power and splendor which I

have is your power and splendor." The NajashI regarded him [once

more] with favor, and confirmed him in his office. 534

The narrative returns to that of Ibn Ishaq. He related: Aryat

remained in Yemen for several years in the course of that period of

his rule. Then Abrahah the Abyssinian, who was one of his troops,

fought with him over the Abyssinian dominion in Yemen until

the Abyssinians became split into two groups, with one faction

joining up with each contender. Then one of them marched

against the other. When the troops drew near and approached each

other, Abrahah sent a message to Aryat: "You will not wish to

cause the Abyssinians to encounter each other in battle to the

534. As described in n. 5 18 above, the invading Abyssinians set up in Yemen a

ruler, Sumu-yafa' ASwa', Procopius's Esimphaios, who was now subordinate to the Abyssinian king Ella AsbSha, Procopius's Hellesthaios. Abrahah, originally the slave of a Greek merchant in Adulis, led a revolt of malcontent Abyssinian troops against Sumu-yafa' in ca. 533, and replaced him as ruler in Yemen,- subsequent expeditions sent in the next year or so by Ella AsbSha, which must be the ones led by Aryat in al-Tabari's account here, were unable to dislodge Abrahah. After the Abyssinian king's death in ca. 536, the fait accompli of Abrahah 's dominion in South Arabia was recognized by Ella AsbSha's successors in Axum, but Abrahah would only agree to pay tribute to the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, as a remote suzerain unlikely to interfere in Yemeni affairs and trouble his untrammeled power there, rather than to the much closer Abyssinian king. In 657 Himyarite era/A.D. 547-48, the celebrated inscription of Abrahah recording repairs to the Marib dam mentions that he quelled a rebellion by a son of Sumu-yafa’. See Smith, "Events in South Arabia in the 6th Century a.d.," 459; Altheim and Stiehl, Christentum am Roten Meei, I, 449-5 i; Trimingham, Christianity among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times, 300-301; EP, s.v. Abraha (A. F. L. Beeston).

The circumstantial detail in the accounts both of Ibn Ishaq and Ibn al-Kalbi

regarding Abrahah's dealings with Aryat and 'Atwadah/' Atudah must be legendary additions to the basic fact of Abrahah's assumption of power in Yemen. Al-AzraqI, Akhbar Makkah, 88, in his account of these events, has some additional touches, such as the fact that the Najashi's residence was in ard Aksum in the land of the Habash. Even by early Islamic times, the name of Axum had virtually disappeared from Arab consciousness. It is mentioned in poetry written about Abrahah's "Expedition of die Elephant" against Mecca, with Abrahah called Abu Yaksum, and 'Adi b. Zayd speaks of the al Barbar wa-al-Yaksum « the Abyssinians, but when al- Hamdani and Nashwan b. Said mentioned it, it must have been a term from the remote past. See 'Adi b., Zayd, Diwan, 47 no., 5,- Ibn Hisham, Sir at al-nabi, ed.

Wustenfeld, 39-40, 45 ~ ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 61, 70, tr. 29, 33. Noldeke, trans. 198 n. 2, took Barbar as a place name, the ancient form of modem Berbera - the coasts of Somaliland and Eritrea in general, and the name Barbaria for this is certainly found in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 215

point that you destroy part of them, so come out against me and

fight, and I will come out against you and fight, and whichever of

us is able to smite his opponent, the latter's troops will come over

and join the victor." Aryat sent a reply: "You have proposed a just

procedure, so come forth [against me]." Abrahah went forth; he

was short, fleshy, and with a stout body, and held fast to the

Christian faith. Aryat marched out against him ; he was a powerful,

tall, and handsome man, and bore a spear in his hand. Behind

Abrahah was a hillock that protected his rear, and concealed behind

it was one of his slaves called 'Atwadah ('Atudah). When the

two contestants drew near to each other, Aryat raised his spear

and struck Abrahah's head with it, aiming at the top of his skull.

But the spear-blow fell across Abrahah's forehead and split his

eyebrow, eye, nose, and lip; for this reason, Abrahah was called al-

Ashram. Abrahah's slave boy 'Atwadah sprang upon Aryat from

behind Abrahah and killed him. Aryans troops then went over to

Abrahah, so that all the Abyssinians in Yemen rallied to his side.

'Atwadah said concerning the killing of Aryat: "I am 'Atwadah—

from a base stock — without a noble father or mother," meaning,

"Abrahah's slave has killed you."

He related: Al-Ashram at this point said to 'Atwadah, "Choose

what you wish, O 'Atwadah . . , 535 even though you have killed

him; we have only now the responsibility for paying Aryan's blood

money." 'Atwadah replied, "My choice is that I should have the

first opportunity for sexual intercourse with every bride from the

people of Yemen before she enters the possession of her husband,"

and Abrahah granted him this. He then handed over the blood

money for Aryat. Everything Abrahah did was without the knowledge

of the Najashi, king of the Abyssinians.

When news of all that reached the latter, he became filled with

rage and said, "He has attacked my own commander and killed

him without any instruction from me!" He swore an oath that he

would not leave Abrahah in power until he had overrun his land

and cut off his forelock. When Abraham heard this, he shaved his

head and filled a leather sack with the soil of Yemen, and then

sent it to the Najashi with the message: "O King, Aryat was only

535. According to the editor of the Cairo text, n, 129 n. 4, something has

dropped out here.

2l6

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

your slave, and I am your slave too. We disputed about your command;

both of us owed you obedience, but I was stronger in directing

the affairs of the Abyssinians, firmer and more skillful in

statesmanship regarding them. When I heard about the king's

oath, I shaved my head completely, and I have dispatched to him a

sack of the earth of Yemen in order that the king may put it under

his feet and thus fulfill his oath." When this message reached the

Najashi, he showed Abrahah his favor (once more] and wrote back

to him: "I confirm you in your office in the land of Yemen until

such time as a further command of mine reaches you,"

When Abrahah perceived that the Najashi had shown him favor

and had appointed him viceroy over the Abyssinian troops and the

land of Yemen, he sent to Abu Murrah b. Dili Yazan and took from

him his wife Rayhanah bt. 'Alqamah b. Malik b. Zayd b. Kahlan.

The father of Rayhanah was Dhu Jadan. Abu Murrah had a son by

her, Ma'di Karib b. Abi Murrah. She now had a son by Abrahah,

after Abu Murrah, Masruq b. Abrahah and a daughter by him,

Basbasah. Abu Murrah fled from him. Abrahah remained in Yemen,

while his slave ' Atwadah was for a long time exercising there

the right Abrahah had conceded to him as 'Atwadah's chosen reward;

 but then a man of Himyar or of Khath'am 536 attacked

'Atwadah and killed him. When Abrahah received the news of his

death — and Abrahah was a magnanimous, noble leader, piously

[934] attached to his Christian religion 537 — he exclaimed, "The time is

nigh for you, O people of Yemen, to have over you a man of solid

judgment who is able to exercise the self-control appropriate to

men of character. By God, if I had known, when I let 'Atwadah

choose his own reward, that he would ask what he did, I would

536. Khath'am b. Anmar were an Arab tribe of the Sarat mountain region be-

tween al-Ta’if and Najran, i.e. ( the hinterland of the modem province of 'Asir,

although the tribe is not mentioned as such in the South Arabian inscriptions

(personal communication from Professor Chr. Robin). As al-Tabari relates, I, 936- 37, pp. 221-23 below, Abrahah is said to have marched into their territory en route for Mecca at the time of the "Expedition of the Elephant," defeated the Khath'am, and compelled their chief to guide him along the road to Mecca as far as al-Ta’if.

See Ibn al-Kalbi-Caskel-Strenziok, Jamharat al-nasab, I, Table 234, 1 , 45, 345; EP-, s.v. Khath'am (G. Levi Della Vida).

537. As Noldeke remarked, trans. 200 n. 3, such an encomium hardly squares

with Abrahah's long tolerance of 'Atwadah's behavior or with his own appropria-

tion of Abu Murrah b. Dhl Yazan's wife.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

217

never have allowed him the choice and would never have heaped

favors on him in any way. I swear by God, there shall be no blood

price exacted from you for his death, and you will not receive any

untoward retribution from me for his death ." 538

He (Ibn Ishaq) related: Abrahah now built the cathedral church

[qalls, qullays) at $an'a’ — such a church as had never been con-

structed on earth in its time. He then wrote to the NajashI, king of

the Abyssinians: "O king, I have constructed for you a church

whose like has never been built for any monarch before you. I shall

not give up until I have diverted the Arab pilgrims to it ." 539 When

538. Al-Tabari has thus given two versions of Abrahah's rise to power and fame,

those of Ibn al-Kalbi and of Ibn Ishaq, the two accounts being substantially in

agreement. But in Abu al-Faraj al-I§fahani, AghanP, XVH, 304-307, a fuller form of what was given by al-Dinawari in his al-Akhbdi al-\iwdl, 6i, there is a third

account, in which Abrahah is a subordinate commander of 'Aryan's, of low birth [la bayta labu ), who kills Aryaf with a poisoned dagger. Abrahah's lowly birth may be the origin of Procopius's tale that Abrahah was originally a slave in Adulis. See Noldeke, trans. 200 n. 4.

539 - qalis, qullays, via Syriac qslesd, from Greek ekklesia. The site of this

famous church is still shown in §an'a’ as a large, shallow pit lined with courses of

rubble masonry and called Ghurqat al-Qalis/al-Qullays, and Serjeant and Lewcock saw no reason to doubt that this site, near die citadel, is indeed that of Abrahah's building, which had a west-east orientation like that of the Axumite churches of Abyssinia. Al-Azraqi, Akbbar Makkah, 88-90, citing information from "trustworthy Yemeni shaykhs at $an'a’," provides a highly detailed and plausible account of the structure, stating that building stone for it was taken from the "palace of Bilqis" at Marib, and giving copious measurements of its various features. He further mentions a dome at what would have been the east end of the church, and in this last were two ornamented beams of teak [saj] called Ku'ayb al-Ah.w.zi (this latter component of the name said to mean al-Hurr, "the free one," "in their language") and his wife, respectively, which were considered as objects of superstitious reverence. Shahid has plausibly suggested that the dome covered a martyiium or shrine and that the images of Ku'ayb, and his wife were originally those of saints and martyrs, very probably those of Najran: Ku'ayb's name might be a reminscence of the Najran martyr al-Harith b. Ka'b and his wife could be the most celebrated women martyr of Najran, Ruhaymah. Around the church was a large, open area to accommodate pilgrims and visitors, and corresponding to the Haram around the Meccan Ka'bah. Al-Azraqi, op. cit., 91-92, further describes how the church continued in use by the Christian co mmuni ty of §an'a’ (which may have persisted up to the fourth/tenth century or beyond) until the ’Abbasid caliph al- Mansur ordered his governor in Yemen al-'Abbas b. al-Rabi' al-Harithl to demolish it, a process that was accomplished but resented by die §an'anis, both Christian and Muslim, because of their reverence for Ku'ayb and his wife. Hence N6ldeke's comment, trans. 201 n. 1, that Christianity put down only weak roots in Yemen and at the time of the coming of Islam to the province had left hardly any trace, is clearly wrong. See Bell, The Origin of Islam in Its Christian Environment, 39-41; Trimingham, Chiistianity among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times, 304; Shahid, "Byzantium in South Arabia," 81-83; Serjeant and Lewcock, "The Church (al- Qalis) of §an'a’ and Ghumdan Castle," 44-48; Robin, in Supplement au dictionnaire de la Bible, s.v. Sheba, n, cols. 1192-93.

218

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

the Arabs fell to talking about Abrahah's letter to the NajashI, one

of the men charged with intercalating the calendar ( al-nasa'ah )

flew into a rage. He was one of the Banu Fuqaym, part of the larger

tribal group of the Banu Malik . 540 He set out until he came to the

cathedral church and then defecated ( qa'ada ) in it, and then

departed and reached his own land. Abrahah was informed about

the incident and demanded, "Who perpetrated this deed?" They

told him, "A man from that House at Mecca, to which the Arabs

make pilgrimage, did it, because he had heard your words 'I shall

divert the Arab pilgrims to it (i.e., the new cathedral).' He became

enraged, came here, and defecated in it, aiming to show that it was

not worthy of that purpose." Abrahah himself became full of ire

and swore that he would march against the House and demolish

it . 541

Now Abrahah had in his retinue some men of the Arabs who

had come to him seeking his bounty, including Muhammad b.

Khuza'I b. Huzabah of the Banu Dhakwan and then of the larger

tribal group of the Banu Sulaym , 542 together with a group of his

540. The Fuqaym b. 'Adi were a branch of Malik of Kinanah, a HijazI tribe who

dwelt in the vicinity of Mecca and from whom sprang Qu?ayy, founder of

Quraysh's fortunes in Mecca. They were said to have been entrusted, in pre-

Islamic times, with the periodic intercalation of an extra month in the lunar

calendar in order to make the fiaji or Pilgrimage coincide with the fairs and

markets that accompanied it. If it had been true that Abrahah had planned to build

up 5 j>an'a’ into a pilgrimage center rivaling Mecca, the Banu Fuqaym's function as nasa’ah or intercalators would have become otiose. See Ibn Hisham, Sir at al-nabi, ed. Wtistenfeld, 30 - ed. Saqqa et al., I, 44-47, tr. 21-22; Muhammad b. Habib, Kitab al-muhabbar, 156-57; Ibn al-Kalbi-Caskel-Strenziok, famharat al-nasab, I,. Table 47, n, 6, 247; al-Azraqi, Akhbai Makkah, 125; El 2 , s.v. Kinana (W. M. Watt), Nasi’ (A. Moberg).

541 . The Arabic sources have differing information on the location of Abrahah's

church |$an'a’, Najran, or a place on the seashore) and on the person(s) desecrating it (Nufayl b. Habib al-Khath'ami, a man or men from Kinanah, etc.), but all of them point to Quraysh of Mecca being the real instigators of the desecration or burning of the church, Kinanah being of course closely connected with Quraysh. See Kister, "Some Reports Concerning Mecca. From Jahiliyya to Islam," 63-65 (utilizing in- formation from Ps.-al-Asma'I, Nihayat al-arab fi akhbai al-Fuis wa-al-'Arab; see on this work n. 624 below).

542. Dhakwan b. Tha'labah were one of the three great subdivisions of the

powerful North Arab tribe of Sulaym b. Mansur, whose territories in Hijaz lay

between Mecca and Medina, but bordered closely on Mecca; in both the pre-

Islamic and the post-Islamic periods, Dhakwan were the closest Sulami allies of

the Meccans, intermarrying with some of the leading clans of Quraysh, including

Umayya. Muhammad b. Khuza'i b. 'Alqama b. Huzabah, who is said here to have

been appointed chief over the tribes of Mu<Jar for Abrahah and who, according to Ibn Sa'd, was actually crowned by Abrahah, has a certain fame through being one of the few people who bore the name Muhammad in the Jahiliyyah. See Ibn al-Kalbi- Caskel-Strenziok, Jamhaiat al-nasab, I, Table 115, n, 18-19, 13S/ 517; Muhammad b. al-Habib, Kitab al-muhabbat, 130,- idem, Kitab al-munammaq, 68-72; M.

J. Kister, "Some Reports Concerning Mecca. From fahiliyya to Islam," 72,- Lecker, The Banu Sulaym. A Contribution to the Study of Early Islam, 91-98, 108-19; s.v. Sulaym (Lecker).

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

219

fellow tribesmen, including his brother, Qays b. Khuza'i. While

they were at Abrahah's court, there came round unexpectedly for

them one of Abrahah's festivals. He sent along to them on that

feast day some of his morning meal. Abrahah used to eat [animals']

testicles. When Abrahah's food was brought to them, they

protested, "By God, if we eat this the Arabs will never stop blaming

us for it as long as we live!' 543 Muhammad b. Khuza'i arose and

went to Abrahah, saying, "O king, today is our festival when we

eat only the flank and forelegs [of beasts]." Abrahah replied, "We

will send you what you like; I was only showing honor to you with

food from my morning meal because of your high status in my

eyes." He then crowned Muhammad b. Khuza'i and appointed

him governor over Mudar. He further commanded him to go out

among the [Arab] people and summon them to make pilgrimage to

the cathedral, the church he had built. So Muhammad b. Khuza'i

went off until he reached a spot in the territory of the Banu

Kinanah. Meanwhile, the people of Tihamah 544 had received information

about Muhammad's mission and what he was aiming

to do, so they dispatched against him a man of Hudhayl called

543. The Arabs are reported to have been repelled by certain of the customs and

food? practices of the Abyssinians; cf . the poet of Hudhayl's revulsion from his

Abyssinian wife cited by Noldeke, trans. 203 n. 2. But it seems strange that the

Arabs of that time should have objected to eating a nimals * testicles when, at the

present day, they are eaten as a delicacy all over the Middle East.

544. That is, the lowland strip along the Red Sea shores, running the length of

what was in later times the provinces of Hijaz, 'Asir and Yemen. See Yaqut,

Buldan, n, 63-64; El 1 , s.v. Tihama (G. R. Smith; and for its pre-Islamic history,

Robin, "La Tihama ydmdnite avant 1 'Islam: Notes d'histoire et de gdographie historique," 222-33.

220

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

'Urwah b. Hayyad al-MilasI 545 who shot Muhammad with an arrow

 and killed him. Muhammad's brother Qays was with him,

and when Muhammad was killed, he fled and went to Abrahah,

informing him of Muhammad's death. This sent Abrahah into an

even greater rage and fury, and he swore that he would lead an

expedition against the Banu Kinanah and tear down the House [at

Mecca ]. 546

Hisham b. Muhammad related, however, as follows: After the

NajashI had restored Abrahah to favor and had confirmed him in

his charge, the latter built the church at San'a’. He made it a

marvelous building, whose like had never been seen before, using

gold and remarkable dyestuffs and stains. He wrote to Qaysar

545 . The Milas b. Sahilah were a subdivision of Hudhayl. See Ibn al-Kalbi-

Caskel-Strenziok, famhaiat al-nasab, I, Table 58, II, 407.

546. Abrahah's appointment of Muhammad b. Khuza'I and then his invasion of

Hijaz, which later Meccan lore may have transformed into the "Expedition of the

Elephant," seems to have been part of a far-reaching policy of extending Abrahah's dominion into central and even northern Arabia, confronting there Persia and its allies, through alliances with and favors to the Bedouin tribes of those regions.

This was clearly the case with the expedition which he led into central Arabia in

ca. 552, which included contingents from Kindah and Ma'add and which defeated

the Lakhmid al-Mundhir IE at Huluban or Halaban (see n. 409 above). The poet of al-Ta’if, Umayyah b. Abi al-$alt, an older contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad, speaks of "kings of Kindah, heroic warriors, fierce in battle, falcons" around Abrahah's elephant in the expedition of that name [Sharh diwan Umayyah, ed.

Sayf al-Dln al-Katib and Ahmad 'Isam al-Katib, 65; Bahjah 'Abd al-Ghafur al-

Hadlthl, Umayyah b. Abi al-$alt, hayatuhu wa-shi'ruhu, 337-38 no. 154; Ibn

Hisham, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wiistenfeld, 40 = ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 62, tr. 30). Pro-

copius states that the Byzantine emperor tried to bring together in an alliance

"Qays," specified in a parallel source as "the prince of Kindah and Ma'add," with

the viceroy of the Abyssinians (cited by Noldeke, trans. 204 n. 2).

It is clear that Abrahah's expedition to Mecca, whatever its place in the history

and chronology of events at that time (see regarding this, n. 563 below), contained

substantial bodies of Arab tribesmen as well as a core of Abyssinian troops, even

though the account of Ibn Ishaq, in al-Tabari, I, 936, p. 222 below, speaks — for

obvious reasons of Arab-Islamic national pride — of the attackers as being wholly Abyssinians and of the Arabs as solidly united against them in defense of the Holy House in Mecca. Abrahah received a welcome in al-Ta’if and assistance to find his way to Mecca (al-Tabari, 1 , 937, p. 223 below), and varying traditions on the expedition speak of participation in Abrahah's army by South Arab tribes like 'Akk, Ash'ar, Khath'am, Balharith, and Khawlan, and by North Arab tribes like Sulaym of Mudar. Muhammad b. Habib in his Munammaq, 70, refers to the incident of the Mudari troops recoiling from eating animals' testicles and implies that the food habits of North and South Arabs were different. See Kister, "Some Reports Concerning Mecca. From Jahiliya to Islam," 67-73.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

221

telling him that he intended to build a church at San'a’ whose

traces and whose fame would last forever and asked for the emperor's

aid in this. Qaysar accordingly sent back to him skilled

artisans, mosaic cubes, and marble. 547 When the building was

completed, Abrahah wrote to the Najashi that he planned to divert

to it the pilgrims of the Arabs. When the Arabs heard that, they

regarded it with perturbation and it assumed momentous proportions

in their eyes. A man from the Banu Malik b. Kinanah went

off until he reached Yemen, entered the temple, and defecated in

it. Abrahah's wrath was aroused, and he resolved to lead an expedition

 against Mecca and to raze the House to the ground. He set

off with the Abyssinian army, including the elephant. 548 Dhu

Nafar al-Himyari encountered him in battle. Abrahah fought with

him and captured him. Dhu Nafar pleaded, "O king, I am nothing

but your slave, so spare me, for keeping me alive will be more

useful to you than killing me"; so he spared him. Abrahah

marched onward. Nufayl b. Habib al-Khath'ami opposed him, but

Abrahah engaged him in battle, putting his supporters to flight

and capturing him. Nufayl asked Abrahah to spare him ; Abrahah

agreed, and made him his guide in the land of the Arabs.

547. This seems perfectly feasible, given that, in early Islamic times, the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I asked the Byzantine emperor (presumably Justinian II) to send skilled artisans and mosaic cubes ( al-fusayfisa from Greek psephos, the word used here in al-Tabari's text) for the decoration of the Umayyad Mosque at Damascus and the Prophet's Mosque at Medina. See H. A. R. Gibb, "Arab-

Byzantine Relations under the Umayyad Caliphate," 51-56. As mentioned in n.

539 above, we have highly detailed descriptions of the interior decoration of Abrahah's church, which included a lavish use of tropical hardwoods, gold, silver,

mosaic cubes, jewels, etc., in both the portico [aywan) of the church and the part of the basilica beneath the dome (qubbah). It is improbable that all this could have

been achieved without outside assistance. The completed building must indeed

have seemed like a wonder of the world, and explains the attachment of the local

people, both Christian and Muslim, to it (see n. 539 above). As well as the account by al-Azraqi referred to in the above-mentioned note, see also the account of the church by the thirteenth-century Egyptian Coptic author Abu $alih al-Armani (one which may possibly have been influenced by the author's knowledge of Egyptian church interiors), The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt, trans. B. J. A. Evetts, 300-302; Serjeant and Lewcock, "The Church (al-Qalis) of §aria’ and

Ghumdin Castle," 47.

548. Noldeke, trans. 206 n. 1, cites the Byzantine historian John Malalas that

the Abyssinian king rode one of the four elephants pulling the royal coach or cart.

Whether Abrahah actually rode on the elephant here is not explicit.

222

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

The narrative returns to the account of Ibn Ishaq. He said: When

Abrahah decided on an expedition against the House [at Mecca],

he ordered the Abyssinians to prepare for the campaign and put

themselves in a state of readiness, and he set out with the army

and with the elephant. He related: The Arabs heard about this;

they found the news alarming and were filled with fear at it. They

regarded fighting in defense of the Ka'bah, God's Holy House, as a

duty laid upon them when they heard of Abrahah's intention to

tear it down. A man who was one of the nobles of the Yemenis

called Dhu Nafar rose up against him and summoned his people,

and those of the Arabs who responded to his call, to make war on

Abrahah and oppose him strenuously in defense of God's House

and in the face of Abrahah's intention of demolishing and reducing

it to a pile of ruins. A certain number rallied to his side. He

confronted Abrahah, but Abrahah attacked him, and Dhu Nafar

and his followers were put to flight. He himself was taken prisoner

and brought before Abrahah. The latter was on the point of killing

him when Dhu Nafar said to him: "O king, don't put me to death,

for it may be that my presence at your side could be more advantageous

for you than killing me." Abrahah therefore desisted from

killing him, but kept him in captivity by him, loaded with fetters;

Abrahah was a magnanimous man.

After this, Abrahah continued onward in accordance with his

plan, intending to do what he had set out to do, until when he

reached the territory of the Khath'am, he was opposed by Nufayl

[937] b. Habib al-Khath'ami with a force from the two component tribes

of Khath'am, Shahran, and Nahis, 549 and others from the tribes of

the Arabs who followed him. He attacked Abrahah, but the latter

routed him. He was taken prisoner and brought before Abrahah.

Abrahah intended to put Nufayl to death, but he pleaded with

him: "O king, don't kill me, for I will act as your guide through the

land of the Arabs; these two hands of mine are your sureties for the

obedience and good behavior of the two tribes of Khath'am,

Shahran, and Nahis." Hence Abrahah spared him and released

549. In the genealogy of Khath'am, these two subdivisions were the descendants

of two of the great-grandsons of Khath'am b. Anmar ; the name of Shahran survives today. See Ibn al-Kalbl-Caskel-Strenziok, Jamhaiat al-nasab, I, Tables 124-25, II, 345 -

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 223

him. Abrahah went forth with Nufayl, the latter acting as his

guide along the road until they reached al-Ta’if. 550 Mas'ud b.

Mu'attib came out with the men of Thaqif, 551 and addressed Abrahah:

"O king, we are your servants, obedient and submissive to

you, and you will not find us offering any resistance to you. This

house of ours (they meant [the house of ] Allat) is not the House

which you seek. You want the House which is at Mecca (they

meant the Ka'bah), and we will send a man with you who will

guide you." He therefore passed them over and did not molest

them.

They sent with him Abu Righal [as guide], and Abrahah

departed, accompanied by Abu Righal, until the latter brought

him as far as al-Mughammis. As soon as he had conducted Abrahah

thither, Abu Righal died at that very place. The Arabs subsequently

hurled stones at his grave,- it is this grave at which people

hurl stones at al-Mughammis [today]. 552 When Abrahah -

550. Muhammad b. Habib, Munammaq, 68, says that Abrahah gathered to-

gether a force, "a motley crew of the evildoers of the Arabs" (fussaq al-'Arab wa-

takharirihim), mainly from Khath'am and the Banu Munabbih b. Ka'b b. al-Harith

b. Ka'b, said to have been traditionally hostile to the Ka'bah, and all under Nufayl's leadership. This author, at least, does concede that, pace Ibn Ishaq jsee n. 546 above) Arabs were included in Abrahah's army.

5 51 . As Mas'ud b. Mu'attib says here, the shrine of the pre-Islamic goddess Allat

was located at al-Ta’if, and the popularity of its cult made it a considerable rival to that of Allah in the Ka’bah of Mecca during pre-Islamic times, until the shrine was despoiled and destroyed at the surrender of al-Ta’if in 8/630.

'Urwah b. Mas'ud was one of the leaders of the Ablaf group of Thaqif during the

time of the Prophet's career; Ahlaf were more inclined toward conciliation with

the Prophet than the other group of Thaqif, the Banu Malik. 'Urwah was in fact

assassinated on his return from the Prophet's side in Medina, allegedly having

become a secret Muslim working for the surrender of his town to the Muslims; he

thereby earned the Islamic designations of shahid, "martyr," and of §afyabi, Com-

panion of the Prophet. See Watt, Muhammad at Medina, 102-04; EP, s.v. 'Urwa b.

Mas'ud (C. E. Bosworth).

552. Abu Righal is at best a semilegendary figure, the story of whose guiding

Abrahah to Mecca may have been elaborated as part of the anti-Thaqafi bias of

pietistic Muslim circles hostile to the role of prominent men of al-Ta’if within the

Umayyad caliphate like 'Ubaydallah b. Ziyad b. Abihi and al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf. However, the practice of stoning Abu Righal's alleged burial place must have developed early, as attested to by mention of it in a verse of the Umayyad poet Jarir (d. 110/728-29 or shortly thereafter) cited by al-Azraqi, Aktibaz Makkah, 93. Al- Mughammis or al-Mughammas was a valley just off the Mecca to al-Ta’if road on the edge of the Haram of Mecca. See al-Bakri, Mu' jam mi ista'jam, m, 1248; Yaqut, Buldin, V, 161-62; EP, s.w. Abu Righal (S. A. Bonebakker) and al-M ughamm as (ed.). The custom of stoning Abu Righal's grave bears an obvious resemblance to the ritual stoning of Satan at Mina in the course of the Pilgrimage ceremonies. See EP, s.v. Djamra (F. Buhl-J. Jomier).

NoldeEe, trans. 208 n. 1, citing the anthology al-Kdmil of al-Mubarrad, noted

that in post-Islamic times Hudhayl were still reviled for having guided the Abyssinians against the Ka'bah, but he considered this to be really an echo of the alleged role of Hudhalis in guiding Tubba' Tuban As'ad Abu Karib against the Ka'bah, see al-Tabari, I, 903-904, pp. 168-69 above.

224

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

encamped at al-Mughammis, he sent forward one of the Abyssinians

called al-Aswad b. Maqsud (or Mafsud) with a troop of cavalry

until al-Aswad reached Mecca, from where he sent back to Abrahah

 captured beasts taken from the people of Mecca, Quraysh, and

others. Among these, Abrahah acquired two hundred camels belonging

 to 'Abd al-Muttalib b. Hashim, at that time the paramount

chief and lord of Quraysh. 553 Quraysh, Kinanah, Hudhayl,

and all the rest of the people who dwelled in the Holy Enclosure

( al-Haram ) contemplated giving fight to Abrahah's forces, but

then realized that they lacked the power to resist him, so renounced the idea.

Abrahah sent Hunatah al-Himyarl to Mecca and instructed

him: "Ask who is the lord and noble leader of this territory, and

then inform him that the king tells them, 'I have not come to

make war on you, but have merely come to destroy the House. If

you do not wish to defend it by force of arms, then there will be no

need for us to shed your blood; and if he (i.e., 'Abd al-Muttalib)

does not intend to oppose us by fighting, then bring him back to

me.' " Now when Hunatah entered Mecca, he asked who was the

lord and noble leader of Quraysh, and was told that this was *Abd

al-Muttalib b. Hashim b. 'Abd Manaf b. Qusayy; so he went to him

and delivered the message Abrahah had commanded him to communicate.

'Abd al-Muttalib replied, "By God, we don't want to

fight with him, for we have no power to do so. But this is the Holy

House of God and the House of His friend Ibrahim (Abraham)," or

words to that effect, "and if He defends it against him, well, it is

553. The importance of the figure of 'Abd al-Muttalib, great-grandson of Qusayy

and grandfather of the Prophet, has doubtless been inflated by Islamic tradition. At the time of Abrahah, he was clan chief of Hashim and probably the de facto leader of a group of Meccan clans who tried to negotiate with Abrahah if only to gain some advantage over their rivals within Mecca, but we have no solid information about his role here, and Noldeke, 209 n. 1, was justly skeptical. See Buhl, Das Leben Mubammeds, 113-16; Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, 30-33; EP, s.v. 'Abd al- Muttalib (W. M. Watt).

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 225

His House and His sanctuary; whereas if He allows Abrahah to get

possession of it, then, by God, we have no one who can defend it

from him," or words to that effect. Huna^ah told him, "You must

come back [with usj to the king, for he has ordered me to bring you

to him."

Hunatah accordingly set off with 'Abd al-Muftalib, the latter

accompanied by one of his sons, until they reached the army

camp. 'Abd al-Muttalib enquired after Dhu Nafar, who was a

friend of his, and was directed to him, Dhu Nafar being however in

confinement. 'Abd al-Mu$talib said, "O Dhu Nafar, have you any

means of relief for the trouble which has come upon us?" The

latter replied, "What relief is possible from a man held captive at

the king's hand, one who expects to be killed at any moment

(literally, "in the morning or evening")? I can't avail at all in regard

to your misfortune, except that Unays, the keeper of the elephant,

is a friend of mine. I will send a message to him and will commend

you to him, put the case to him for helping you as strongly as

possible, and ask him to try to arrange an audience for you with

the king. So make your request to him, and Unays will intercede

with him on your behalf as skillfully as possible for him." 'Abd al-

Muttalib responded, "That's as much as I can hope." Dhu Nafar

accordingly sent a message to Unays, and came to him 554 saying,

"O Unays, 'Abd al-Mu^alib is the chief of Quraysh and master of

the Meccan caravan ('irj; 555 he feeds the people on the plains and

the wild beasts on the mountain peaks. 556 The king has seized two

hundred of his camels, so I ask permission for him to come before

554 - Following the suggested emendation of text, n. e, fa-ja’ahu.

555. Thus in text, in Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-nabi, ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 5 1, and in al-

Azraqi, Akbbar Makkah, 94, but Ibn Hisham, op. cit., ed. Wustenfeld, 33, trans. 25, has 'aya, "well," i.e., the well of Zamzam in Mecca.

556. An allusion to the rifadah, the supplying of provisions to pilgrims and

traders coming to Mecca for the Hajj and its attendant fairs. It was linked to

another service, that of siqaydh, the supplying of water, nabidh or date wine, and

the semiliquid foodstuff sawiq to the pilgrims also. Both of these were said to have been established in Mecca by Qu§ayy for the ’Abd al-Dar clan but usurped by the 'Abd Manaf clan, of whom Hashim were a component. These rights are adduced by later Islamic authors as showing the nobility of the Prophet's clan in pre-Islamic times, but in reality must have been not so much philanthropic or social services as much as lucrative sources of revenue for the holders Hashim. See Gaudefroy* Demombynes, Le pSleiinage d la Mekke, 89 - 101 ; Bosworth, "The Terminology of the History of the Arabs in the Jahiliyya According to Khwarazmi's 'Keys of the Sciences/" 31 - 33 .

226

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

the king, and be as useful as possible on his behalf." Unays replied,

"I'll do that." Unays spoke to Abrahah, saying, "O king, this is the

chief of Quraysh, now in your court, who is seeking an audience of

you. He is master of the Meccan caravan, and feeds the people on

the plain and the wild beasts on the mountain peaks. So grant him

permission to come before you, so that he may tell you his request,

and treat him kindly!"

He related: Abrahah granted 'Abd al-Muttalib an audience. Now

'Abd al-Muttalib was an impressive, handsome, and well-built

man. When Abrahah beheld him, he treated him with too great a

respect and kindness to allow 'Abd al-Muttalib to sit below him.

Abrahah did not, however, want the Abyssinians to see him letting

'Abd al-Muttalib sit at his side on his royal throne, so he came

down from his throne and then sat on his carpet, bidding 'Abd al-

Muttalib sit on it also by his side. He then told his interpreter to

ask him what was his request of the king. The interpreter passed

these words on to 'Abd al-Muttalib, and the latter said, "My request

of the king is that he should give me back the two hundred

camels of mine which he has seized." When the interpreter informed

Abrahah of this, Abrahah told him through the interpreter,

"You impressed me favorably when I saw you, but I went off you

(zahidtu flka ) when you spoke to me. Do you speak to me about

the two hundred camels which I seized, and brush aside a House

that enshrines your religion and the religion of your forefathers,

and which I have come to destroy, and say nothing to me about

it?" 'Abd al-Muttalib replied: "I am the owner of the camels; the

House has a lord of its own who will defend it." Abrahah said, "He

won't be able to defend it against me!" But 'Abd al-Muttalib retorted,

"That's your own affair; just give me back my camels!"

A certain learned scholar has asserted that 'Abd al-Muttalib had

gone to Abrahah, when the latter sent Hunatah to him, accompanied

by Ya'mar 557 b. Nufathah b. 'Adi b. al-Du’il b. Bakr b. 'Abd

Manat b. Kinanah, who was at that time chief of the Banu

Kinanah, and Khuwaylid b. Wathilah al-Hudhali, chief of Hudhayl

at the time. They offered Abrahah a third of the wealth ( amwal ) of

Tihamah if he would go back home and not destroy the House, but

557. Following the correct reading for this name in Ibn Hisham, Sir at al-Nabi,

ed. Wustenfeld, 34 = ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 52, trans. 25, and in al-Azraqi, Akhbar

Makkah, 95, against the 'Ami of the text.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

227

he refused. But God is more knowing [about the truth of this]. At

any rate, Abrahah had meanwhile restored to 'Abd al-Muttalib the

camels he had seized.

When they left him, 'Abd al-Mut^alib went back to Quraysh and

told them the news. He ordered them to go forth from Mecca and

seek refuge on the mountain tops and in the defiles, fearing violent

behavior from the [Abyssinian] army. 'Abd al-Muttalib then

arose and took hold of the door-ring, that of the door of the Ka'bah,

and a group of Quraysh stood with him praying to God and imploring

His help against Abrahah and his troops. 'Abd al-Muttalib

recited at the time when he took hold of the door-ring of the

Ka'bah:

O Lord, I don't hope for any one but you against them!

O Lord, defend your sacred area [hima) from them ! 558

Indeed, the enemy of the House is the one who is attacking

you!

Repel them lest they lay waste Your settlements!

Then he further recited:

O God, a servant [of God] defends his dwelling, so protect Your

dwelling places and their people ( hilalak )\ 559

Let not their cross and their cunning craft ( mihal ) prevail over

Your cunning craft on the morrow ! 560

But if You do that (i.e., abandon them), then it may be

something which seems most appropriate [for You] and an

affair which appears best to you.

558. In pre-Islamic Arabia, hima, "protected area," denoted a stretch of pasture

or hunting or other desirable land set aside for the use of a particular group and

protected by that group. Many femas gradually acquired taboos and a religious aura from tribal deities, hence by the time of the coming of Islam, the Haram of Mecca had become the protected area par excellence. See Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentums 2 , 105-09, Lammens, Le berceau del’ Islam, 60-64, El 2 , s.v. Hima (J. Chelhod).

559. Reading thus for the text's halalak fallal - pi. of fellah}, following Addenda

et emendanda, p. dxcii, and Glossarium, p. cxcix, but with more or less the same

meaning anyway.

560. Reading ghadv/ an for the text's * adw <“> following Addenda et emendanda, p. dxcii. The verse echoes the Qur’anic use of mihal "the cunning craft and force [of Godj" in surah XIII, 14/13, God being depicted elsewhere in the Qur’an (n, 47/54. Vm, 30) as "the best of those who use craft and guile, makz."

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Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

And if You do that, well, it is an affair which will complete

your [divine] plan of action.

When some person comes to you seeking peace, we hope that

You will act toward us in a like manner.

Then they turned back, having gained nothing but humiliation;

perdition was coming upon them there.

I never heard of the most reprobate of men who desired glory

and who then violated the sanctity of Your sacred enclosure

[haram].

They brought into action the assembled host of their land and

the elephant, in order to capture and enslave members of

your families.

They attacked your sacred area ( hima ) with their cunning, out

of sheer savagery (jahl an ), and paid no heed to Your

exaltedness. 561

Then 'Abd al-Muttalib let go of the ring of the door, the door of

the Ka'bah, and set off with his companions of Quraysh to the

mountain tops and sought refuge there, in expectation of what

Abrahah was going to do in Mecca when he entered it. Next morning,

Abrahah prepared to enter Mecca, got ready his elephant

(whose name was Mahmud), and drew up his army. Abrahah was

determined upon destroying the House and then returning to Yemen.

When they drove the elephant forward, Nufayl b. Habib al-

Khath’ami came up and stood by its flank. He then got hold of its

ear and said, "Kneel, O Mahmud, and go [then] straight back

whence you came, for you are in God's sacred territory!" Then he

let go its ear; the elephant knelt down, 562 while Nufayl b. Habib

made off at top speed and clambered up the mountain. The soldiers

beat the elephant to make it get up, but it refused. They beat

its head with a battle axe to make it get up, but it still refused.

They stuck hooks into its soft underbelly and scarified it to make

it rise, and yet again it refused. But then they turned it round to

face back to Yemen (i.e., southward); it got up and trotted off. They

561. Noldeke notes in text, n. d, that the last three verses of this poem are in a

different meter ( wafii ) from the rest of it ( kamil ) and that some manuscripts have rearranged the wording of these three verses to make them fit the kamil meter of the whole poem. Otherwise, one must assume that we have here verses from two separate poems, even though they share the same rhyme in -ak/-ik.

562. As pointed out by Noldeke, trans. 213 n. 1, elephants do not kneel down

like camels, a fact already recognized by one of the scholiasts of Ibn Hisham.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 229

pointed it in the direction of Syria (i.e., northwards), and it behaved

exactly the same. They pointed it in the direction of the

east, and it again did likewise; but wheii they made it face Mecca,

it knelt down.

God now sent down on them a flock of birds, like swallows,

each bird bearing three stones like chick peas and lentils, one

stone in its beak and two in its claws. Everyone whom the birds

hit [with the stones] perished, although not all of them were in

fact hit . 563 They retreated in haste along the road they had come,

563. The description of the divine visitation on Abrahah's impious forces is

connected, as here, by the compilers of the Shah of the Prophet and subsequent

commentators with Qur’an, CV, Surat al-Fil. But as both Gordon Newby and IrfanShahid have noted, the connection is by no means explicit in the Qur’an. There is no mention in the surah of place or time, the object of the attack or the identity of the attackers themselves. Moreover, Shahid adds that the agents of the destruction of the a$hab al-fil are by no means clearly the birds of w. 3-4, described there assweeping down in flocks ( ababil ) bearing sijjil. Iliese last have been traditionally interpreted as "stones of baked clay," and this meaning fits the context here and in the other two Qur’anic attestations of the word, cf. EP, s.v. Sidjdjil (V. Vacca-Ed.|j but F. de Blois now suggests that sijjil stems ultimately from the pre-Islamic religious tradition of North Arabia and may even have been in o rig in the name of a local deity, see his forthcoming "Hijaratun min sijjil." The birds may have been scavengers after the work of destruction wrought by God Himself, if one follows the variant reading yarrmhim, "[He] pelted them," for the accepted text tarmihim, "(they, i.e., the birds] pelted them." Shahid doubts whether M uhamma d’s Meccan audience could have been misled by assumptions about an event that had taken place only two generations previously. Instead, we must regard the later Islamic tradition as supplying a specific reference for what was, at the time of its revelation in Mecca, rather, an eschatological description of the imminence of punishment for unbelieving peoples. See G. H. Newby, "Abraha and Sennacherib: A Talmudic Parallel to the Tafsh on Surat al-Fil," 433-34; I. Shahid, "Two Qur’anic Suras: al- Fil and QurayS," 431, 433-44; and cf. R. Paret, Der Koran. Kommentar und Konkordanz 2 , 522.

Whatever the original significance and message of Surat al-FU, ratio nalizing

interpretations of the story of Abrahah's abortive expedition against Mecca arose

early, mainly involving the explanation that the attacking forces were struck down

by mass disease or by an epidemic, such as measles or smallpox mentioned by al-

Tabari, 1 , 945, p. 235 below, reducing Abrahah's combatant power and compelling a withdrawal. An explanation from smallpox was put forward in fyadiths going back to the Successor ’Ikrimah (d. 105/723-24), and in one line of poetry cited by Ibn Ishaq from the verse written on the "Expedition of the Elephant" by Muhammad's opponent in Mecca, 'Abdallah b. al-Ziba'ra al-Sahmi (on whom, see Abu al-Faraj al- I§fahanl, AghanP, XV, 139-84), "Sixty thousand men (i.e., Abrahah's forces) did not return to their land, and their sick ones did not survive after the return home."

See Ibn Hisham, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wustenfeld, 39 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 59, tr. 28;

EP, s.v. al-Fil (A. F. L. Beeston).

The historicity of some move by Abrahah against Mecca seems likely, given the

undoubted fact that his sphere of military activity extended as far as central Ara bia, where he aimed at countering an extension of Lakhmid power and, behind

that, Persian influence, on the evidence of the well of Murayghan inscription

dating from 662 Himyarite era/A.D. 552-53 (a terminus ad quern for dating this

campaign being, in any case, Abrahah's opponent al-Mundhir HI of al-Hirah's death in 554; see further on this episode, n. 409 above). How much later than this date Abrahah could have mounted the "Expedition of the Elephant" is uncertain, but must have been very soon afterward. The inscription commemorating Abrahah's repair of the Dam of Marib has the date 658 Himyarite era/A.D. 548-49 (Smith, "Events in South Arabia in the 6th Century a.d.," 437-41 ), but Abrahah had to die and be succeeded in South Arabia by his two sons Yaksum and Masruq before the appearance of the Persians in Yemen in 570 (see al-Tabari, I, 945-46, pp. 235-36 below). It has been suggested that the campaign of Abrahah, with its victories over Ma'add and other tribes at Huluban/Halaban, and the victory of his Kindah and Sa'd-Murad confederates over the 'Amir b. Sa'sa'ah at Turabah, were either a preparation for an expedition against Mecca shortly afterward or the basis for a later tradition growing out of an Abyssinian expedition against Mecca. Going a step further, Altheim and Stiehl have very plausibly suggested that the Meccan expedition was actually part of the general operations of Abrahah in central Arabia during the course of 552. The chronological differences arising out of the fact that the Islamic tradition generally placed the Prophet's birth in the "Year of the Elephant," conventionally taken as a.d. 570, may not be unresolvable, since M. J. Kister, following H. Lammens, has pointed out the existence of traditions giving a different birth date for Muhammad, including one in Ibn al-Kalbl that he was bom twenty-three years after the "Expedition of the Elephant" and one going back to al- Zuhri which, by a computation involving the dates of various events mentioned in the hadith, would fix the "Year of the Elephant" in 5 52, i.e., precisely the year the Ry 5 06 inscription records for Abrahah's military operations. See Lammens, "L' 3ge de Mahomet et la chronologie de la Sira," 2 1 1-12, and the full discussion in Kister, "The Campaign of Huluban," 426-28.

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Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

asking Nufayl b. Habib to guide them along the way to Yemen.

When Nufayl b. Habib saw what God had sent down on them as

punishment, he said:

Where can a man flee, when God is pursuing [him]? Al- Ashram

(i.e., Abrahah) is the conquered one, not the conqueror!

Ho, Rudaynah , 564 may greetings be upon you! When we went

forth this morning, our eyes rejoiced at you!

A seeker after fire from among you came to us yesterday

evening, but he was unable to get anything from us.

If you had been able to see, O Rudaynah — but you were not able

to see it — what we saw in the vicinity of al-Muhassab , 565

5 64. That is, the poet is, in accordance with poetic convention, addressing a real

or imaginary beloved, Rudaynah.

565. Literally, "ground strewn with pebbles, " a valley near Mina through which

the pilgrims pass on the return from Mina to Mecca at the end of the Hajj. On

halting there, tahsib, the act of throwing pebbles, is a recommended ( mustahabb )

action, and this may be a reminiscence of a pre-Islamic rite, perhaps one of lapidation. See al-Bakri, Mu' jam ma ista'jam, IV, 1192; Yaqut, Buldan, V, 62; Gaudefroy- Demombynes, Le pilerinage d la Mekke, 303-304.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

231

You would have exonerated me and praised my good judgment,

and not have grieved over what has passed and gone

between us . 566

I praised God when I saw with my own eyes the birds, but

feared that the stones might be rained upon us.

All the people are asking for Nufayl, as though I owed the

Abyssinians a debt . 567

As they retreated, the Abyssinian troops were continually falling

 by the wayside and perishing at every watering place (or halt-

ing place, manhal ). Abrahah was smitten in his body; they carried

him with them, with his fingers dropping off one by one. As each

finger dropped off, there followed a purulent sore in its place,

which exuded pus and blood, until they brought him to San'a’,

with him looking like a newly bom chick (i.e., plucked and emaciated).

 They allege that, as he died, his heart burst out from his

breast . 568

Al-Harith related to me, saying: There related to us M uham mad

b. Sa'd— Muhammad b. 'Umar 569 — 'Abdallah b. 'Uthman b. Abi

Sulayman — his father. There also related to us from Muhammad

566. Taking baynd as standing for baynana.

567. Noldeke, trans. 2 1 4 n. 2, commented that these verses are ostensibly part of

a longer poem but contain many details and features have no connection with the

supposed circumstances of their composition. In fact, they correspond in verse

form, rhyme, and, to some extent, in wording, to an old poem in the Hamdsah

anthology of the 'Abbasid poet Abu Tammam, demonstrating that the verses have

been modeled on this latter poem.

5 68. This tale of the manner of Abrahah's death is perhaps a transference to him

of the army's being afflicted by disease, see n. 563 above. It is also given in Ibn

Hisham, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wflstenfeld, 36 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 55-56, tr. 27, and

al-Azraql, Akhbdi Makkah, 97-98, the latter author adding that some stragglers

and deserters from the Abyssinian army, and other elements had been attached to

it, came into Mecca and stayed there, working as laborers and camel herders. This

seems quite feasible, but less so the khabai going back to 'A’ishah (bom ca. 614)

quoted by al-Azraqx, op. cit., 98, 103, according to which she saw the elephant's

conductor and its groom as blind beggars for food in the center of Mecca. See

Noldeke, trans. 219 n. i; also Muhammad b. Habib, Mxmammaq, 73-76.

569. That is, the khabai here goes back to Muhammad b. 'Umar al-Waqid! (d.

207/823), a member of the Medinan historical school who worked in Baghdad, and to his secretary and transmitter, Ibn Sa'd (d. 230/845). See Sezgin, GAS, 1 , 294-97, 300-301; El 2 , s.w. Ibn Sa'd (J.W. Fuck) and al-Wakidl (S. Leder).

232

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

b. 'Abd al-Rahman b. al-Salmanl — his father. There also related to

us 'Abdallah b. 'Umar b. Zuhayr al-Ka'bi — Abu Malik al-

Himyari — 'Ata’ b. Yasar. There also related to us Muhammad b.

Abl Sa'Id al-Thaqafl — Ya'la b. 'Ata’ — Waki’ b. 'Udus — liis paternal

uncle Abu Bazin al-'Uqayli. There also related to us Sa'Id b.

Muslim — 'Abdallah b. Kathir — Mujahid — Ibn 'Abbas. Parts of

some narratives are combined with others. They say: Al-Najashi

had dispatched Aryat Abu Saham 570 with a force of four thousand

men to Yemen. He subjugated and conquered it. He gave rewards

to the local kings but treated the poor with contempt. There arose

a man from among the Abyssinians called Abrahah al-Ashram

Abu Yaksum. He invited the people to give him allegiance, and

they responded, so he then killed Aryat and seized control of Yemen . 571

He observed the local people getting ready, at the time of

the festival, for pilgrimage to the Holy House [in Mecca], and

asked, "Where are the people going?" They told him that they

were making pilgrimage to God's House at Mecca. He enquired,

"What is it made of?" They replied, "Of stone." He said, "What is

its covering [kiswah] 7 " They responded, "The striped Yemeni

cloth ( al-wasa'il ), which comes from here ." 572 Abrahah swore,

"By the Messiah! I will certainly build for you something better

than that!" So he built for them a house constructed from white,

570. Thus in the text; the Addenda et emendanda, p. dxcii, prefer the reading

Asham (which would mean "dust-colored, yellowish, tinged with black"). How-

ever, Noldeke, trans. 215 and n. 2, states that Daham or §aham is the correct

reading, as in the name of the Ethiopian king £lla Saham.

571. What Ibn Sa'd says here of Aryat's discriminatory policy as a cause of his

downfall is confirmed by extra details in the Nihdyat al-irab (see for this n. 624

below): that Aryat, a noble and nephew of the Najashi, appropriated captured booty and other wealth for himself, the nobility, and chiefs of the Abyssinians. Abrahah, himself of servile origin, was thus able to champion the cause of the excluded rank and file and the lower classes, and was able to lead an uprising against Aryat in the name of equality of treatment. See von Gutschmid, "Bemerkungen zu Tabari's Sasanidengeschichte, ubersetzt von Th. Noldeke," 738-40; Kister, "Some Reports Concerning Mecca. From Jahiliyya to Islam," 61-63 n. 5.

swah, see al-Tabari, I, 904, p. 169 and n. 433 above, where the

Tubba' As'ad Abu Karib is said first to have covered the Ka'bah with Yemeni

ma'afiri cloth, Yemen being traditionally famed for its textiles. There seems to

have been an ancient tradition in Arabia of covering qubbahs, i.e., tents and simi-

lar structures housing sacred objects, with materials like skins and cloth, accord-

ing to H. Lammens, "Le culte des b£tyles et les processions religieuses chez les

Arabes pr6islamiques," 130-32, 138-42.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak 233

red, yellow, and black marble, and adorned it with gold and silver,

and encompassed it with jewels. He provided it with doors made

with sheets of gold and with golden nails, and set the space between

them with jewels, which included an enormous ruby. He

provided it with a covered sanctuary [hijab], in which sweet-

smelling aloes wood was continually burnt, and its walls were

smeared with musk, thereby darkening the walls until the jewels

[encrusted on them] appeared sunken. He gave orders to the people,

and they made pilgrimage to it, as did a large number of the

tribes of the Arabs over a period of years. There lived permanently

within this temple men who made perpetual adoration and service

to God there, and who devoted themselves to worshiping

Him in it.

Nufayl al-Khath'ami was planning to do by stealth something

unpleasant to it. 573 One night, when he saw no one moving

around, he got up and took some excrement and smeared the apse

of the high altar ( qiblah ) 574 of the temple with it, and he gathered

together some putrefying animal carcases and threw them into it.

Abrahah was told about this; he became extremely angry and exclaimed,

"The Arabs have only done this out of vexation on account

of their own House; I shall certainly destroy it stone by

stone!" He wrote to the Najashi informing him of that and asking

the Najashi to send him his elephant Mahmud — this being an

elephant unparalleled in the whole earth for its size, stout body,

and strength. The Najashi accordingly dispatched it to him.

Once the elephant had arrived, Abrahah set out with his army,

accompanied by the king of Himyar 575 and Nufayl b. Habib al-

Khath'ami. When he reached the Sacred Enclosure ( al-haiam ), he

commanded his troops to raid the beasts of the local people. They

captured some camels belonging to 'Abd al-Muttalib. It happened

573. kana yu'airidu lahu; for anada, see Glossarium, p. cxi. Here we have a

variation from the man of the Banu Fuqaym who is responsible for the desecration of the church in Ibn Ishaq's account given by al-Tabari, I, 934, p. 218 above, and, since Nufayl is said at I, 937, p. 223 above, to have guided Abrahah to al-Ja’if, a confusion also. Al-Dinawari, al-Akhbai al-\iwal, 62-63, has "a man from the people of al-Tihamah" as the perpetrator of the deed.

574. The use here of the technical term qiblah, literally, "direction to be faced

[in the Muslim worship}," is an anachronism.

575. The malik llimyai must be Dhu Nafar, called at I, 936, p. 222 above, "one

of the nobles of Himyar."

234 Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

that Nufayl was a friend of 'Abd al-Muttalib 's, so the latter spoke

to Nufayl about his camels. Nufayl, therefore, spoke to Abrahah,

saying, "O king, there has come to you the lord of the Arabs, the

most distinguished of them in status and the foremost of them in

nobility — he gives people swift horses as mounts, bestows

largesse, and feeds whatever the wind blows along." He brought

him into Abrahah's presence, and the latter said [to 'Abd al-

Muttalib], "What's your request?" 'Abd al-Muttalib replied, "That

you should give me back my camels." Abrahah retorted, "I consider

 what I have just heard from you nothing but fraud. I had

expected that you would speak to me about your House, which is

your source of nobility and pride." But 'Abd al-Muttalib merely

said, "Give me back my camels and do what you like with the

House, for it has a lord who will protect it." So Abrahah ordered

the camels to be returned to him.

When 'Abd al-Muttalib took possession of them, he draped the

soles of sandals round their necks, marked them as intended sacrifices,

offered them as gifts [to the Sacred Enclosure], and let them

scatter throughout the sacred enclosure. [He did that] so that if

anyone of them should be seized [by the Abyssinians], the lord of

the Sacred Enclosure would thereby become angered . 576 'Abd al-

Muttalib, accompanied by 'Amr b. 'A’idh b. 'Imran b. Makhzum,

Mut'im b. 'Adi and Abu Mas'ud al-Thaqafi, went up to Mount

Hira ’ 577 and recited:

O God, a man defends his dwelling, so protect your dwelling

places and their people ( hilalak ).

Let not their cross and their cunning craft overcome Your

cunning craft on the morrow.

576. Qur’an, V, 2, refers to the qala’id, necklets hung round the necks of animals

destined for sacrifice, budn, part of the sha'a'ir Allah mentioned in XXII, 37/36.

There is also reference in V, 102/103, to various types of camel, including the

sd'ibah, the wasllah and the hami, left to roam freely after dedication to God. See

Wellhausen, Reste atabischen Heidentums 2 , 1 raff.; EP, s.v. Bahira (A. J. Wen-

sinck). Seizure by the Abyssinians of the camels released by 'Abd al-Muttalib

would thus incur Allah's wrath.

577. Hira’ or Hara’ was a mountain outside Mecca mentioned later in the Sir ah

as a place where Muhammad, in the period before his public ministry, would spend time in tahannuth, pious and ascetic exercises. See Buhl, Das Leben Muhammeds, 132; Watt, Muhammad at Mecca, 40, 44; EP, s.v. Hira’ |T. H. Weir-W. M. Watt).