Seerah Biography of the prophet Muhammad saws in light of the dawah part five

Seerah Biography  of the prophet Muhammad saws in light of the dawah part five.recap on Jews in  Yemen, early Christians in Najran. Abraha, Kaaba, Surah al fil.

We will continue with what we left last week, we left off was will start about Christianity in the fourth century in the Arab and the Arabian Peninsula. This session will be dealing with comparative religion and history of the Arabian Peninsula, Early Christianity, the divide between eastern and western Christianity.

*Point to mention, professor Michael Lecker mentions Hymyari Judaism proving that there were differently beleifs in Judaism in Yemen and may be other parts  and when a Jew or Christian vehemently denies that there were heretic sects that could have and most like believed that Ezra was the considered the son of God so  no one can blame the Quran as being wrong and Allah did not know they are the ones who do not know or as Lecker says he could have accepted the real and full Judaism too and that there were sects that did believe in that, read my blog article for that at crucifywhom.com *

 So he had accepted some form of Monotheism the fact that he went to Macca went to Medina and he clothed the Kaaba so we can see that in the sirat of ibn Katheeer that the prophet saws at mentions “do not curse Tooba because he accepted Islam” According to al-Suhayli, Tubba spoke the following verses when the two rabbis told him about the Messenger of God (SAAS):

"I do testify that Ahmed is a messenger from God, guiltless his soul,

If only my life were extended up to his, I would have been a helper, a cousin to him,

I would have fought his enemies with the sword and cleared all cares from his breast.”

2) Now there’s one thing we have to bear in mind as well that about 70 to 80 years may be may be a hundred years because now consider starting from the fourth century it was going on until the prophet saws came in the sixth century now so that means that there was a gap between them according to “Owed Abdullah al-Nahee”* University of Birmingham’s article it was “around 525 CE that Dhu nuwas reigned”. 

3)And again according to the sirat of ibn katheer These verses continued to be handed down and memorised among the ansar; they were with Abii Ayub al-ansari, may God be pleased with him and bless him. So we see that the person who actually was Tooba Tabban asad his name and his son was actually dhu Nuwas (Yūsuf As'ar Yath’ar). After Asad’s death his son Hassan bin Asad he takes over when he takes over now he's a bit too harsh with his people he wants to take his people to war to invade other nations so what happens is now his people disagree with him they speak to  his brother that we will make you our king if you kill your bother and take us back to Yemen we  will give you the rule so what happens is that now Dhu Ruhayn the Himyarite killed Hassan he also ruled for 27 years, after those of 27 years now another person takes over without any Royal connection from fourth century to 5th century from the family he's an outsider and he actually takes over the rule. According to ibn ishaq the person who took over murdered most of the prominent Yemenis,

4) According to other sira he was a homosexual he would send for a royal prince in an upper chamber construct it for that purpose this was to prevent the prince from taking over. One day he called for zuh’ra dhu nuwas bin Asad who was the brother of Hassan who he had been a small boy but when he started getting older and more intelligent and more on our courageous that he realised what was in store for him with king, the boy hid a knife in his sandal and when he went in there he killed the evil king, he cut off his head placed it on the window. The habit of   this evil King  was whenever he use to finish with a young Man and got his evil way he used to stand by the window and put on my toothpick in his mouth and show his guards that it finished with this boy so, this time this young man went outside there the guard started questioning and laughing at him and he said ask the head that is there by the window there and when they saw that his head was cut and put by the window they knew that this boy had actually killed the evil king and him and they made him king.

 5)But we need to understand that the title was the same Tubba meant the King like in Egypt there was the Pharaoh that was the name not the name the title of the ruler the title not the name of the person each Pharaoh had his name, the Tooba also had their names and obviously like you know as time went along generation to generation it was a differently to different person

 the person who took over him was one who was deviant his son or grandson or whoever it was who took over from him Dhu Nuwas the deviant one the one who killed innocent people.

 But Abu karib Asad was probably on the right path. And to confirm this as is that Ibn al Duna in the book of the graves kitab al qubur mentioned that there was a grave was dug up in san’a and which two females were found and along with long-ago tablet and it said this is the grave of Lamis and Hubba two daughters of  Tooba who died  declaring, 'There is no God but God alone and without peer,' and before them the righteous had died saying the same." So this does confirm something that apart from paganism there was the true Tawheed in Yemen and from the Jews and obviously it was corrupted as it went along and they believed in something different and he wanted to pass along to the people and impose it on the people and the Christians who can be after them were Jewish  but they accepted Isa alaihisalam’s  message and which made even more pure monotheistic  before Allah subahanawa talah sent Isa Alahisalam to confirm the message of Musa and and all other prophets (alahimusalam) this is why there was a confrontation between the Jews and the Christians just wanted to force that religion on. So for those who claim that the tawheed of Islam was brought only by the prophet Muhammad in the 6^th century here we have evidence of Jews and Christians with archaeological evidence found in their grave of the shahada.

Christianity in the Arabian peninsula prior to the coming of the prophet Muhammad PBUH

 After Isa (as) left this world there was a lot of confusion in Christianity, there were many divisions and different beliefs and no actual scripture. Many were misguided and many also dispersed because of Persecution. There many who had fled who were on the truth of Isa (as) and many in order to save their lives and those of there tribes and people had to flee. Many fled to Arabia, Syria and other places. We could ask why Paul was on the road to Damascus and why he went to Arabia, that is another subject in and of itself 

There was a monk from Syria known as Faymiyyun with the Arabs and by Arethas among the Christians and started preaching in the area of Najran, in those days was in Yemen and the religion was spreading but secretly and privately and slow by that time. According to Catholics Arethas was made a saint although it is not in the Bible but his story is well documented in In several books written by Christians. Although for them I mean current day Christians he was a heretic because he was a unitarian but as we as in our last show that the Trinity was not fully instated and accepted until the end of the 4^th century and many of the Christians who had fled to Arabia were Unitarians and their belief was closest to Islam. News of this monk, priest reached the king of Yemen Dhu Nuwas the new religion was banned it and the king persecuted the followers and as we saw in the previous session that he tortured them and dug a trench and lit a fire and threw them in the was one person who survived. As mentioned in the previous session Allah mentions in the Quran “ thaalikal fawthul ‘atheem” that is the great victory, but the People got killed they did not establish the deen or any kingdom. What was the victory?

There's one person who survived called Daws Dhu Tha'laban, on one of his horses, who traveled through the sands until he threw his pursuers off. and this person traveled all the way to visit the Roman Empire now he went to the Roman Empire because the Roman Empire was Christian even though these two people would be different Christian sects time the Romans might have already adopted the Trinity and the divinity of Isa a laihissalam and these people were monotheists untitarians, but they still consider themselves to be followers of race so he went to seek help from the Roman emperor he said this is what happened to us we were persecuted we were killed we need your help the Roman emperor said we are too far from Yemen but what I could do is send a message to the Najashi the negus of abyssinia who's also a Christian and he can help you. so the Roman Emperor did that and they sent a message to an Najashiin English we call him  the Negus and he sent an army led by a general named Ariat and a real invaded Yemen and fought with una West and don't know us when he lost he committed suicide he said that he was on his horse and he just jumped into the Red Sea he killed himself so he lost and now.

According to the book “THE HIMYARITE-ETHIOPIAN WAR1

AND THE ETHIOPIAN OCCUPATION OF SOUTH ARABIA

IN THE ACTS OF GREGENTIUS (ca. 530 A.D.)2 “

This overwhelmingly orthodox attitude occurs despite the fact that the Negus of Ethiopia, 'Ella-'Asbeha, who reestablished Christianity in the country of the Himyarites, and probably the Archbishop Gregentius himself, were heretical monophysites, he mentions (The Christians were dominant in Abyssinia present day Ethiopia, Somalia and so on. There were also the Arabs who were settled in Najran South Arabia known as Hymyar at the time which was a Great Kingdom as we saw with the Toobas present day Aden Yemen. In Abbysinya it was the Aksum Kingdom with the Kings Title Negus, Najashi in Arabic. There are books written in Greek called the acts of Gregentius which I will mention, and I will draw from a few other sources aswell.  Gregentius, according to his Life, was sent by the patriarch of Alexandria to assume the post of archbishop of South Arabia with his seat at the capital Zafâr ca. 525 A.D. Gregentius' appointment, suggested by the Byzantine Emperor Justin I, was made by the patriarch of Alexandria, and followed the overthrow and death of the Jewish Himyarite King, dhu-Nuwâs (Masrûq) by the Negus of Ethiopia,

'Ella-'Asbeha (Kâl'eb), a Christian ally of the Byzantine, and the death of this Himyarite king. As a result of this change of leadership, Christianity, which had been nearly eradicated in South Arabia by Judaism, once again gained impetus.

The Acts of Gregentius relate events which occurred in South Arabia after the massacre of the Christians by the Jewish Himyarites in Negrand and form a] chronological extension of the narration found in the Martyrium of Arethas, a work which described extensively the sack and fall of Negran (523/4 A.D.), and ends with the triumph and reestablishment of Christianity in South Arabia.

The Abyssinians were ruling over parts of Yemen and they did this as a revenge for the Christians who were killed by the Jews of young Ariat ruled over Yemen for a while he was very strict one of his army generals staged a revolt against him And the abbysinians in Yemen were divided.  

*Point to mention here we see the insincerity of the Christians, here we have a Jewish King who massacred a whole nation of Christians, torture them and burned them in a pit, yet we never hear any Christian mention it   although as I said there are books and books written about it. This was the king forcing his belief on the people who refused to accept. Yet the Christians will confront us about Banu qaynuqa and Banu Nadir who were not forced to accept Islam but who betrayed the Muslims and sided with the enemy and broke treaties, so we see their double standards*

Christians at that time like we saw from brother Charles as mentioned were on it was a true monotheism because at the time the councils were still deciding and still not sure yet whether Jesus was either a god and whether that holy spirit was God so what was actually prevailing in the Arab Peninsula.

 that was what they had taken with them when they fled and many fled much early then the councils as early as 70 ad and others after the persecutions, when they fled to the Christians who fled actually fled with their true Christianity many did not even believe Jesus was crucified so they were the true Christianity that was prevailing at that and since they were the true Christianity and like we see that Judaism didn’t follow it easily so that they did not follow the teachings.

And they were fighting Ariat told Abraha if we kill each other the people of the land will take over so how about we have a one on one fight and man to man me and Abraha agreed but Abraha made a secret agreement with some of his security guards that if you see me losing jump in and help if you see me winning leave me alone but if you see that I'm losing come in so we have all of these people surrounding and abraha and ariat are in the middle now Ariat was described as a tall and thin man and abraha was short and chubby so real he was able to strike Abraha from the top and he chopped off his nose so Abraha was called Abraha al ashram. Ashram  means his nose is chopped off when that happened the secret body guys jumped in and they killed aryat he betrayed obviously this is against the rules but this show is over now is that popular now check over and he was one ruling over Yemen Abraha wanted to change the religion of the people and forced them to become Christian. Again we see them imposing their religion upon the people something Islam never did and since the Arabs were attached to al Kaaba he decided to build hey counterparts will travel in sana in Yemen so he built a huge cathedral call the police and this was described as a wonderful piece of art huge great I mean he had access of wealth from Abysinia so they built this huge cathedral in Sana to compete with al Kaaba now one man didn't like this idea what he did was a bit crude he went into a Qulaish and he defecated and then not only that he took it and he spread it all over the wall and ran away. Abraha  was furious what is this what is this guy doing he was so angry he decided that he must get rid of al Kaaba I mean I'm going to put an end to this and destroy al kabba mobilize an army and in March towards Mecca.

According to the explicit account found in the Syriac Book of the Himyarites, the Ethiopian Negus invaded South Arabia shortly before the Massacre of Negran (523/4 A.D.) and defeated the king of the Himyarites who was thus forced to seek refuge in the mountains of Yemen. The Negus, after building a church and establishing a strong Ethiopian garrison in Zafâr, returned to Ethiopia. During the winter following the Negus'  departure, the Himyarite king launched a retaliatoryattack upon the Ethiopians, clergy and laymen alike, killed them and destroyed their newly built church in Zafâr. The Himyarite king continued his rampage by turning his wrath against the Christians under his domain, slaughtering them.18 These Christians are identified as Ethiopians and others, obviously native Himyarites, with no reference to Byzantine Christians. It is only in the description of the Massacre of Negran that Byzantine Christian Martyrs are explicity mentioned. (the hymrarite)

There was some resistance along the way one of the chiefs of a tribe name is Nufayl he put up some resistance but he was defeated and he never has a huge powerful army and they captured Nufayal they captured him as a prisoner of war when abraha reach to at taif if the people of taif  assisted abraha and one of them offered to be a guide for abraha for the rest of the journey and this man his name is abu rughal went out with the army but then immediately when they got out of a class he died so then the Arabs were so upset with the Ariat they built in the place of his death But they would stone because of his betrayal. anyway Abraha made it to the outskirts of Mecca and there were some shepherds with camels grazing he took possession of 200 of these camels belonged to  Abdul Muttaleb the grandfather of ar rasool saws so Abdul muttaleb came out of Mecca to meet with Abraha now obviously Abraha you can't just walk in and meet him such an important figure passed out some connections to get in out the little it happened to be a friend of Nufayl who was captured as a prisoner of war. Nufayl was carried with the army and he befriended he became friends with the with a man called Unais and this man Unais was such an important person in the army he was the pilot of the elephant which was their most valuable piece of equipment. so Nufayl is very well connected he knows Unais. So Abdul muttaleb met him  and told him I want to meet with Abraha, unais said sure I will arrange for your meeting through my friend unais so unais arranged a meeting with abraha and Abraha welcomed a meeting with him,

Abdual muttaleb walked in, he was described as being a man with a strong presence I mean by just seeing him a person becomes impressed so when I came in held in high esteem even though they didn't even talk it no the rules were that abraha sits on a very high throne and people sit under his feet so you come and have a meeting with Abraha you're sitting under his feet when he saw he didn't feel comfortable at all having  Abdul mutallab sit under him but he cannot also allow Abdulmutallab to sit with him on the throne because nobody should sit on the throne except he. So what he did is he came down from his throne and sat with Abdulmutallab on the floor and he told optimal talent he told the interpreter to ask Abdulmutallab what does he need and a little straight ahead told the interpreter has taken possession of 200 of my camels I want them back. Abraha responded and said when I saw you I had so much respect for you but I've lost it all I'm coming to destroy your honor and the honor of your father's I'm coming to destroy the center of your livelihood I'm coming to destroy al kaaba and you're asking me about camels . Abdul Muttaleb responded I am the owner of the camels so I am responsible for them and this house belongs to Allah and Allah will protect it, I'm here to ask for what is under my authority my responsibility the house belongs to Allah he will take care of it and Allah will protect it.

*Point to mention here Abraha and the pagans of macca were pagans but they believed in Allah as the almighty being, the almighty creator, he alone can protect the Kaaba*

Abraha said give him back his camels. Abdulmutallab went back to Mecca and he told the people of Mecca do not fight withdraw out of Macca given current structures we're not going to fight abroad we gonna leave and they all went up to the mountains and Abdulmutallab was the last one to leave and before he left he was hanging on the clothes of al kaaba or the handle of the door of al kaaba and it was prayeing to Allah subhanawa taalah  to protect his house. And then he left so all of them have evacuated everyone evacuated Mecca and abraha now issued his instructions to March forth. But the elephant refused to move they turned the elephant to a different direction he would stand up running they turned him towards the direction of Mecca he would sit down, how come? A miracle from Allah but it is said in the story that this man Nufayl was a prisoner of war he released himself from his chains and he jumped to the ear of the elephant and he said to the elephant this is the House of Allah do not attack it any right away but whether that was the reason or not the elephant refused to marks in the direction of a l Kaaba and they would beat it they started poking it with their Spears and the elephant was bleeding it refused to move eventually they decided they're gonna have to leave the elephant and they made their move forward, Allahsubahanau wataalah sent on them and army no one knows the soldiers of Allah.

*point to mention remember how Allah subhanana watallah used Abdul muttaleb to re dig Kaaba after so many centuries.

anything can be a soldier of Allah suhanwa talah water which is the source of life can be a soldier of Allah subhanawa tala water  is what killed the tyrant firaon, wind is a soldier of a Allah “wa maa ya’alamou junuda rabbika illa huwa”. Allah  says no one knows his soldiers but he.So saallah subhana watalla  then sent an army of birds every bird carrying with it missiles that were sent on the army of abraha and destroyed them all they were all killed and this event was recorded in Surat al feel me are the events up to the year in which Rasool saws was born in the year of the elephant in the same year Rasool(saws).  

*Point to mention

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia. Headquarters are in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital.

Tradition holds that Ethiopia was first evangelized by St. Matthew and St. Bartholomew in the 1st century CE, and the first Ethiopian convert is thought to have been the eunuch in Jerusalem mentioned in The Acts of the Apostles (8:27–40). Ethiopia was further Christianized in the 4th century CE by two men (likely brothers) from Tyre—St. Frumentius, later consecrated the first Ethiopian bishop, and Aedesius. They won the confidence of the king at Aksum (a powerful kingdom in northern Ethiopia) and were allowed to evangelize. The succeeding king, Ezana, was baptized by Frumentius, and Christianity was made the state religion. Toward the end of the 5th century, nine monks from Syria are said to have brought monasticism to Ethiopia and encouraged the translation of the Scriptures into the Geʿez language.

The Ethiopian church followed the Coptic (Egyptian) church (now called the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria) in rejecting the Christological decision issued by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE that the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ were equally present in one person without commingling. Opposed to this dyophysitism, or two-nature doctrine, the Coptic and Ethiopian churches held that the human and divine natures were equally present through the mystery of the Incarnation within a single nature. This position—called miaphysitism, or single-nature doctrine—was interpreted by the Roman and Greek churches as a heresy called monophysitism, the belief that Christ had only one nature, which was divine. The Ethiopian church included into its name the word tewahedo, a Geʿez word meaning “unity” and expressing the church’s miaphysite belief. Like other so-called non-Chalcedonian (also referred to as Oriental Orthodox) churches, it was cut off from dialogue with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches until the mid-20th century, when many of the Christological disputes that arose from Chalcedon were resolved through ecumenical dialogue. (Encyclopedia Britannica under the title Miaphysitism Christianity)

From the miaphysite perspective, dyophysite Christology (whether Chalcedonian or not) reduces Christ to an ordinary human rejecting his divinity—a position that is easily mapped onto Jews. This mapping is reflected in the current letter, for instance, when Simeon states that the influential Antiochene exegete Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 428) held “a Jewish opinion about Christ.” Simeon attributes the spread of dyophysite Christology among the Christians of Persia to the exodus of dyophysites from Edessa after the closing of the School of the Persians there, at the command of Zeno. These include Bar Ṣawmā, who is mentioned in the title of this letter, as well as Narsai, whom Simeon claims is the teacher (mallphānā) in the newschool at Nisibis.( Simeon of Beth Arsham, Letter on Bar Ṣawmā and the heresy of the Nestorians)