Seerah
The Prophet’s Biography
Part II

The days passed, and the people in the Arabian Penninsula were on the Deen of Ibraheem, until one day a man came, whose name was Amr b. Luhai’.
He was one of the nobles of the tribe Khuza’ah. Khuza’ah fought with Jurhum to control Makkah...to have control over the Kabah. The great war occured between both these tribes, in which Jurhum was defeated, and they left Makkah.
When Jurhum was felt they would be defeated, there resorted to other tactics. People loved Makkah because of the Ka’bah. But the peoples lifeline of water was from the wells of Zamzam. So they burried the well of ZamZam, until there was no sign of it.
Khuza’ah looked for the well and could not find it, thus they were forced to bring the water from outside of Makkah...but they still had control over Makkah. As for Zamzam..it was burried, and no sign of it was apparent, until Abdul-Muttalib reclaimed it.
Khuza’ah had control over Makkah for 300-500 years. Their leader was Amr b. Luhai.
Amr b. Luhai was was the most noble man in Makkah. No one dared disobey him. He the most richest and gernerous person in the Arabian Penninsula. He would feed all those who came for Hajj himself, and give them shelter.
Amr b. Luhai’s words and commands was taken like a Shari’ah. No one would disobey his orders. He would never order with anything except that it was fulfilled.
One day while Amr b. Luhai, travelled to Sham, and near the border of Sham, he found a tribe called the Amaaliq. They were worshipping Idols. The Arabs did not know the idols. They were all on the Pure Tawheed. Amr asked them...‘What are those idols for?’ They answered him, ‘They feed us when we are hungry, and help us when we need help. They give us water, and they bring us closer to Allah.’
Amr was amazed and happy with this. He said, ‘Give me one, so that it would help us too, in Makkah.’ They agreed and gave him an idol called ‘Hubul.’ He brought the idol with him to Makkah.
This was the first idol ever entered in the Ka’bah. He placed the idol near the Ka’bah, and ordered people to worship it. The people responded immediately. He brought more idols into the Penninsula. He also ordered that each Arab tribe take an idol and that they worship it near the Ka’bah.
He also commanded everyone to worship idols, but with a condition that if they did not have an idol they take a rock from Makkah and worship it. So the people started taking rocks from Makkah, and worshipping them. By this way idolatry spread by the command of Amr b. Luhai.
The Prophet Muhammad, may Allah exalt his mention, said in the hadeeth narrated by Bukhari and Muslim and others,

Before him everyone was on the pure Tawheed, after his commands, the people became idol-worshippers.
He also changed the Talbiyyah. The Arabs would say, ‘Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik, Labbaika laa sharika laka labaik. Innul Hamda wun-ni’mata laka wul mulk laa sharika luk.’
Meaning, ‘Here I am, O Allah here I am. There is no associate with You. Here I am Surely, all praise and graces are Yours, and so is the dominion! There is no associate with you.’
Amr added to it, ‘Illa sharikun huwa luk, tamlikuhu wama malak.’
Which means, ‘Except for an associate who belongs to You. You own it and whatever it owns.’
So he added with the Talbiyyah the Talbiyah of Shirk.
He also devised the policy of the sacred animals. An example, whichever animal gives birth to ten, it would have saved itself from sacrifice. It cannot be ridden, nor slaughtered, nor is it to be touched, and should be held sacred.
Other idols brought in after Hubul were, ‘Wudd’ for the tribe of Bani Kalb, ‘Suwaa’ which was worshiped by Bani Hudthail, ‘Wa’ghooth’ which was worshipped by Tai’ and Jarush. ‘Wa’ooq’, which was worshipped by, Hamadhan, and ‘Nasr’ which was worshipped by the people of Yemen. Hubul was specailly for Quraish.
The strangest idols were..Isaaf and Na’illah. Isaaf was a man from Yemen. Na’illah was a girl from the Yemen. They were in love. Isaaf proposed to Na’illah’s family, but her father refused. So they both planned to meet each other in Hajj, near the Ka’bah. So they met, and while people were unaware, he did the evil with her, by the Ka’bah. This is a very grave sin, and near the Ka’bah! Allah punished them by transforming them into two rocks, with His divine power.
After this Isaaf and Na’illah were moved towards the Safa and Marwah. Isaaf was placed on Safa, while Na’illah on Marwah, both were placed as rocks. This was done so people could see the punishment of the evildoers.
After a time, people forgot about the story of Isaaf and Na’illah, except a few. Amr ordered that these two idols be placed near the Ka’bah, he then ordered people to worship them.
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, in his Caliphate, would sometimes cry and laugh without any apparent reason. This happened for some time, until one of the Muslims asked him about this. He said, ‘O Ameer al-Mu’mineen, we see you cry and laugh sometimes without any apparent reason.’ He said as for my crying, we used to in the Jahilliyah, before Islam, hate the girls. It was so that if one of us was told that you had a daughter, his face would darken, and the person would be saddened.
He said, ‘I was told that I had a baby daughter, I became very sad, and upset. I kept patience, and I hated this girl, I kept her until she reached six years of age. When she was this age, I took her with me to the desert, and dug a hole, then I burried my daughter alive. As I was digging and since the mud was quite dry it went into my beard, she would clean my beard for me. I then buried her alive. Allah says in the Qur’an, ‘And when the female (infant) buried alive, shall be questioined: For what sin was she killed. The Pagan Arabs, would bury their daughters alive.
He said as for the reason behind my laughter, he said, ‘that when we used to leave Makkah, we would take with us a rock so that we could worship it, but one time I forgot to take with me a rock. When I wanted to worship, I didn’t have a rock with me from Makkah. How would I worship? I searched for something and found that I had dates from Makkah. So I took those dates, and made from them a structure. And I began to worship the dates. After I finished worshipping and became hungry. I had nothing except those dates, I ate the very dates I worshipped.

Christianity and Judaism in the Arabian Penninsula

How did Christianity and Judaism enter the Arabian Penninsula?
How did the Persians enter the Arabian Penninsula?
When the Prophet was given the Message, Yemen was controlled by the Persians. The Province of Najran was Christian, Yemen was a mix which contained many Jews. Jews were also in Madinah and Khaibar. How did this all occur?

As for Yathrib (Madinah), and Khaibar, some Jews came from Shaam, and they settled there. But the majority of the Jews settled in Yemen. Najran was totally Christian. Yemen was controlled by Jews.
There is a long story behind this. Many of the historians start the story off with Ra’bia b Nasar. His story is mentioned in Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Ibn al-Atheer and others. When the Shirk, and falsehood spread, the Sorcerors, and fortune tellers were in control over the condition of the people. Rabia b. Nasar, saw a dream, which the sorcerors, translated it to be that the Ahbaash will overtake Yemen. He said how long will it take for them to do this? He said, from sixty to seventy years. Rabia became scared, that the Ahbaash would take control of his family. He then took his family to Iraq, and took over rule of the people in Heerah. The Famous king, an-Nu’man b. Mundthir, is from his offspring.
So the reason for an-Nu’man b. Mundthir being the ruler over there was the dream that Rabia saw. Rabia b. Nasar died, and his children took over the rule after him. This continued, until one of the children of Rabia b. Nasar, whose name is Tabban Us’sudd, whose title was Tub’ba. This was the title then given to the rulers of Yemen. Likewise the rulers of Rome were called Qaisar, the rulers of Persia called Kisra, the rulers of Egypt Fir’awn, and the rulers of the Ahbaash an-Nug’aashi. Every place has its own title for its ruler.

So the ruler of Yemen was called Tub’ba. The most famous ruler of Yemen, was Tub’ban Us’sudd. He was a great King. Very rich, and generous. He was the ruler of the whole of Yemen. He liked to travel from place to place. He went from Yemen to Shaam. Once on his way to Shaam, he left one of his sons in Yathrib to trade and make business. He himself went to Shaam. While he was on his way to Shaam, there was a difference between his son and the people of Yathrib. So they killed him. When this news reached him, he returned to Yathrib to punish them, for what they had done. So the wars started between Yemen and the people of Yathrib. Here he saw amazing things. The people of Yathrib would fight with him in the Day, and at night when each army retreated, the people of Yathrib, who were very generous, would offer him food and gifts. He was very suprised. What kind of generosity was this? They fight at day, and give gifts at night?

Tub’ba and the Two Jewish Scholars

But Tub’ba wanted to have revenge for his son. While he was like this, two Jewish scholars who came from Shaam, went to Tub’ba. They talked to him for awhile.
The two scholars then asked Tub’ba, ‘What do you want?’ He said, ‘I want to destroy Yathrib.’ They said: ‘Allah would destruct you before you destruct it.’ He asked them, ‘How do know this?’ They said, ‘This is a city in which there will be a Prophet.’ He then asked them, ‘How did you know?’ They said, ‘This is in our Taurah.’
When Tub’ba heard about the Taurah, he asked what it was, they began explaining to him about the Taurah, and explained to him the Tawheed. His chest opened to the truth, so he became a Jew. He then left Yathrib.
He passed by Makkah. Hudthail hated the people of Makkah, and the people of Yemen. So they wanted to engage the two in a war, so they could get rid of the two.
The Hudthail people went to Tub’ba and said do you want jewels, gold, and other precious things? He said, ‘Yes.’
They said, ‘In this city there is a people who glorify a House, which is filled with precious items, gold, and jewels.’
This is true, since the Arabs would bury gold and precious items under the Ka’bah. They glorified it so much, that buried under it are two gold gazals. Tub’ba prepared himself to destroy the Ka’ba, and take the wealth that was under it. The two Jewish scholars went with him to teach his people the Deen. They saw people getting ready. So they went to Tub’ba and said what is the matter? He said, ‘I want to attack that village, and destroy the house that is there and take the gold that is buried there.’
They told him, ‘By Allah those from Hudthail only wanted your demise.’ He exclaimed, ‘how is that?’
They said, ‘We do not know any house for Allah except that House.’ He said what do you order me with? They said, ‘Glorify it and make Tawaf around it.’ He asked them, ‘Why don’t you do it with me?’ They said, ‘We would have, but the House is filled with statues and idols. Since we are scholars it is not right for us.’ Tub’ba listened to them. He glorified the Ka’bah, and made Tawaf around it. He then spent the night there. In his sleep he saw a dream, in which he was covering the Kabah with a cloth. The Kabah was, before an uncovered structure. He ordered that a cloth be made by which the Ka’bah would be covered. It was made from wool. The Ka’bah was then covered with it. He then saw in his dream that it was covered with a better cloth. So he ordered that the Ka’bah be covered with malail. This is a thin expensive cloth from Yemen. This was the first Kiswah (covering) of the Kabah.
The first person to do this was Tabban b. Us’Sud.’ This practice continued. The Arabs then starting putting Kiswah on top of Kiswah until the time of Quraish, the time of Abdul-Muttalib. At this time the Arabs felt that all the Kiswah on top of the Kabah would demolish the Kabah. So they removed all the coverings. They then began to put a covering every year. This is the story behind the Kiswah.
After Tub’ban Us’sud returned to Yemen, he called his people to accept Judaism, but they refused. The people of Yemen worshipped numerous things among which was the Fire. In fact the main thing they worshipped was the Fire. So they said to Tub’ban, we will take the Fire as a Judge. They had a fire burning in a house. If two had an argument, they would go to the Fire, and open the door, the fire would then leap out when the door was opened. Whoever the Fire touched first was the wrongdoer. The other would be the one who was on the right. The Fire-Worshippers said, we will take put our argument before the Fire. The two scholars took their Taurah and started to read and stood by the door. The sorcerors, also stood by the door. The people of Yemen stood in watch. When the door was opened the Fire immediately burned the Sorcerors, so they took off. Their people then said, how do you take off from the Fire? This is the ruling. Return back. The returned and they repeated it. The door was opened and the Fire came upon the sorcerors. They stood in their spot firmly and the Fire, burned them alive. So the people after seeing this, entered Judaism. This is the only report we have which tells us how the people of Yemen accepted Judaism.
Tub’ban Us’sad passed away, and he was succeeded by his son Hassan. Hassan, enlarged his kingdom, and he become over confident, he also thought highly of himself. One day he prepared a large army and said, ‘By Allah I will attack the Arab and the non-Arab.’ He wanted to rule the lands. He asked, ‘Who has the greatest kingdom in the world?’ They told him, ‘The Persians.’ He said, ‘I will begin with it.’ They are the first ones I will finish off.
He prepared a large army, and prepared himself to attack, Persia. Persia was the greatest empire at that time.
His army while on their way, were saying to one another, who can attack the Persians? Who are we to attack the Persians? Hassan was very cautious. Nobody was allowed to enter in his palace even from those of them who were his advisors, except that they would be searched. Nobody was allowed to enter upon him except with a search except his brother, Amr the son of Tubba. They said we will talk to Amr.
They said to him, ‘Get rid of Hassan, and we will consider you the king in his place.’ He became greedy, so they plotted against his brother. All the advisors plotted against Hassan, except one man. His name was Dhuru-Ain. He told Amr, ‘Nobody killed his brother, except that he felt pain and saddness, do not kill your brother.’ But Amr was too greedy to listen. So Dhuru-Ain, came to Amr and gave him a letter. He said to Amr, keep this letter with you. Take it out whenever I want it from you.’
Amr then entered upon his brother, and killed him. They could have done something else. They could have taken him off the throne, or demoted him. But he was so greedy and into ruling, that he did not want any problems in the future.
When he killed his brother, he felt very sick. He could not go to sleep. So he asked the sorcerors and doctors, they all told him that all the sickness is from killing his brother. They advised him to kill all those who took part in the plotting of killing his brother.
So he killed all those who advised him to kill his brother. He also wanted to kill Dhuru-Ain, but he said to him, I left with a letter. I want you to take it out. He took it out, and then he said read it. He opened it and there were two lines of poetry in them.
They were,
Who is the one who sells sleep for staying up? The Happy is the one who stays happy.
As for the Himyaris (the people of Yemen) They betrayed and plotted, But Dhiru-Aini has an excuse to the Ilaah.
From these two lines, Amr did spared Dhiru-Ain.
After Amr died, the children of Rabia b. Nasar, fought amongst themselves over Yemen. The whole of Yemen became disunited. Lots of wars were fought between the different tribes in Yemen.
In this troubled time there was a man named Li-khunai’a dhi Shanata. He was a criminal. He had a group of followers, who helped him with his crimes. In this time, his followers gathered around him, till he formed a small army, with which he took control over the capital of Yemen, and became the ruler. He was a very evil man. Everybody hated him. Dhu Nawas, one of the children of Tub’ban Us’sad, assasinated Li-khunai’a. After this Dhu-Nawas became the ruler of Yemen, and the rule had returned to the children of Tub’ba.

Christianity in Najran

When Dhu-Nawas was ruling, a small occurence happened in Najran. It may seem small, but from it a large change occured in Yemen. A Christian priest, who was following the pure religion of Eesa in Najran. He believed that there was no god but Allah. He left Shaam to go to Africa so he could call people to the religion. On his way he was confronted by a group of criminals. They got hold of him, and jailed him, and sold him to a man from Najran. So the man took him to the Arabian Penninsula. The priests name was Fi-moyn. Fi-moyn became a slave by this way. He would serve his master, but would worship Allah in his spare time. He had many Karamah (miracles).
One day his master entered upon him, and he found around Fi-moyn a light at night. He said what is this? What is your religion? So the priest explained to him his religion. The man was unsure. At that time in Najran people were worshipping a tree. Fi-moyn saw that he was unsure. So he said, to his master, ‘If my God destroys your god... will you worship my god?’
He said, ‘If your god destroys my god, then of course I will worship your god.’
He then said, ‘Set the date so that people can see it, so the people can see what my god will do to your god.’
The people gathered on the set day near the tree...And Fi-moyn kept beseeching and asking Allah making du’aa. Allah answered his du’aa, and sent down a thunderbolt on the tree and it burned. The people of Najran when they saw this, accepted Christianity.
A man from Najran, his name was Abdullah b. Thamir, went to Yemen with a group of monks. They would worship on Saturday, because they were afraid of the Jews.
The King Dhu-Nawas, had sorcerors, and he wanted to teach one boy the rites of Sorcery, so that he could be the greatest sorceror. He searched for the greatest sorceror, and find him to be a man on the top of a mountain. He chose a bright, young child, so that he could be the greatest sorceror. He would send him everyday to that sorceror. One of the monks that came from Najran, was living on the way to the mountain. The boy would pass by the monk and listen to his recitation, and hymns. It amazed him so, that he sat with the monk and learned from him, then he would go to the sorceror and also learn the rites of sorceroy from him. As the days passed by he hated the sorcerory and its rites. He did not go the sorceror afterwards, he would solely go to the monk and learn from him.
The Sorceror, asked Dhu-Nawas b. Tubban Us’sad, about the boy. He said that he did not come to him. The king asked the boy why he did not go, but he refused to answer him. So the King followed the boys path, and found that he went to the monk. He tortured the monk, that he would leave his religion, when he refused, he killed the monk. Then he took the boy, and tried to make him learn sorcerory...but to no avail. He tortured him but he still refused. So he ordered that he be killed. They took him in a boat, so that they could drown him in the sea. But as they were in the middle of the sea, the sea became rough, and everyone drowned except the boy.
The king ordered that the boy be taken to a mountain and be thrown from it. The army took him, there but as they were about to throw him, an earthquake took place, from which all the army were killed except the boy.
All the people of Yemen were watching these occurences.
However he wanted to kill him he could not. Finally the boy said, ‘You will not be able to kill me. Except in one way.’ The King asked, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘You gather the people, and tie me to a tree, then you take my arrow and my bow, and shoot it and say Bismillah, by the Rubb of this boy.’ If you hit me you kill me.
The king ordered all the people to gather. He tied the boy to the tree and took his bow and arrow, and shot it saying, ‘Bismillah, the Rubb of this boy.’ The arrow hit the boy, and it killed him.
The people after seeing this, said that the king could not kill the boy with all his might, with all his strength. He could not kill him only after he took the leave of the boy’s Rubb! 20 000 people from Yemen entered Christianity by this occurence on that day.
Look at this boy he sacrificed himself to spread the Da’wah, he was martyred for the sake of the Da’wah.
Dhu Nawas was very angry. How did they enter Christianity, and they were not obeying his orders.
He ordered that the Ukhdood be dug. The Ukhdood was a very deep pit. He ordered that the pits be filled with wood, and that it be set on fire. He then said to the people. Forsake the new religion or else, I will throw you into the pit of fire.
The people refused to leave their new religion. So Dhu Nawas began throwing them into the Fire. In a great story which is mentioned by the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, in authentic sources. Allah also mentioned the story in the Qur’an in Surat al-Burooj.
The Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, even said, ‘One of the women that were about to be thrown in the Fire, had a small baby with her. She felt afraid for her baby. She became hesitant. So the child spoke out, and this is of the miracles mentioned by the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, it is in Bukhari. The child said, ‘O mother, throw yourself, for you are about to enter Jannah.’
From the 20 000 that were killed, a man escaped. His name was Daws dthu Tha’la’baan. Dhu Nawas’s army chased after him until they reached a muddy area. They could not chase after him there. So he escaped. Daws dthu Tha’la’baan was safe.
He began to think of ways on how to take revenge from Dhu Nawas, and the evil that he did to his people. He began looking for someone that could help him.
He thought of Ceaser, he was a Christian like them. He was the greatest king after Kisra. He travelled until he reached Ceaser. He talked to Ceaser, and asked him to help him against Dhu-Nawas, and the evil he did against his people. He told Ceaser how Dhu-Nawas killed the Christians. Ceaser was a very religious person. He was very angry. But he couldn’t do anything since Yemen was very far away. He said, ‘We are very far from you.’
He said, ‘I’ll tell you what to do. Go to Nagashi. He is a Christian, and he is closer to you.’
So Ceaser sent with Daws a group of Messengers, to Nagashi, who told Nagashi to support Daws dthu. Tha’la’baan.
The letter reached Nagashi, and he was very angry with Dhu-Nawas and what he did to the Christians.
Nagashi prepared a great army of 70 000 thousand men. Nobody saw an army like this before. The leader of the army was a man named Aryaad, and among the army was a man whose name was Abraha.
The army reached Yemen by boats. The war was fought, between Dhu Nawaas and Aryaad. Dhu Nawaas was defeated, but did not surrender himself. He fled, and the army followed him. He then fled to the sea, and they followed him. They kept following until they saw he killed himself. Dhu Nawas said, that it is better for me to kill myself, and not them kill me.
The Arabs had this pride in them, that they did not want to die on the hands of their enemies.
The Ahbaash then took control over Yemen. This is how they took control over Yemen.
Aryaad ruled Yemen under the name of Nagashi. Aryaad began to wrong people in every way. He even began to wrong his own army and all the Ahbaash that came with him. Abraha had no patience with him. He was able to gather a group of the leaders of the army, and divided the army in two. He then declared war on Aryaad.
Aryaad took his army and they both met. Before the battle started. Abraha sent to Aryaad, let us sit down and talk. We both put our weapons aside and talk. He agreed to this. They met without weapons. Abraha said, ‘Why should we destroy Habasha? If we fight, we will kill the Ahbaash with the Ahbaash. The people of Yemen will once again rule. There is no good in this for both of us. Aryaad said what is the appropriate way to solve this? He said, only me and you fight. Whoever wins he is the one that will rule. Aryaad agreed.
Now the war instead of being between two armies, was taking place between to people.
Aryaad and Abraha fought a very had fight. Aryaad hit Abraha with his sword and cut off his nose. This is why Abraha is called Abrahah al-Ashram (cut of nose).
Abraha turned the tables, and fought a very hard fight and killed Aryaad. This way Abraha became the ruler over the Yemen.
When Nagashi heard this he became very angry. Nagashi made a oath that he would take his army by himself to Yemen, and shave off the hair of Abraha, a sign of despise, and disgrace.
When Abraha heard this, he was very scared. He could not fight Nagashi. So Abraha cut his hair off by himself. Abraha then sent his hair and soil from Yemen, with a messenger to Nagashi. He then said, ‘O Nagashi you have fulfilled your oath.’ This is my hair and this is the soil of Yemen, so you can step on it. I did not do what I did only until Aryaad wronged us. I am your follower. I am still under your rule, and serve you....’
Nagashi was happy with this.
Even though Nagashi was happy, Abraha was still scared. So he wanted to do something which would show that he was the follower of Nagashi. He ordered that a great Church be built in Yemen. He called it Qulais. When it was finished. He sent to Nagashi, that he built for him a great Church for you. And I will order all the Arabs to make Hajj to this Church.’
Abraha then sent to all the Arab tribes that they should make Hajj to the Church (Qulais).
The letter reached one of the tribes of the Arabs called Ahlin Nasee. The word Nasee means to delay.

The People of Nasee

Who are those people of Nasee?
They were a people who held the Ka’bah in the greatest respect. They had a special status with the Arabs. The Arabs as we said were on the Deen of Ibraheem. But when the scholars died, the deen finished. Some things were left of it. Such as the Tawaf, Sa’ee, holding the sacred months as sacred. The four sacred months are Rajab, Dhul-Qidah and Dhul-Hijjah and Muharram. In these four months it is unlawful to start a fight. It is Haram to initiate a fight in these months. That is why they are called Hurum (Sacred). Any fight that takes place in these sacred months was called Harb Fujaar (a sinful war). The Arabs made five Fujaar wars, in the sacred months.
The fifth was witnessed by the Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention. When Hawazin attacked, Makkah, i.e. Qur’aish. The Prophet, may Allah exalt his mention, stood to protect his people. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah exalt his mention, said, ‘I would prepare the bows and arrows for my uncles on the day of Fujaar.’ He was very young, and would pass the arrows to his uncles.
The Arabs under normal circumstances would not fight in these months.
The months once again were Rajab by itself, then three months consecutively. Many Arab tribes, lived on continuous war. They would take each others women, children and wealth. They lived in a great chaos. The three consecutive sacred months were hard for them to bear. So the Arabs, appointed a group of people whom they called ahlin-Nasee, they said that those have the right to delay Muharram until Safar. That is that they changed the Safar with Muharram. So Dhul-Qidah would be Haram, Dhil-Hijjah also would be haram. But then Muharram would not be after Dhul-Hijjah, Safar would be after it.
So if the Ahlin-Nasee said that if the year Safar was before Muharram, then it would become Halaal (Lawful) to fight. Then Muharram would come after Safar and it would be Haram once more.
Allah says in the Qur’an, that they are originally Kaafirs, and this Nasee is going more deep into kufr.