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The Makkan Period, Part 3: The Religious Background of Arabia

Section 11 of 16 · The Life of the Prophet Muhammad: The Makkan Period

The Survivor and the Negus of Abyssinia

There's one person who survived, and this person travelled all the way to visit the Roman Emperor. Now, he went to the Roman Emperor because the Roman Emperor was Christian — even though these two people would be different Christian sects, because by that time the Romans might have already adopted the Trinity and the divinity of ʿĪsā, but they still considered themselves to be followers of ʿĪsā. 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 al-Najāshī, 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 al-Najāshī, the Negus. And he sent an army, led by a general named Aryāṭ, and Aryāṭ invaded Yemen and fought with Dhū Nuwās. And Dhū Nuwās, when he lost, he committed suicide — they say that he was on his horse, and he just jumped into the Red Sea and killed himself. So he lost, and now 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 Yemen.