Dhu Nuwas
Dhu Nuwas | |
---|---|
Predecessor | Himyar |
Died | 530 CE Red Sea |
Religion | Judaism |
Dhū Nuwās, (
History
Ibn Hisham's Sīrah (better known in English as the Life of Muhammad), describes the exploits of Yūsuf Dhū Nuwās. Ibn Hisham explains that Yūsuf was a convert Jew who grew out his sidelocks (nuwās) and became known as "he of sidelocks." According to the Arab traditions, he took power after having killed his supposed predecessor, Dhu Shanatir, with a knife hidden in his shoe.[8] The historicity of Dhū Nuwās is affirmed by Philostorgius and by Procopius (in the latter's Persian War). Procopius writes that in 525, the armies of the Christian Kingdom of Aksum of Ethiopia invaded ancient Yemen at the request of the Byzantine emperor Justin I to take control of the Himyarite Kingdom, then under the leadership of Yūsuf Dhū Nuwās, who rose to power in 522, probably after he assassinated Dhu Shanatir.
Ibn Hisham explains the same sequence of events under the name of "Yūsuf Dhū Nuwās." Following this invasion, the supremacy of Judaism in the Kingdom of Ḥimyar, as well as in all of Yemen, came to an abrupt end. Imrū' al-Qays, the famous Yemeni poet from the same period, in his poem Taqūl Lī bint al-Kinda Lammā ‘Azafat, laments the death of two great men of Yemen, one of them being Dhū Nuwās, and regards him as the last of the Himyarite kings:
Art thou not saddened how fate has become an ugly beast,
the betrayer of its generation, he that swalloweth up people? It has removed Dhū Nuwās from the fortresses
who once ruled in the strongholds and over men
[a]
One Syriac source appears to suggest that the mother of Dhū Nuwās may have been a Jew hailing from the Mesopotamian city of Nisibis.[9][b] If so, that would place her origins within the Sassanid imperial sphere and would illuminate possible political reasons for his later actions against the Christians of Arabia, who were natural allies of the Byzantine Empire.[9]
Many modern historians, except for Christopher Haas, have argued that her son's conversion was a matter of tactical opportunism since Judaism would have provided him with an ideological counterweight to the religion of his adversary, the Kingdom of Aksum and it also allowed him to curry favour with the Sasanian emperor.[10]
Persecution of Christians
According to Ibn Ishaq, a king of Himyar, Dhu Nuwas, had burned the Christians in Najran, and an invading army from Aksum occupied Yemen. Dhu Nuwas, unwilling to be captured, chose to commit suicide by drowning in the sea. According to the Arab traditions, he deliberately rode his horse into the Red Sea, and subsequently he drowned. The Himyarite Kingdom itself was said to have been ruled by the Dhu Yazan family of Yemenite Jews.[10]
According to a number of medieval historians, who depend on the account of
Based on other contemporary sources, Dhu Nuwas, after seizing the throne of the Ḥimyarites around 518 or 522, attacked Najran and its inhabitants, captured them and, burned their churches. The destruction fell out on Tuesday, during the 15th day of the lunar month Tishri, in the year 835 of the Seleucid era counting (corresponding with year 524 CE).[12][13] After accepting the city's capitulation, he massacred its inhabitants who would not renounce Christianity. Earlier, the Himyarite monarch had attacked and killed the Abyssinian Christians who had settled in Zafar.
According to the Arab historians, Dhu Nuwas then proceeded to write a letter to the
Military campaigns
The name Yūsuf 'As'ar Yath'ar, which is believed to mean the same as Yūsūf Dhū Nuwās, appears in an old South Arabian inscription.
According to ‘Irfan Shahid's Martyrs of Najran – New Documents, Dhu Nuwas sent an army of some 120,000 soldiers to lay siege to the city of
Jacques Ryckmans, who deciphered the Sabaean inscriptions, writes in his La persécution des chrétiens himyarites that Sarah'il Yaqbul-Yaz'an of the
King Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar, described in an inscription as the "king of all nations," led the major tribes of
Names and family
Dhu Nuwas' family is not very well known. There is debate on who his father is; the earlier Arab scholars and the Jewish Encyclopedia believed that Dhu Nuwas was the son of the earlier Himyarite king
As for the real name of Dhu Nuwas, the archeological inscriptions already prove his real name to have been Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar.[20] The Arab historians with the exception of Ibn Abbas all cite his real name as being Zur'ah while the name Yusuf comes later after his conversion to Judaism. Some sources also state his name was Masruq.[9] Either way, it is agreed upon that Dhu Nuwas had the name Yusuf during his rule.
Inscriptions regarding Dhu Nuwas
Najran inscription (518 CE):[21][22]
The first line :
Sabaean: ليبركن الن ذ لهو سمين وارضين ملكن يوسف اسار يثار ملك كل اشعبن وليبركن اقولن
Arabic: ليبارك الله الذي له (ملك) السماوات والأرض الملك يوسف أسار يثأر ملك كل الشعوب وليبارك الأقيال
- God who owns the heavens and the earth bless king Yusuf Asar Yathar, king of all nations and bless the Aqials
Third line:
Sabaean: خصرو مراهمو ملكن يوسف اسار يثار كدهر قلسن وهرج احبشن بظفر وعلي حرب اشعرن وركبن وفرسن
Arabic: الذين ناصروا سيدهم الملك يوسف أسأر يثأر عندما أحرق الكنيسة وقتل الأحباش في ظفار وعلى حرب الأشاعرة وركبان وفرسان
- Who they stand with their master, King Yusuf Asar Yathar, when he burned the church and killed the Habashah (Abyssinians) in Dhofar and war on (Habashah) in Ash'aran and Rakban (regions) and Farasan
Fifth line:
Sabaean: وكذه فلح لهفان ملكن بهيت سباتن خمس ماتو عثني عشر االفم مهرجتم واحد عشر االفم سبيم وتسعي
Arabic: وقد أفلح الملك في هذه المعركة في قتل 12500 اثناعشر الف وخمسمائة قتيل و11090 أحد عشر ألف وتسعين اسير
- The king has succeeded in these battles in the killing of 12,500 and capturing 11,090
Sixth line:
Sabaean: وثتي ماتن االفن ابلم وبقرم وضانم وتسطرو ذن مسندن قيل شرحال ذي يزن اقرن بعلي نجرن
Arabic: وغنم مئتي الف رأس من الابل والبقر والضان وقد كتب هذه المسند القيل شرحال ذي يزن عندما رابط في نجران
- Booty of two hundred thousand camels, cows, sheep, and this Misnad (inscription) was written by Sharaḥ'īl Yaqbul dhu Yaz'an when camped in Najran
Seventh line:
Sabaean: بشعب ذ همدن هجرن وعربن ونقرم بن ازانن واعرب كدت ومردم ومذحجم واقولن اخوتهو بعم ملكن قرنم
Arabic: مع شعب همدان والعرب والمقاتلين اليزنيين وأعراب كندة ومراد ومذحج واخوته الأقيال الذين رابطوا مع الملك
- With the nation of Madh'hijand his brothers the Aqials who camped with the king
Eighth and ninth lines:
Sabaean: ببحرن بن حبشت ويصنعنن سسلت مدبن وككل ذذكرو بذل مسندن مهرجتم وغنمم ومقرنتم فكسباتم
Arabic: على البحر من جهة الحبشة واقاموا سلسلة من التحصينات في باب المندب وجميع الذين ذكروا بهذا المسند قاتلوا وغنموا ورابطوا في هذه المهمة
- On the sea from the side of Habashah (Abyssinia) And they set up a series of fortifications in the Bab al-Mandab and all who mentioned in this Musnad they fought and took booty and camped in this mission
Sabaean: اوده ذ قفلو ابتهمو بثلثت عشر اورخم وليبركن رحمنن بنيهمو شرحبال يكمل وهعن اسار بني لحيعت
Arabic: وعادوا في تاريخ ثلاثة عشر وليبارك الرحمن ابناء شرحبال يكمل وهعن واسار بني لحيعت
- And they returned in the history of thirteen and Rahman(god) bless Sharhabil Akmal and Wh'an and Asar Bni Lhi't
Notes
- ^ The entire poem is brought down only in a-Ṭūsī's version of the dīwān (concerning which, see the words of the editors of Imrū al-Qays, Dīwān imrī al-qays wa-mulḥaqātuh bi-šarḥ abī sa‘īd al-sukkarī, ed. Abū Suwaylim & al-Šawābika, Muḥammad, UAE 2000, p. 105–110), while the two stanzas which are shown here in brackets have been taken from al-‘Iqd al-ṯamīn (ibid., p. 714, n. 1). The two stanzas have also been included in an abridged version of the poem, Imrū al-Qays, Dīwān imrī al-qays, Ed. al-Ayyūbī, Yāsīn, Beirut 1998, p. 472–473.
- ^ Irfan Shahid, in the Introduction to his book, Martyrs of Najran (published in 1971), quotes from the Nestorian Chronicle from Saard (Séert) edited by Addai Scher (see: Patrologia Orientalis vol. IV, V and VII), compiled shortly after anno 1036 CE from extracts of old Syriac historical works no longer extant, saying: "… In later times there reigned over this country a Jewish king, whose name was Masrūq. His mother was a Jewess, of the inhabitants of Nisibis, who had been made a captive. Then one of the kings of Yaman had bought her and she had given birth to Masrūq and instructed him in Judaism. He reigned after his father and killed a number of the Christians. Bar Sāhde has told his history in his Chronicle."
- ^ Irfan Shahid, in the Introduction to his book, Martyrs of Najran (published in 1971), quotes from the Nestorian Chronicle from Saard (Séert) edited by Addai Scher (see: Patrologia Orientalis vol. IV, V and VII), compiled shortly after anno 1036 CE from extracts of old Syriac historical works no longer extant, saying: "… In later times there reigned over this country a Jewish king, whose name was Masrūq. His mother was a Jewess, of the inhabitants of Nisibis, who had been made a captive. Then one of the kings of Yaman had bought her and she had given birth to Masrūq and instructed him in Judaism. He reigned after his father and killed a number of the Christians. Bar Sāhde has told his history in his Chronicle."
References
- ISBN 978-1-000-82096-6.
- hdl:10023/15321.
- ISSN 0259-9422.
- ^ Ali ibn Al-Athir. The Complete History (in Arabic). p. 19.
وقال ابن عباس: كان بنجران ملك من ملوك حمير يقال له ذو نواس واسمه يوسف بن شرحبيل
- ^ "DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Epigraph details". dasi.cnr.it. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
- ^ Umair Mirza (1998-01-01). History of Tabari - Volume 5.
- ^ "DHU NUWAS, ZUR'AH YUSUF IBN TUBAN AS'AD ABI KARIB - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-04-20.
- ISBN 0196360331.
- ^ a b c d e Jonathan Porter Berkey, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800, Cambridge University Press, 2003 p.46.
- ^ ISBN 9789004264274.
- Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1999), pp. 78-84.
- ^ Jacques Ryckmans, La Persécution des Chrétiens Himyarites, Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Inst. in het Nabije Oosten, 1956
- OCLC 516915.
- ^ Salo Wittmayer Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews (vol. 3), Philadelphia 1957, pp. 67–68.
- ^ A. Jamme, W.F., Sabaean and Ḥasaean Inscriptions from Saudi Arabia, Instituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente: Università di Roma, Rome 1966, p. 40.
- ^ Jacques Ryckmans, La persécution des chrétiens himyarites au sixième siècle, Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Inst. in het Nabije Oosten, 1956 pp. 1–24; A. Jamme, W.F., Sabaean and Ḥasaean Inscriptions from Saudi Arabia, Instituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente: Università di Roma, Rome 1966, p. 40
- ^ Jacques Ryckmans, La persécution des chrétiens himyarites au sixième siècle, Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut in het Nabije Oosten: Istanbul 1956, p. 14 (French)
- ^ AbdurRahman.org (2014-01-31). "The Story of the Boy and the King (from Surah Burooj) : Ibn Kathir". AbdurRahman.Org. Retrieved 2024-03-22.
- ISBN 978-1-59333-515-1.
- ^ A. Jamme, W.F., Sabaean and Ḥasaean Inscriptions from Saudi Arabia, Instituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente: Università di Roma, Rome 1966, p. 40.
- ^ Bi'r Ḥimā Inscription: 1 2 3 4
- ^ Jawad al-Ali Sabians p41
External links
- Dhu Nuwas, Zur'ah Yusuf ibn Tuban As'ad abi Karib - 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article.
- Jewish Warriors