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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Hayat Al-Qulub, Vol. 1, Stories of the Prophets Accounts of Rulers and Kings Allah says in the holy Qur’an: “Are they better, or the people of Tuba and those before them? We destroyed them, for surely they were guilty. 44:37” Here ‘they’ refers to the Qurayshite disbelievers or deniers. There is a difference of opinion about whether Tuba had believed or he died on Kufr.

Some say the holy verse refers to Tuba and the people of his community whom Allah destroyed. Some say Tuba had believed and his community remained on Kufr and was annihilated by Divine chastisement. This conclusion is weightier. It is recorded in reliable sources that Imam as-Sadiq said, Tuba said to Aus and Khazraj: You may stay here in Medina until the Prophet of the last age appears. If he comes during my life time, I will definitely help him in rising against his enemies.

And Sunnis (non-Shi‘ah) have mostly reported from the holy Prophet that “Do not abuse Tuba as he was a Muslim.” It is related by Ka’b al-Ahbar that Tuba was a good-natured pious man and that Allah has condemned his community not him. With authentic chains it is reported from Imam al-Ridha that a man (from Syria) asked Amir al-Mu’minin as to why Tuba was called ‘Tuba’? ‘Ali replied, “Because when he was a boy he was a scribe of the king of his time.

Whenever he wrote any letter (etc...) for the king, he started it with these words on the top of the letter: (Meaning: I begin and seek grace from the Allah Who created the morning and the wind). The king used to insist that he begin writing the letter with the name of king Raad but he insisted that: I will begin only in the name of my Allah. Thereafter I will write whatever you say.

As a reward of this deed Allah Almighty turned the regime of that king in his favor and the people followed and obeyed him and therefore he is called Tuba.” It is mentioned in a reliable tradition that Jabir bin Isma‘il bin Jabir says: Once I was traveling with my friends between Makkah and Medina and we were talking about Ansar. Some said that people belonging to various tribes had gathered and some said they were from Yemen. Finally, we went to Imam as-Sadiq resting under a tree. We sat there.

Before we could ask him anything, he said surprisingly: Tuba arrived from Iraq and the people belonging to Ulama and the Prophets’ progeny were with him. They reached the valley known as belonging to the Huzail tribe.