ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Hayat Al-Qulub, Vol. 1, Stories of the Prophets An Account Of The Makers Of The Pit Almighty Allah says in the holy Qur’an: ‘Killed (or cursed) be the makers of the pit, of the fire (kept burning) with fuel, when they sat by it, and were witnesses of what they did with the believers (that is, they give witness before their King or on the Day of Judgment or their own limbs and organs will testify against them), and they did not take vengeance on them for aught except that they believed in Allah, the Mighty, the Praised.’ (85:4-8) ‘Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated that the man who had incited the people of Abyssinia to fight against the people of Oman was Zoonawaas, the last of the kings of himyar.

He had adopted the religion of Jews and the himyar tribe had also become Jews. He had also adopted the name Yusuf for himself. They continued to follow that religion for quite some time. Then the people informed them that there was a group of people in Najran who followed the religion of Jesus. Of course they had remained steadfast in the religion of ‘Isa and were acting according to the commandments of Injeel (Bible). Their leader was ‘Abdullah bin Yamin.

The flatterers of Zoonawaas incited him to attack Najran and to destroy them or to force them to revert to Judaism. So Zoonawaas entered Najran, gathered the people and forced them to enter the Jewish faith. They refused to do so. He applied much force but still the people did not agree. Finally, zoonawaas got pits dug in the ground, filled them with wood and put it on fire. He threw many people in that fire, killed many with swords and tortured some to painful death.

Thousands were killed in this way. One of the oppressed, Doos, mounted a horse and fled. The king’s men followed him but could not catch him. Then Zoonawaas returned to Sana’a with his army. The above verses of the Holy Qur’an refer to that event. It is recorded from authentic chains from Imam Muhammad al-Baqir that once Amir al-Mu’minin called a Christian priest from Najran and inquired about the story of the makers of the pit from him. He narrated it in his own way.

‘Ali said, No, it is not like that. Listen, I tell you what had happened. Allah had appointed a Prophet for the people of Abyssinia from among themselves. But the people rejected him and fought with him. He killed many companions of the Prophet and arrested many along with the Prophet.