ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib The Call For Mubahalah Or Imprecation Najran is in the north of Yemen about ten stages away from San`a’. It was a fertile area with 73 settlements those days. In those conglomerates about forty thousand Christians lived. They were initially idol worshippers like the Arabs but a Christian hermit, Fimiyūn, who earned his living as a mason, converted them to Christianity. Fimiyūn was a migrant from Rome.

It was his selfless missionary zeal that the entire population converted to Christianity. Very soon, Najran became an important centre of Christianity. They constructed a Church for performing their religious rites. This was built with the skins of the camels and became famous as Ka`b Najran. People assembled there for prayers and made offers. In addition to the offerings made at the Church, its income was 200,000 annually that were used for the upkeep of the hermits and the pastors.

When Islam progressed after the conquest of Makkah, and the warring groups capitulated, the Prophet (a.s) invited those tribes that had not embraced Islam until then. In 10H a message was sent to the Christians of Najran as well. They were asked to embrace Islam or start paying jizyah as the subjects of the Islamic Dominion. When the Bishop of Najran read the Prophet’s letter, he gathered all the important persons of the area and discussed the matter with them.

he told them that they should all put their head together and devise the strategy to find a solution for the problem. Although the news created a commotion in the population, the braves started talking of battle. The Bishop calmed them down. When he talked to the people, there were different suggestions to face the situation. In the end, after much deliberation, they decided to send a delegation to al-Madinah and talk to the Prophet (a.s).

Therefore, a delegation of 14 persons under the leadership of `Aqib al-Sayyid and Abū-Harithah was constituted. Abū-Harithah was an eminent scholar of Christian Faith and Aqib Sayyid was known for his sagacity and wisdom. When the delegation arrived at al-Madinah, the people were surprised at the grandeur of their raiment! Earlier no other delegation had arrived with such pomp!