The king of Yaman and the story of Shiqq and Satih, the two soothsayers
Rabi'a b. Nasr, is the king of Yaman. He had a vision which terrified him and continued to cause him much anxiety. So he summoned every soothsayers, sorcerer, omenmonger, and astrologer in his kingdom and said: 'I have had a vision which terrifies me and is a source of anxiety. Tell me what it was and what it means.' They replied: 'Tell us the vision and we will tell you its meaning.' 'If I tell you it,' said he, 'I can have no confidence in your interpretation ; for the only man who knows its meaning is he who knows about the vision without my telling him.' Thereupon one of them recommended him to send for Shiqq and Satih, for they knew more than others and would be able to answer his questions.
So he sent for them and Satih arrived first. The king then repeated his words, ending, 'If you know the vision you will know what it means.'
Satih replied:
A fire you did see
Come forth from the sea.
It fell on the low country
And devoured all that be.
The king agreed that this was exactly what he had seen, and what was the meaning of it all? He answered:
By the serpent of the lava plains I swear
The Ethiopian on your land shall bear
Ruling from Abyan to Jurash everywhere.
The king exclaimed that this was distressing news, but when would these things come to pass- in his time or after him? He replied: that more than sixty or seventy years must first pass. Would the new-comers' kingdom last? No, an end would be put to it after seventy years or more; then they would be slain or driven out as fugitives. Who would do this? Iram. Dhu Yazan, who would come against them from Aden and not leave one of them in the Yemen. Further questions drew the information that their kingdom would not last, but a pure prophet to whom revelation came from on high would bring it to an end; he would be a man of the sons of Ghalib b. Fihr b. Malik b. al-Nadr. His dominion would last to the end of time. Has time an end? asked the king. Yes, replied Satih, the day on which the first and the last shall be assembled, the righteous for happiness, the evildoers for misery. Are you telling me the truth? the king asked.
Yes, by the dark and the twilight
And the dawn that follows the night
Verily what I have told you is right.
Later Shiqq arrived and the king acquainted him with the facts but did not tell him what Satih had said, so that he might see whether they agreed or differed. His words were:
A fire you did see
Come forth from the sea.
It fell between rock and tree
Devouring all that did breathe.
Perceiving that they agreed one with the other and that the difference was a mere choice of words, the king asked Shiqq for his interpretation:
By the men of the plains I swear
The blacks on your land shall bear
Pluck your little ones from your care
Ruling from Abyan to Najran everywhere.
The king put the same questions to him and learned that after his time:
There shall deliver you from them one mighty, great of name
And put them to the utmost shame.
He would be:
A young man neither remiss nor base
Coming forth from Dhu Yazan's house, his place,
Not one of them shall leave on Yaman's face.
He continued in answer to the questions already put to his predecessor: His kingdom shall be ended by an apostle who will bring truth and justice among men of religion and virtue. Dominion will rest among his people until the Day of Separation, the day on which those near God will be rewarded, on which demands from heaven will be made which the quick and dead will hear, men will be gathered at the appointed place, the God-fearing to receive salvation and blessing. By the Lord of heaven and earth, and what lies between them high or low I have told you but the truth in which no doubt lies.
What these two men said made a deep impression on Rabi'a b. Nasr and he dispatched his sons and family to Iraq with all that they might need, giving them a letter to the Persian king who let them settle in al-Hira.
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