The story of Tubba'
When Rabi'a b. Nasr died the whole kingdom of the Yaman fell into the hands of Hassan b. Tiban As'ad Abu Karib
It was Tiban As'ad Abu Karib who went to Medina and took away to the Yaman two Jewish Rabbis from thence. He adorned the sacred temple and covered it with cloth. His reign was before that of Rabi'a b. Nasr.
When he came from the east he had passed by Medina without harming its people; but he left behind there one of his sons who was treacherously slain. Thereupon he returned with the intention of destroying the town and exterminating its people and cutting down its palms. So this tribe of the Ansar gathered together under the leadership of Amr b. Talla the brother of B. al-Najjar.
Now a man of B. Adiy b. al-Najjar called Ahmar had fallen upon one of the followers of Tubba' when he brought them to Medina and killed him, because he caught him among his palms cutting the date clusters; he struck him with his sickle and killed him, saying 'The fruit belongs to the man who cultivates it.' This enraged the Tubba' against them and fighting broke out. Indeed the Ansar assert that they used to fight them by day and treat them as guests by night. Tubba' was amazed at this and used to say: ' By God our people are generous!'
While Tubba' was occupied in this fighting there came two Jewish rabbis from B. Qurayza, learned men well grounded in tradition. They had heard about the king's intention to destroy the town and its people and they said to him: 'O King, do not do it, for if you persist in your intention something will happen to prevent your carrying it out and we fear that you will incur speedy retribution.' When the king asked the reason for this they told him that Yathrib was the place to which a prophet of the Quraysh would migrate in time to come, and it would be his home and resting-place. Seeing that these men had hidden knowledge the king took their words in good part and gave up his design, departed from Medina and embraced the rabbis' religion.
This tribe of the Ansar claim that the Tubba' was enraged only against this tribe of the Jews who were living among them and that it was only his intention to destroy them, but they protected them until he went his way. Therefore in a verse they said:
In rage against two Jewish tribes who live in Yathrib
Who richly deserve the punishment of a fateful day.
Now the Tubba' and his people were idolaters. He set out for Mecca which was on his way to the Yaman, and when he was between 'Usfan and Amaj some men of the Hudhayl came to him saying, 'O King, may we not lead you to an ancient treasury which former kings have overlooked? It contains pearls, topaz, rubies, gold, and silver. Certainly, said he, and they added that it was a temple in Mecca which its people worshipped and where they prayed. But the real intention of these people was to encompass his destruction, for they knew that any king that treated it with disrespect was sure to die. Having agreed to their proposal he sent to the two rabbis and asked their opinion. They told him that the sole object of the tribe was to destroy him and his army. 'We know of no other temple in the land which God has chosen for Himself, said they, and if you do what they suggest you and all your men will perish. The king asked them what he should do when he got there, and they told him to do what the people of Mecca did: to circumambulate the temple, to venerate and honour it, to shave his head, and to behave with all humility until he had left its precincts.
The king asked why they too should not do likewise. They replied that it was indeed the temple of their father Abraham, but the idols which the inhabitants had set up round it, and the blood which they shed there, presented an insuperable obstacle. They are unclean polytheists, said they- or words to that effect.
Recognizing the soundness and truth of their words the king summoned the men from the Hudhayl and cut off their hands and feet, and continues his journey to Mecca. He went round the Ka'ba, sacrificed, and shaved his head, staying there six days sacrificing animals which he distributed to the people and giving them honey to drink.
It was revealed to him in a dream that he should cover the temple, so he covered it with woven palm brances; a later vision showed him that he must do better so he covered it with Yamani cloth; a third vision induced him to clothe it with fine striped Yaman cloth. People say that the Tubba' was the first man to cover the temple in this way. He orders its Jurhumi guardians to keep it clean and not to allow blood, dead bodies, or menstruous cloths to come near it, and he made a door and a key for it.
Subay'a d. al-Ahabb had by him a son called Khalid; and in impressing on him the sanctity of Mecca and forbidding him to commit grievous sin there, she reminded him of Tubba' and his humility towards it and his work there, in the following lines:
O my son, oppress neither the mean nor the great in Mecca.
Preserve its sanctity and be not led away.
He who does evil in Mecca will meet the worst misfortune.
His face will be smitten and his cheeks will burn with fire.
I know from certain knowlesge that the evildoer there will perish.
God has made it inviolate though no castles are built in its court.
God has made its birds inviolate and the wild goats on Thabir are safe.
Tubba' came against it, but covered its buildings with embroidered cloth.
God humbled his sovereignty there so he fulfilled his vows,
Walking barefoot to it with two thousand camels in its courtyard.
Its people he fed with the flesh of Mahri camels.
Gave them to drink strained honey and pure barley-water.
(God) destroyed the army of the elephant,
They were pelted with great stones,
And (God destroyed) their kingdom in the farthest lands
Both in Persia and Khazar.
Hearken therfore when you are told the story
And understand the end of such things.
Afterwards he set forth for the Yaman with his army and the two rabbis, and when he reached his own country he invited his people to adopt his new religion, but they refused until the matter could be tested by the ordeal of fire which was there.
Abu Malik b. Tha'laba narrate that when Tubba' drew near to the Yaman the Himyarites blocked his path, refusing to let him pass because he had abandoned their religion. When he invited them to accept his religion on the ground that it was better than theirs, they proposed that the matter should be subject to the ordeal by fire. The Yamanites say that a fire used to settle matters in dispute among them by consuming the guilty and letting the innocent go scatheless. So his people went forth with their sacred books hanging like necklaces from their necks until they halted at the place whence the fire used to blaze out. On this occasion when it came out the Yamanites withdrew in terror, but their followers encouraged then and urged them to stand fast, so they held their ground until the fire covered them and consumed their idols and sacred objects and the men who bore them. But the two rabbis came out with their sacred books, sweating profusely but otherwise unharmed. Thereupon the Himyarites accepted the king's religion. Such was the origin of Judaism in the Yaman.
Another informant told me that the two parties only went up to the fire to drive it back, for it was held that the one who succeeded in driving it back was most worthy of credence. When the Himyarites with their idols came near to drive the fire back, the fire came out against them and they withdrew unable to withstand it. Afterwards, when the two rabbis came reciting the Torah, the fire receded so that they drove it back to the place from which it had emerged. Thereupon the Himyarites accepted their religion. But God knows which report is correct.
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