When Isa (Jesus) (a) was sent, some of his followers dispersed in the land. Christianity was dividing into many sects at its early stage itself. Misguidance was introduced very early on in the sects of Christianity turning many of them to become disbelievers. However there were pockets of believers here and there who were able to retain the true Christian Faith that was preached by Isa (a) – believing in the oneness of Allah and that Isa (a) was a messenger of Allah rather than being the son of God.

One of these men (true believers) made into Yemen and started preaching in the area of Najaraan – spreading it secretly, privately and slowly. By that time, Thabbaan Asad was dead and the king of Yemen was his son Abu Nawas or Dhu Nawas.

News of the new religion reached the king and he banned it. He persecuted the followers. There is a story in Sahih Muslim of the king and the young boy. Many scholars attribute the story to Dhu Nawas and the Christians in Yemen.

The king used to deal in magic and he had a sorcerer as an advisor. The sorcerer was growing old in age and he told the king, “I am getting old and might pass away soon. I need to train someone to take my place. I need to inherit my skills to someone who would carry on”.

So they tried to find a very bright and intelligent young man. They assigned him as an apprentice with this sorcerer. He was supposed to leave home very early on in the morning to go and study under the sorcerer, and come back home at night. This young man on his way towards the sorcerer so a worship place. He heard prayers coming from it which were different and decided to visit the place. It was a Church of thouheed (Unity of Allah) preaching the true religion of Isa (a).

The young man was very impressed by what he was hearing, but he was supposed to be studying with the sorcerer. He asked the priest – “What can I do?”

The priest told him, “When you leave home, visit me in the morning to study before you go to sorcerer. If the sorcerer asks how come you are late, tell him – my parents delayed me. On your back from sorcerer, visit me. When you get home and if your parents ask - how come you are late? Tell them that the sorcerer delayed me. You can take a class in the morning and another in the evening.”

The young man continued doing it for a while. One day in the market place, certain beast entered and caused chaos. No one was able to deal with it. This young man said, “Oh Allah, today I want to know whether the path of the priest or the path of the sorcerer is the truth.” Everyone in the market place attempted and no one succeeded. The young man picked up the rock and said, “If the path of the priest is the truth, then kill the animal.” He threw the rock successfully killing the animal immediately.

The young man went to the priest and related what happened. The priest told him, “My son, today you have attained a very high status. Therefore you will be tested.”

No one can attain such a high status without being tested by Allah. In exams, the better the student the difficult the exam should be; because you want to tell the difference between the levels of the students. There are easy questions which everyone could answer, then the medium difficulty one, followed by difficult and very difficult one to assess the grade of the student.

Similarly, Allah (SWT) has brought us to this earth for a test and according to your level you will be tested. Rasoolullah (SAW) says, “The ones who go through the most difficult tests are the “anbiya”, and then it goes down according to your level.”

So this priest was telling the young man that he will be test and said, “when you are tested, do not disclose my name”. The priest was doing his da’wah in secret and he doesn’t want his name to be exposed. This is not out of fear but due to the security of the da’wah.

The associate of the king was blind and he came to this young man to cure him, because the young man was the disciple of the sorcerer and is the expert. The young man told the associate, “I can not cure you, but Allah can heal you” and he healed the man.

When the king asked the associate, who is now cured from blindness, “who cured you?”

“Allah”, the man replied.

“And do you have a God other than me?”

“Yes, Allah is my Lord and your Lord.”

The king tortured this friend of his and told him to disclose the name of the person who taught him this. Under the persecution, he gave up the name. The king brought in the young man and started to torture him. The boy under duress and pain did give the name of the teacher – the priest. He could not sustain the pain and suffering that he was going through. The priest was brought in and was told by the king to give up his religion. The priest refused. So they brought a saw, placed it on top of the priest’s head and cut him into two. The priest was a courageous and wise man. He had the perseverance without giving up his religion.

They are now left with the young man. The king ordered a group of his soldiers to carry up this young man and throw him from the top of a cliff. The young man made du’a to Allah, “Oh Allah, take care of them the way You want”. Allah (SWT) made them reach to the top of the cliff and then the cliff started to shake. All of the soldiers fell down except the young man. He survived. Allah was performing karamaath on the hand of this young man. (Karamaa is a miracle that would happen to a non-prophet and mu’jiza are miracles that would happen to Prophets; but they are both supernatural events).

The young man walked back to the palace of the king, “Here I am again”. So the king appointed another group of soldiers to take the young man on a ship and to throw him deep into the water. When they were in the boat, the young man made the same du’a again, “Oh Allah, take care of them the way You want to”. The boat capsized and they all drowned except for him. He went back to safety.

He went back to king who was ready to appoint another set of soldiers to take him, when the young man told him, “Wait, you are not going to be able to kill me. Unless you do what I tell you.”

“What is it?” asked the king.

“You tie me to a tree, gather everyone, and bring an arrow and say – bismillah, the Lord of the boy. Then you would be able to kill me”.

The young man told him the prescription of how to kill him and the king followed instructions publicly saying “In the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy”. The arrow hit the young man right into his head and he died immediately. The result of his death was that everyone who witnessed it became Muslim. The intention of the young man was da’wah and it very well succeeded even though it cost his life.

The advisors of the king said, “What you were afraid of happened”. The whole purpose of killing this young man was to get rid of this religion and no they are stuck with the whole nation becoming Muslim (actually its Christian who believes in the oneness of Allah).  

Abu Nawas instructed his soldiers to dig trenches, fill them with wood and ignite them. Anyone who refused to give the religion forced down to the fire. The soldiers would bring loads of people and burn them alive. These were people who are holding firm to their faith without giving it up. Rasoolullah (SAW) says there was a woman with her child, an infant, in her arms walking towards the fire but then a little hesitant thinking of her child. But then the infant spoke, “Oh mother, be patient because you are following the true path”. Hearing this she jumped to the fire with the child. Rasoolullah (SAW) says there are three who spoke in young age, this infant was one of them.

This story is recorded in Surathul Burooj – talking about the ones who are burned. Allah (SWT) says in the chapter of Holy Qur’an that people were victorious. Its interesting to note that while we know they were killed, they did not establish any khilafa; it was the king who won. However, Allah (SWT) says the people had a “great victory” because they were able to hold onto their faith until their last moment; just like Yasser the father of Ammaar, Sumayyah, and Hamza bin Muthalib winning Jannah.

There was one person who survived the torment of Abu Nawas. He travelled all the way to visit the Roman emperor seeking help. He went to the Roman emperor because the emperor was a Christian even though they belong to different sect. By that time, Romans may have already adopted the trinity and the divinity of Isa, but they still considered themselves as followers of Isa (a). The escaped person told the emperor what had happened and that they were persecuted and killed.

The Roman emperor said, “We are too far from Yemen, but what we can do is send a message to the Nejaashi – the Negus of Abyssinia – who’s also a Christian and he can help you.” Based on the message received by Negus from Roman emperor, Nejaashi sent an army led by a General named Ariyaadh who fought with Dhu Nawas and invaded Yemen. Dhu Nawas, when he lost, committed suicide jumping from his horse to the Red Sea.

Now, the Abyssinians were ruling parts of Yemen. They did this as a revenge for the Christians who were killed by the Jews of Yemen. Ariyaadh ruled Yemen for a while; he was very strict. One of his army Generals, Abraha, staged a revolt against him and the Abyssinians in Yemen were divided now fighting.

Ariyaadh told Abraha, “If we kill each other, the people of the land will take over. So how about a one-o-one fight?” Abraha agreed, but he made a secret deal with some of his security guard that “if you see me loosing, jump in and help”. Ariyaadh, a tall and thin man, and Abraha, a short and chubby man, started fighting in the middle of a huge crowd. Ariyaadh was able to strike Abraha from the top and chopped off his nose. When that happened, the security guard jumped in and killed Ariyaadh. Abraha who was called – Abraha al-ashram – meaning Abraha the chopped off nose took over rule of Yemen.

The Arabs were so upset with Ariyaadh that they built, in the place of his death, a monument that they would stone because of his betrayal.

Abraha wanted to change the religion of the people and force them to become Christian. Since the Arabs were attached to al-Kaaba, he decided to build a counterpart to al-Kaaba in Sana in Yemen. He built a huge Cathedral called al-Kullais – a wonderful piece of art, huge and great – with access of wealth from Abyssinia to compete with al-Kaaba. One man didn’t like this idea and did something crude. He went into al-Kullais, defecated inside, spread it all over the walls and then ran away. Abraha was furious. He was so angry that he determined to get rid of al-Kaaba.

He mobilized some army and marched towards Mecca. There was some resistance along the way. One of them was the chief of tribe – Nufail – who put some resistance was defeated and captured as prisoner of war.

When Abraha reached at-Thaayif, the people of at-Thayif assisted Abraha. One of them, Abu Rughal, offered Abraha to be a guide for the rest of the Journey. He set out with the army from at-Thaayif; but then he died immediately after they step out of at-Thaayif.

Abraha made it to the outskirts of Mecca and found of some shepherds with camels grazing. They took possession of these camels. Two hundred of these camels belong to Abdul Muthalib, the grand father of Rasoolullah (SAW). Abdul Muthalib came out of Mecca to meet with Abraha using some connections. Abdul Muthalib happened to be a friend of Nufail, the prisoner of war. Nufail was carried along with the army and had befriended with a man called Unais who was an important person in the army – the pilot of the elephant. At that time, elephants were one of the most important pieces of equipment in the army. So Abdul Muthalib came to Nufail and told him he wants to speak with Abraha. Nufail said he will arrange a meeting through Unais.

Unais arranged the meeting Abraha who welcomed Abdul Muthalib. Anyone would be impressed by the strong physique of Abdul Muthalib; he was described as being a strong person. When Abdul Muthalib walked in, Abraha hold him in high esteem even though they didn’t even talk yet. The rule is Abraha sits on a very high throne and people sit under his feet. However, when Abraha saw Abdul Muthalib, he didn’t feel comfortable at all having Abdul Muthalib sit under him, but he could not allow Abdul Muthalib sit with him on the throne because no body could sit on the throne except he. So what he did is he come down from his throne and sat with Abdul Muthalib on the floor. He told the interpreter to ask Abdul Muthalib – what does he need?

Abdul Muthalib straight ahead told the interpreter, “Abraha has taken possession of two hundred of my camels. I want them back”. Abraha responded and said, “When I saw, I had so much respect for you. But I have lost it all. I am coming to destroy your honor and the honor of your fathers. I am coming to destroy the center of your livelihood – the kaaba and your asking me about camels?”

“I am the owner of the camels. So, I am responsible for them. And this house belongs to Allah and Allah will protect it.” Abdul Muthalib responded.

Abraha said, “Give him back his camels”.

Abdul Muthalib went back to Mecca and he told the people of Mecca, “Do not fight. Withdraw out of Mecca.” They all went up to the mountains. Abdul Muthalib was the last one to leave and before he left, he was hanging on the door of al-Kaaba. He was praying to Allah (SWT) to protect His house and then he left.

Abraha issued instructions for his army to march forth, but the elephant refused to move. They turned the elephant to different directions, he would stand up running. They turn him towards the direction of Mecca, he would sit down. This is a miracle from Allah. Its also said in the story that the prisoner of war, Nufail, released himself from his chains and he jumped to the ear of the elephant and said, “This is the house of Allah, do not attack it” and he ran away. Whether that was the reason or not, the elephant refused to March forward to the direction of Kaaba. They would beat it and start poking it with their spears making it bleed. It still refused to move. Eventually they decided to leave behind the elephant.

They made their move forward without the elephant. Allah (SWT) sent on them an army of birds. No one knows the soldiers of Allah. Anything can be the soldiers of Allah. Water which is the source of life killed the tyrant pharaoh (firaoun). Wind is the soldier of Allah. Allah (SWT) says no one knows His soldiers but Him. The army of birds carried missiles that were sent on the army of Abraha destroying all of them. This event is recorded in Surathul Feel (chapter of the elephant).

These are the events up to the year when Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihi wassalam was born. He was born in the year of the elephant.

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