Sirat Ibn Hisham 24
Something of Tubban's career
[ دَعْوَةُ تُبَّانَ قَوْمَهُ إلَى النصرانيَّة، وَتَحْكِيمُهُمْ النَّارَ بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَهُ ] ثُمَّ خَرَجَ مِنْهَا مُتَوَجِّهًا إلَى الْيَمَنِ بِمَنْ مَعَهُ مِنْ جُنُودِهِ وَبِالْحَبْرَيْنِ، حَتَّى إذَا دَخَلَ الْيَمَنَ دَعَا قَوْمَهُ إلَى الدُّخُولِ فِيمَا دَخَلَ فِيهِ، فَأَبَوْا عَلَيْهِ، حَتَّى يُحَاكِمُوهُ إلَى النَّارِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ بِالْيَمَنِ. قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو مَالِكِ بْنِ ثَعْلَبَةَ بْنِ أَبِي مَالِكِ القُرَظيُّ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ إبْرَاهِيمَ بْنَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ طَلْحَةَ بْنِ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ يُحَدِّثُ: أَنَّ تُبَّعًا لَمَّا دَنَا مِنْ الْيَمَنِ لِيَدْخُلَهَا حَالَتْ حِمْيَرُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ ذَلِكَ: وَقَالُوا: لَا تَدْخُلُهَا عَلَيْنَا، وَقَدْ فَارَقْتَ دِينَنَا، فَدَعَاهُمْ إلَى دِينِهِ وَقَالَ: إنَّهُ خَيْرٌ مِنْ دِينِكُمْ، فَقَالُوا: فَحَاكِمْنَا إلَى النَّارِ؛ قَالَ: نَعَمْ، قَالَ: وَكَانَتْ بِالْيَمَنِ - فِيمَا يَزْعُمُ أَهْلُ الْيَمَنِ - نَارٌ تَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ فِيمَا يَخْتَلِفُونَ فِيهِ، تَأْكُلُ الظَّالِمَ وَلَا تَضُرُّ الْمَظْلُومَ، فَخَرَجَ قَوْمُهُ بِأَوْثَانِهِمْ وَمَا يَتَقَرَّبُونَ بِهِ فِي دِينِهِمْ وَخَرَجَ الْحَبْرَانِ بِمَصَاحِفِهِمَا فِي أَعْنَاقِهِمَا مُتَقَلِّدَيْهَا، حَتَّى قَعَدُوا لِلنَّارِ عِنْدَ مَخْرَجِهَا الَّذِي تَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ، فَخَرَجَتْ النَّارُ إلَيْهِمْ، فَلَمَّا أَقْبَلَتْ نَحْوَهُمْ حَادُوا عَنْهَا وَهَابُوهَا، فَذَمَرَهُمْ مَنْ حَضَرَهُمْ مِنْ النَّاسِ، وَأَمَرُوهُمْ بِالصَّبْرِ لَهَا، فَصَبَرُوا حَتَّى غَشِيَتْهُمْ، فَأَكَلَتْ الْأَوْثَانَ وَمَا قَرَّبُوا مَعَهَا، وَمَنْ حَمَلَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ رِجَالِ حِمْيَرَ، وَخَرَجَ الْحَبْرَانِ بِمَصَاحِفِهِمَا فِي أَعْنَاقِهِمَا تَعْرَقُ جِبَاهُهُمَا لَمْ تَضُرَّهُمَا، فَأُصْفِقَتْ عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ حِمْيَرُ عَلَى دِينِهِ، فَمِنْ هُنَالِكَ وَعَنْ ذَلِكَ كَانَ أَصْلُ الْيَهُودِيَّةِ بِالْيَمَنِ. قَالَ ابْنُ إسْحَاقَ: وَقَدْ حَدَّثَنِي مُحَدِّثٌ أَنَّ الْحَبْرَيْنِ، وَمَنْ خَرَجَ مِنْ حِمْيَرَ، إنَّمَا اتَّبَعُوا النَّارَ لِيَرُدُّوهَا، وَقَالُوا: مَنْ رَدَّهَا فَهُوَ أَوْلَى بِالْحَقِّ، فَدَنَا مِنْهَا رِجَالٌ مِنْ حِمْيَرَ بِأَوْثَانِهِمْ لِيَرُدُّوهَا فَدَنَتْ مِنْهُمْ لِتَأْكُلَهُمْ، فَحَادُوا عَنْهَا وَلَمْ يَسْتَطِيعُوا رَدَّهَا وَدَنَا مِنْهَا الْحَبْرَانِ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ وَجَعَلَا يَتْلُوَانِ التَّوْرَاةَ وَتَنْكُصُ عَنْهُمَا، حَتَّى رَدَّاهَا إلَى مَخْرَجِهَا الَّذِي خَرَجَتْ مِنْهُ، فَأُصْفِقَتْ عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ حِمْيَرُ عَلَى دِينِهِمَا، وَاَللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ أَيُّ ذَلِكَ كَانَ
Translation
✧ [Tubbaʿ’s call of his people to Christianity, and their arbitration by the fire between them and him] Then he left it, heading toward Yemen with the troops who were with him and with the two rabbis, until, when he entered Yemen, he called his people to enter into what he had entered, but they refused, unless they should arbitrate with him before the fire that was in Yemen. Ibn Isḥāq said: Abū Mālik b. Thaʿlabah b. Abī Mālik al-Quraẓī related to me, saying: I heard Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad b. Ṭalḥah b. ʿUbayd Allāh relate that when Tubbaʿ drew near Yemen to enter it, Ḥimyar came between him and that, and said: “You shall not enter it against us, for you have departed from our religion.” So he called them to his religion and said: “It is better than your religion.” They said: “Then arbitrate with us before the fire.” He said: “Yes.” He said: There was in Yemen—as the people of Yemen assert—a fire that judged between them in whatever they differed about: it consumed the wrongdoer and did not harm the one wronged. So his people went out with their idols and what they drew near to God with in their religion, and the two rabbis went out with their scriptures hung around their necks, until they sat before the fire at its outlet from which it came forth. The fire came out to them, and when it came toward them, they turned aside from it and feared it. Those of the people present urged them on and commanded them to endure it, so they endured until it overwhelmed them, and it consumed the idols and what they had offered with them, and those men of Ḥimyar who carried that. The two rabbis came out with their scriptures around their necks, their foreheads sweating, and it did not harm them. At that Ḥimyar agreed upon his religion, and from that and because of that was the origin of Judaism in Yemen. Ibn Isḥāq said: A traditionist related to me that the two rabbis and those of Ḥimyar who went out only followed the fire to drive it back, and they said: “Whoever drives it back is more deserving of the truth.” So men of Ḥimyar drew near to it with their idols to drive it back, and it drew near to them to consume them, so they turned aside from it and could not drive it back. Then the two rabbis drew near to it after that and began to recite the Torah, and it retreated from them until they drove it back to its outlet from which it had come forth. At that Ḥimyar agreed upon their religion. And God knows best which of those it was.
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