Sirat Ibn Hisham 41
The affair of the elephant and the story of the nasiʾah
أَمْرُ الْفِيلِ وَقِصَّةُ النَّسَأَةِ [ بِنَاءُ الْقُلَّيْسِ ] ثُمَّ إنَّ أَبْرَهَةَ بَنَى الْقُلَّيْسَ بِصَنْعَاءَ، فَبَنَى كَنِيسَةً لَمْ يُرَ مِثْلُهَا فِي زَمَانِهَا بِشَيْءِ مِنْ الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ كَتَبَ إلَى النَّجَاشِيِّ: إنِّي قَدْ بَنَيْتُ لَكَ أَيُّهَا الْمَلِكُ كَنِيسَةً لَمْ يُبْنَ مِثْلُهَا لِمَلِكِ كَانَ قَبْلَكَ، وَلَسْتُ بِمُنْتَهٍ حَتَّى أَصْرِفَ إلَيْهَا حَجَّ الْعَرَبِ، فَلَمَّا تَحَدَّثَتْ الْعَرَبُ بِكِتَابِ أَبْرَهَةَ ذَلِكَ إلَى النَّجَاشِيِّ غَضِبَ رَجُلٌ مِنْ النَّسَأَةِ. أَحَدُ بَنِي فُقَيْمِ بْنِ عَدِيِّ بْنِ عَامِرِ بْنِ ثَعْلَبَةَ بْنِ الْحَارِثِ بْنِ مَالِكِ بْنِ كِنَانَةَ بْنِ خُزَيْمَةَ بْنِ مُدْرِكَةَ بْنِ إلْيَاسَ مِنْ مُضَرَ. [ مَعْنَى النَّسَأَةِ ] وَالنَّسَأَةُ: الَّذِينَ كَانُوا يَنْسَئُونَ الشُّهُورَ عَلَى الْعَرَبِ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ فَيُحِلُّونَ الشَّهْرَ مِنْ الْأَشْهُرِ الْحُرُمِ وَيُحَرِّمُونَ مَكَانَهُ الشَّهْرَ مِنْ أَشْهُرِ الْحِلِّ، وَيُؤَخِّرُونَ ذَلِكَ الشَّهْرَ فَفِيهِ أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى: إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ يُضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُحِلُّونَهُ عَامًا وَيُحَرِّمُونَهُ عَامًا لِيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ [ الْمُوَاطَأَةُ لُغَةً ] قَالَ ابْنُ هِشَامٍ: لِيُوَاطِئُوا: لِيُوَافِقُوا؛ وَالْمُوَاطَأَةُ: الْمُوَافَقَةُ تَقُولُ الْعَرَبُ: وَاطَأْتُكَ عَلَى هَذَا الْأَمْرِ، أَيْ وَافَقْتُكَ عَلَيْهِ. وَالْإِيطَاءُ فِي الشِّعْرِ الْمُوَافَقَةُ، وَهُوَ اتِّفَاقُ الْقَافِيَتَيْنِ مِنْ لَفْظٍ وَاحِدٍ، وَجِنْسٍ وَاحِدٍ نَحْوَ قَوْلِ الْعَجَّاجِ - وَاسْمُ الْعَجَّاجِ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ رُؤْبَةَ أَحَدُ بَنِي سَعْدِ بْنِ زَيْدِ بْنِ مَنَاةَ بْنِ تَمِيمِ بْنِ مُرِّ بْنِ أُدَّ بْنِ طَانِجَةَ بْنِ إلْيَاسَ بْنِ مُضَرَ بْنِ نِزَارٍ. فِي أُثْعبُانَ المَنْجَنُونِ الْمُرْسَلِ ثُمَّ قَالَ: مُدُّ الْخَلِيجِ فِي الْخَلِيجِ الْمُرْسَلِ وَهَذَانِ الْبَيْتَانِ فِي أُرْجُوزَةٍ لَهُ.
Translation
✧ THE AFFAIR OF THE ELEPHANT AND THE STORY OF THE NASAAH [THE BUILDING OF AL-QULLAYS] Then Abraha built al-Qullays in Sanʿāʾ. He built a church the like of which had not been seen in its time in any part of the earth. Then he wrote to the Negus: "I have built for you, O king, a church the like of which has not been built for any king before you, and I will not cease until I divert to it the pilgrimage of the Arabs." When the Arabs spoke of that letter of Abraha to the Negus, a man of the Nasaʾah became angry—one of the Banū Fuqaym b. ʿAdī b. ʿĀmir b. Thaʿlabah b. al-Ḥārith b. Mālik b. Kinānah b. Khuzaymah b. Mudrikah b. Ilyās of Muḍar. [THE MEANING OF NASAʾAH] The Nasaʾah were those who used to intercalate the months for the Arabs in the Jāhiliyyah, making lawful a month of the sacred months and making sacred in its place a month of the lawful months, and delaying that month. Concerning that, Allah, blessed and exalted, revealed: "The postponing (nasīʾ) is only an increase in disbelief, whereby those who disbelieve are led astray; they make it lawful one year and sacred another year, to agree with the number that Allah has made sacred." [AL-MUWĀṬAʾAH IN LANGUAGE] Ibn Hishām said: "li-yuwāṭiʾū" means "li-yuwāfiqū" (to agree with). Al-muwāṭaʾah is agreement. The Arabs say: "Wāṭaʾtuka ʿalā hādhā al-amr" (I have agreed with you on this matter). Al-īṭāʾ in poetry is agreement, and it is the concurrence of two rhymes from one word and one kind, like the saying of al-ʿAjjāj—and the name of al-ʿAjjāj is ʿAbd Allāh b. Ruʾbah, one of the Banū Saʿd b. Zayd b. Manāh b. Tamīm b. Murr b. Udd b. Ṭānijah b. Ilyās b. Muḍar b. Nizār—in: "In a serpent the mangonel sent forth," then he said: "The surge of the channel in the channel sent forth." These two verses are in a poem of his.
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