178
ʾILÂM-EN-NÂS.
this, behold! they passed by a Christian monk[1] in his
- ↑ It is difficult to assign the precise era at which Christianity was introduced into Arabia. It is the universal belief of the Eastern Churches that St. Thomas preached in Arabia Felix and Socotra on his way to India, about A.D. 50. It is also said that the Himyarites obtained their first knowledge of Christianity from St. Bartholomew. ʾAbd-Kelál, the ruler of el-Yémen from A.D. 273 to 279, is said to have embraced Christianity, though from fear of his subjects he never openly professed it, nor does Christianity appear to have made any considerable progress in Arabia until the next reign, that of the Tobba[sub 1] Ibn-Hásan, from A.D. 297 to A.D. 320. It is generally supposed to have been in his reign that Christianity was also established in Abyssinia, an event which in after-years seriously affected the fate of Arabia. The ruler of el-Yémen in A.D. 490 was Zhu-Nawwás, a zealous partisan of Judaism, who cruelly persecuted all the Christians within his dominions. The greater number of the inhabitants of the district called Nejrán had embraced Christianity, and upon the pretext of the murder by them of two Jews, Zhu-Nawwás besieged the city with 120,000 men. Failing to take it by force, he assured the inhabitants, upon oath, that no evil should happen to them if they opened their gates. They therefore surrendered; but no sooner had Zhu-Nawwás entered the town than he plundered it, and gave the inhabitants their choice between Judaism and death. They preferred the latter; accordingly large pits were dug and filled with burning fuel, and all who refused to abjure their faith, amounting it is said to 20,000, were either cast into the flames or slain by the sword. One of the few who escaped this massacre traversed Arabia, Syria, and Asia Minor, and at last reaching Constantinople, implored the Emperor Justin I. to take up the cause of the persecuted Chris-
- ↑ Tobba signified governor or ruler, and was a title common to the princes of the Himyarite dynasty.
