Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (3/304)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

—or words to that effect—
They replied to him:
“We will not behave ignorantly toward you. Peace be upon you. Our deeds are ours and your deeds are yours; we seek only what is good for ourselves.”

It is said that the group in question were Christians from Najrān—Allah, exalted is He, knows best which of the two opinions is correct. It is also said—and Allah knows best—that the following verses were revealed concerning them:

“Those to whom We gave the Scripture before this believe in it; (52) and when it is recited to them they say, ‘We believe in it; indeed it is the Truth from our Lord. Even before it we were among those who submit.’ (53) Such people will be granted their reward twice because they have been patient; they repel evil with good, and out of what We have provided them they spend. (54) And when they hear idle talk they turn away from it and say, ‘For us are our deeds and for you your deeds. Peace be upon you; we seek not the ignorant.’” (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:52–55)

[Section]
Al-Bayhaqī states in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah (chapter: The Prophet’s Letter to the Negus): He narrated from al-Ḥākim, from al-Aṣamm, from Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Yūnus, from Ibn Isḥāq, who said:

“This is a letter from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to the Negus:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. This is a letter from Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah, to the Negus al-Aṣḥam, the great one of Abyssinia. Peace be upon whoever follows guidance, believes in Allah and His Messenger, and bears witness that there is no god but Allah alone with no partner—He has taken neither consort nor child—and that Muḥammad is His servant and His Messenger. I invite you with the call of Allah, for I am His Messenger. Submit and you will be safe. ‘Say: O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is just between us and you: that we worship none but Allah, associate nothing with Him, and that none of us take others as lords besides Allah. But if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims.’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:64) If you decline, upon you rests the sin of the Christians among your people.”

Al-Bayhaqī records this letter after the narrative of the migration to Abyssinia, yet its placement there requires reconsideration. The apparent case is that the letter was addressed to the Negus who later embraced Islam—after the arrival of Jaʿfar and his companions—and that it was sent when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wrote to the rulers of the earth inviting them to Allah shortly before the Conquest of Mecca, just as he wrote to Heraclius the Byzantine emperor, to Chosroes the king of Persia, to the ruler of Egypt, and to the Negus.

Al-Zuhrī said: “The Prophet’s letters to them followed one standard wording, and all of them contained this verse”—meaning the verse from Sūrat Āl ʿImrān. This passage is indisputably Medinan, for it occurs at the beginning of the sūrah, of which eighty-three verses were revealed concerning the delegation from Najrān, as we have explained in the Tafsīr; all praise and grace belong to Allah. Accordingly, the letter was sent to the second Negus, not the first, and the appearance of the epithet al-Aṣḥam in it is perhaps an insertion by a narrator according to his own understanding. Allah knows best.

More appropriate here is what al-Bayhaqī (3) likewise transmitted from al-Ḥākim, from Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Faqīh

(1) In Dalail an-Nubuwwah the reading appears as “la na'lu.” (2) Dalail an-Nubuwwah, vol. 2, p. 308 (including the bracketed passage). It is also transmitted by al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak, vol. 2, p. 623, in Kitab at-Tarikh, under the chapter on the First Migration to Abyssinia. (3) Dalail an-Nubuwwah, vol. 2, p. 309.

-أو كما قال- قالوا لهم: لا نجاهلكم، سلام عليكم، لنا أعمالُنا ولكم أعمالُكم لا نأْلُوَن (١) أنفسنا خيرًا. فيقال: إن النَّفَرَ من نصارى نجران؛ والله أعلم أيّ ذلك كان. ويقال: والله أعلم: إنَّ فيهم نزلت هذه الآيات: ﴿الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ (٥٢) وَإِذَا يُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِهِ إِنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ (٥٣) أُولَئِكَ يُؤْتَوْنَ أَجْرَهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا وَيَدْرَءُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ (٥٤) وَإِذَا سَمِعُوا اللَّغْوَ أَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ لَا نَبْتَغِي الْجَاهِلِينَ﴾ [القصص: ٥٢ - ٥٥] . [فصل] قال البيهقي في "الدلائل" (٢) : باب ما جاء في كتاب النبي ﷺ إلى النجاشي، ثم روى عن الحاكم، عن الأصم، عن أحمد بن عبد الجبَّار، عن يونس، عن ابن إسحاق قال: هذا كتابٌ من رسول الله ﷺ إلى النجاشي: [ "بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، هذا كتاب من محمد رسول الله إلى النجاشي] الأصحم عظيم الحبشة، سلامٌ على من اتَّبَع الهُدَى، وآمن بالله ورسوله، وشهد أنْ لا إله إلا الله وحدَهُ لا شريكَ له. لم يتَّخِذْ صاحبةً ولا ولدًا، وأنَّ محمدًا عبدُه ورسوله؛ وأدعوك بدعاية الله، فإنِّي أنا رسولُه، فأسلمْ تَسْلَمْ ﴿قُلْ يَاأَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضًا أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُولُوا اشْهَدُوا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُونَ﴾ [آل عمران: ٦٤] فإنْ أبَيْتَ فعليكَ إثْمُ النَّصَارَى من قومِك" . هكذا ذكره البيهقي بعد قصة هجرة الحبشة، وفي ذِكْره هاهنا نظر، فإن الظاهرَ أنَّ هذا الكتاب إنما هو إلى النجاشي الذي كان بعد المسلم صاحبِ جعفرٍ وأصحابه، وذلك حين كتَبَ إلى ملوكِ الأرض يدعوهم إلى الله – Exalté soit-Il – قُبيل الفتح، كما كتب إلى هِرَقْلَ عظيمِ الرُّوم قيصر الشام، وإلى كسرى ملك الفرس، وإلى صاحب مصر، وإلى النجاشي. قال الزُّهْري: كانت كتبُ النبيِّ ﷺ إليهم واحدة يعني نسخةً واحدة، وكلُّها فيها هذه الآية وهي من سورة آلِ عمران، وهي مدنيَّة بلا خلاف، فإنَّهُ من صَدْر السورة، وقد نزل ثلاث وثمانون آية من أولها في وَفْد نَجْرَان كما قرَّرْنا ذلك في التفسير ولله الحمد والمنة. فهذا الكتاب إلى الثاني لا إلى الأول، وقوله فيه إلى النجاشي الأصحم، لعلَّ الأصحم مقحمٌ من الراوي بحسب ما فهم. والله أعلم. وأنسب من هذا ها هنا ما ذكره البيهقي (٣) أيضًا عن الحاكم، عن أبي الحسن محمد بن عبد الله الفقيه

(١) في الدلائل: لا نألوا. (٢) دلائل النبوة (٢/ ٣٠٨) وما يأتي بين معقوفين منه، وأخرجه الحاكم في المستدرك (٢/ ٦٢٣) كتاب التاريخ من كتاب الهجرة الأولى إلى الحبشة. (٣) في دلائل النبوة (٢/ ٣٠٩).