Najrān—before the revelation of the words, “Ṭā Sīn – Solomon.”

In the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From Muhammad, the Prophet, the Messenger of God, to the Bishop of Najrān—and to the people of Najrān, should you submit to Islam.

I praise before you the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thereafter: I summon you to the worship of God instead of the worship of His servants, and to allegiance to God rather than allegiance to His servants. If you refuse, then (pay) the jizyah; and if you refuse that, I declare war upon you. Peace.

When the bishop received the letter and read it, he was terrified and greatly alarmed. He sent for a man of Najrān named Shurahbīl ibn Wādaʿah—of the tribe of Hamdān, the first to be consulted whenever a difficult matter arose, even before al-Ayyham, the Sayyid, or the ʿĀqib. The bishop placed the letter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in Shurahbīl’s hands, and he read it. The bishop then asked, “Abū Maryam, what is your opinion?”

Shurahbīl replied, “You know what God promised Abraham about prophethood in the descendants of Ishmael; it may be that this is the man. I have no opinion when it comes to prophethood. Had it been a worldly affair, I would have advised you and done my utmost for you.”

The bishop said, “Step aside and sit.” Shurahbīl withdrew and sat apart. The bishop then summoned another man of Najrān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shurahbīl of Dhu Aṣbaḥ of Ḥimyar, read the letter to him, and asked for his view. He replied in the same manner as Shurahbīl. “Step aside and sit,” the bishop told him, and he did so.

Next the bishop called for Jabbār ibn Fayḍ, of the Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb, one of the Banū al-Ḥimās. When the letter had been read to him and he was asked for his opinion, he answered as Shurahbīl and ʿAbd Allāh had done. The bishop likewise told him to withdraw, and he sat apart.

When all three were of one mind, the bishop ordered the bell to be struck and the hair-shirts to be hoisted on the monastic towers—something they did whenever alarmed by day; if alarmed at night, they would ring the bell and light fires in the towers. At the ringing of the bell and the hoisting of the hair-shirts, the people of the valley, both upper and lower, assembled. The valley was a day’s journey for a swift rider, contained seventy-three villages, and could muster one hundred and twenty thousand fighting men.

The bishop read aloud the letter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and asked their opinion. The leading men agreed to send Shurahbīl ibn Wādaʿah al-Hamdanī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Shurahbīl al-Aṣbaḥī, and Jabbār ibn Fayḍ al-Ḥārithī to bring them news of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

The delegation set out. When they reached Madinah they laid aside their travel clothes and put on sumptuous robes of fine striped cloth that trailed behind them, along with gold rings. They then went in to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, greeted him with peace, but he did not return the greeting. They tried to speak with him for a long part of the day, yet he did not speak to them while they were wearing those robes and gold rings. So they left, following