and only a few sparse lote trees. The reason, they said, is that although the lote tree bears the nabq fruit, its yield was meager while its thorns were many; its fruit, in proportion to the tree, was—as the proverb runs—

“The meat of a scrawny camel atop a jagged mountain:
no easy climb to reach it, and no fat flesh worth the effort.”

Hence the Exalted said, “That is how We repaid them for their ingratitude; and do We ever recompense any but the ingrate?”—that is, We mete out this severe punishment only to those who disbelieve in Us, reject Our messengers, oppose Our command, and violate Our sacred limits.

He also said, “So We made them a tale for others and scattered them utterly.” When their wealth was ruined and their land laid waste, they were forced to leave and migrate elsewhere. The tribes of Sabaʾ dispersed across both the lowlands and the highlands, each clan scattering in every direction. Some settled in the Ḥijāz—among them Khuzaʿah, who camped on the outskirts of Mecca, whose story we shall recount. Others were the Aws and the Khazraj, who settled in Yathrib—today the Prophet’s City—and became its first inhabitants. Three Jewish tribes later dwelt among them—Banū Qaynuqāʿ, Banū Qurayẓah, and Banū Naḍīr—forming alliances with the Aws and Khazraj; their affairs will be mentioned in due course. Another group journeyed to Syria, where they later embraced Christianity: the Ghassān, ʿĀmila, Bahraʾ, Lakhm, Judhām, Tanūkh, Taghlib, and others. Their story will be told when we discuss the conquest of Syria in the days of the two Shaykhs, may Allah be pleased with them.

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq relates: Abū ʿUbaydah told me that al-Aʿshā ibn Qays ibn Thaʿlabah—whose given name was Maymūn ibn Qays—recited the following verses (in the metre al-mutaqārib):

In this there is counsel for those who would heed;
Maʾrib lies ruined, erased by the Flood.
Of polished marble Himyar built it high,
And when its torrent surged, it would not subside.
It watered the fields and the vineyards broad,
Its water apportioned in generous flood.
Then they were dispersed, a people unable
To give even a weaned child a mouthful to drink.