He said: This poem continued to be passed down among the Anṣār, memorized and treasured by them, and it remained in the keeping of Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī—may Allah be pleased with him.
Al-Suhaylī said: Ibn Abī al-Dunyā relates in his Book of Graves that when a grave was opened in Ṣanʿā’, two women were found inside together with a silver plaque engraved in gold, upon which was written:
This is the grave of Lamīs and Ḥubbā, the two daughters of Tubbaʿ.
They died bearing witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner,
and upon this same creed the righteous before them passed away.
The kingship was later inherited by Ḥassān ibn Tubban Asʿad, the brother of al-Yamāmah al-Zarqā’, the woman who was crucified at the gate of the city of Jaww, which from that day was called al-Yamāmah.
Ibn Isḥāq said: When his son Ḥassān ibn Abī Karb Tubban Asʿad came to power, he marched out with the people of Yemen, determined to overrun both Arab and non-Arab lands. When they reached part of the land of Iraq, however, the tribes of Ḥimyar and the rest of Yemen grew weary of the campaign and wished to return to their homes and families. They spoke to his brother, a man named ʿAmr who was in the army with him, saying, “Kill your brother Ḥassān, we will make you king over us, and you can lead us back to our country.” He agreed, and they united upon that plan—all except Dhū Ruʿayn the Himyarite, who warned ʿAmr against it, but ʿAmr would not heed him.
Dhū Ruʿayn therefore wrote on a slip of parchment these two verses:
Oh, who would trade his restful sleep for waking?
Happy is he whose eyes close free of care.
If Ḥimyar has betrayed and broken faith,
then God will pardon Dhū Ruʿayn’s share.
He entrusted the note to ʿAmr. When ʿAmr had slain his brother Ḥassān and returned to Yemen, sleep was withheld from him and he was plagued with relentless wakefulness. He consulted physicians and healers among the soothsayers and diviners about his condition, and they said to him, “By Allah, no man who has killed his brother has ever…"