or any kinsman in wrongful aggression without his sleep being snatched away and relentless wakefulness imposed upon him.’

At that, he began executing every man who had urged him to murder his brother. When he came to Dhū Ruʿayn, the latter said, ‘I have an acquittal with you.’
‘And what is that?’ he asked.
‘The note I entrusted to you.’
He produced it, and there were the two lines of verse. So ʿAmr spared him, recognizing that he had indeed offered sincere counsel. Not long afterward ʿAmr himself died, and the affairs of Ḥimyar fell into disarray and the people dispersed.

The coup of Lakhnīʿa Dhū Shannātar and his seizure of the throne of Yemen

He ruled for twenty-seven years. Ibn Isḥāq relates: A man of Ḥimyar who did not belong to the royal houses rose against them; his name was Lakhnīʿa Yanūf Dhū Shannātar. He killed their noblest men, violated the households of the royal family, and—on top of that—was a debauchee who committed the deed of the people of Lot. He would summon a boy from the princes’ sons, ravish him in an upper room specially built for that purpose so the lad could never afterwards reign, then lean out of that loft toward his guards and the soldiers present, a tooth-stick in his mouth to signal that he was finished.

Eventually he sent for Zurʿa Dhū Nuwās, the son of Tubban Asʿad and brother of Ḥassān. Zurʿa had been a small child when Ḥassān was slain, but he had grown into a handsome, well-presented young man of keen mind. When the messenger arrived he understood what Dhū Shannātar intended. He therefore took a fine, sharp steel knife, concealed it between his feet inside his sandal, and went to him. As soon as they were alone he sprang upon him, and Dhū Nuwās grappled with him and stabbed him until he killed him. He severed the tyrant’s head, set it in the window from which he used to overlook his men, and placed the tooth-stick in his own mouth.

He then came out to the people, who asked, ‘Dhū Nuwās, is it fresh or is it dry?’ He answered, ‘Ask Naḥmās.’