fleeing, and plunged into the sea on his horse, where he drowned. (1) Al-Kalbi said: Dhu Nuwas killed Abd Allah ibn al-Tamir.

Muhammad ibn Ishaq said, on the authority of Abd Allah ibn Abi Bakr: A ruin was excavated during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab, and they found Abd Allah ibn al-Tamir with his hand placed over a wound on his head. Whenever his hand was lifted from it, blood gushed forth; but whenever it was left in place, it returned to its former state. In his hand was an iron ring inscribed, “My Lord is Allah.” When news of this reached Umar, he wrote: 189/a “Restore upon him that in which you found him.” (2)

Ata' narrated from Ibn Abbas—may Allah Most High be pleased with them both—that there was in Najran a king of the Himyarite kings named Yusuf Dhu Nuwas ibn Shurahbil ibn Sharahil, during the interval before the birth of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, by seventy years. (3) In his land there was a boy called Abd Allah ibn Tamir. His father had entrusted him to a teacher to instruct him in sorcery. The boy disliked this, but could not avoid obeying his father, so he began going regularly to the teacher. On his way there was a monk with a beautiful recitation and a beautiful voice. This impressed him, and he mentioned an account close in meaning to the hadith of Suhayb, until he said that the boy told the king: “You will not be able to kill me unless you do as I tell you.” He asked, “How am I to kill you?” The boy replied, “Gather the people of your kingdom while you are seated upon your throne, then shoot me with an arrow in the name of my God.” The king did so (5) and killed him.

The people then said, “There is no god but Allah. Abd Allah ibn Tamir: there is no religion except his religion.” The king became angry, shut the gates of the city, blocked off the mouths of its streets, dug a trench, and filled it with fire. He then brought them forward one by one: whoever renounced Islam, he spared; and whoever said, “My religion is the religion of Abd Allah ibn Tamir,” he cast into the trench and burned.

In his kingdom there was a woman who embraced Islam along with those who embraced it, and she had three children, one of whom was an infant. The king said to her, “Renounce your religion, or I shall cast you and your children into the Fire.” She refused, so he took her eldest son and cast him into the Fire. He then said to her, “Renounce your religion.” She refused, so he cast the second into the Fire. Then he said to her, “Renounce it.” She refused, and they took the infant from her to cast him into the Fire. The woman was about to recant, but the infant said, “O my mother, do not recant from Islam, (6) for you are upon the truth, and there is no harm upon you.” So the infant was cast into the Fire, and his mother was cast in after him. (7)

Said ibn Jubayr and Ibn Abza said: When the people of Isfandihar were defeated, Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “What rulings are to be applied to the Magians, since they are not People of the Book?” Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, replied, “Indeed, they once had a Book. Wine had been made lawful for them, and one of their kings drank it until it overcame his reason. He then approached his sister and had intercourse with her. When his intoxication left him, he regretted it and said to her, ‘Woe to you! What is this that I have done, and what way is there out of it?’”