and his chastity (1). He then called us to Allah so that we might affirm His oneness, worship Him alone, and renounce what we (2) and our forefathers had worshipped besides Him—stones and idols. He commanded us to speak the truth, fulfil trusts, uphold the ties of kinship, show kindness to neighbours, and refrain from the forbidden and from shedding blood. He forbade us from indecencies, false testimony, consuming an orphan’s property, and slandering chaste women. He instructed us to worship Allah without associating anything with Him, and He enjoined upon us the prescribed prayer, almsgiving, and fasting (3).” —She said: he then enumerated for the king the tenets of Islam— “So we believed him, accepted his message, and followed him (4) in all that he brought. We worshipped Allah alone, associated nothing with Him, declared unlawful what he made unlawful for us, and deemed lawful what he made lawful. “Then our people rose against us: they tortured us and tried to drive us from our religion, seeking to make us return to idol-worship instead of worshipping Allah, and to restore the abominations we had once permitted. When they overpowered us, wronged us, and made life unbearable, preventing us from practising our faith, we fled to your land, chose you above all others, sought the security of your realm, and hoped, O King, that we would not suffer injustice under your protection. “She said: The Negus asked, ‘Do you have with you anything of what he has brought from Allah?’ Jaʿfar replied, ‘Yes.’ “The Negus said, ‘Then recite it to me,’ so Jaʿfar recited to him the opening verses of Kāf Hā Yā ʿAyn Ṣād—Surah Maryam (19:1). “By Allah,” she said, “the Negus wept until his beard was soaked (5), and they too wept.”