Abraha

Abraha (Ge’ez: አብርሃ) (also spelled Abreha, died after 570 CE), also known as Abrahah al-Ashram, was an Abyssinian viceroy of South Arabia for the Kingdom of Aksum. Abraha ruled parts of southern Arabia including much of what is now Yemen from around 531–547 CE to around 555–570 CE. The royal title adopted by Abraha is similar to that of his immediate predecessors and to that of Kaleb of Axum, "King of Saba' and dhü-Raydän and Hadhramaut and Yamanat and of their Arabs on the plateau and the lowland".
Life
The Byzantine historian Procopius identified Abraha as the former slave of a Roman merchant who conducted business in Adulis, while the Muslim historian al-Tabari says that he was related to the Aksumite royal family. Later, Abraha was either one of the commanders or a member of one of the armies led by King Kaleb of Axum against Dhu Nuwas. In al-Tabari's history, Abraha is said to have been the commander of the second army sent by Kaleb of Axum after the first, led by 'Ariat, failed.
Abraha was reported to have led his army of 100,000 men to successfully crush all resistance by the Yemeni army and then, following the suicide of Dhu Nuwas, seized power and established himself at Sanaa. He aroused the wrath of Kaleb, however, by withholding tribute. In response, Kaleb sent his general 'Ariat to take over the governorship of Yemen. One version of what then happened was that Abraha fought a duel with 'Ariat which resulted in 'Ariat being killed and Abraha suffering the injury which earned him the sobriquet of al-Asräm, "scar-face." It was also said that Abraha's nose had either been lost in battle or had been severely damaged due to a disease.
According to Procopius, Abraha seized control of Yemen from Sumyafa Ashwa, the Christian viceroy appointed by Kaleb, with the support of dissident elements within the Aksum occupation force who were eager to settle in the Yemen, then a rich and fertile land. Stuart Munro-Hay, who proposes a 518 date for the rise of Dhu Nuwas, dates this event to 525, while by the chronology based on Dhu Nuwas coming to power in 523, this event would have happened about 530, although a date as late as 543 has been postulated by Jacques Ryckmans.
An army sent by Kaleb to subdue Abraha decided instead to join his ranks and killed the commander (this is perhaps a reference to 'Ariat) and a second army was defeated. After this Kaleb had to accord Abraha de facto recognition before Abraha earned more formal recognition under Kaleb's successor in return for a nominal tribute.
Abraha is seen as then becoming a prominent figure in Yemen's history, promoting the cause of Christianity in the face of the prevalent Judaism and paganism of Central Arabia. Abraha was a zealous Christian. He is said to have built a great church at San'a' (in competition of the Kaaba located in Mecca which was the most prominent religious site in all of Arabia) and to have repaired the principal irrigation dam at the Sabaean capital of Marib.
In 1951, the Murayghän inscription, also known as Ryckmans no. 506, was found in Saudi Arabia. This inscription details Abraha's military campaign in central Arabia against the Ma'add Arab tribes, highlighting his victory over the Emir ibn Ṣa'ṣa'a tribal confederation. It is dated to the year 662 of the Sabaean era, which corresponds to the late 40s or early 50s of the 6th century CE.
Epigraphic sources chronicling 'Abraha's career include an inscription on the Marib Dam recording the quelling of an insurrection backed by a son of the deposed ruler, Esimiphaios, in the year 657 of the Sabaean era (i.e. between 540 and 550 CE); vital repairs made to the dam later in the same year; the reception of envoys from the Negus, from Byzantium, from Persia and from Al-Harith ibn Jabalah, the phylarch of Arabia; and the completion of repairs to the dam in the following year, followed by a great feast of rejoicing.
Hisham ibn al-Kalbi mentions one of the Quraysh, al-Ḥarith ibn Alqama, who was a hostage of the Quraysh was handed over to Abraha the Abyssinian. The Quraysh surrendered him to Abraha, who agreed in return not to sever the commercial relations between his kingdom and Mecca. The need for the surrender of hostages arose after some merchants from Abraha's country had been robbed in Mecca. Another hostage with Abraha, ʿUtbān b. Mālik of the Thaqif tribe, was from Taif, east-southeast of Mecca. Al-Kalbi also provides some details about Abraha's offspring. Rayhana, "daughter of al-Ashram al-Ḥabashī [the Abyssinian]," is said to have given birth to Abraha ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ, "king of Tihamah [along the Red Sea coast]." His brother was Khayr ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ. Another daughter of Abraha, sister of Masruq, was Basbāsa. A nephew of al-Ashram, named Yaksūm, is said to have given the Prophet Muhammad some kind of weapon as a gift.
Year of the Elephant
Abraha is best known in Islamic accounts for his infamous attempt to attack the Kaaba in Mecca. He aimed to replace the Kaaba by constructing a grand church named the Al-Qullays (from the Greek Ekklesia) in Sanaa. He also built a church in Najran for Bani Al-Harith, the House of Allat in Taif for the tribe of Thaqeef, the House of Yareem and the House of Ghamdan in Yemen.
To counter the decline of Mecca as a pilgrimage center, the people of North Arabian tribes, specifically the Kināna and the nasaʾa (those responsible for intercalation) desecrated Abraha's church. In response to this act, Abraha resolved to launch an assault on Mecca with the aid of an elephant, with the intention of destroying the Kaaba. The elephant was supposedly provided by the Negus. Abraha's army is said to have included forces from South Arabian tribes, including the 'Akk, al-Ashʿar, and Khath'am.
On his way north, Abraha is said to have passed through the settlements of various tribes from which he took prisoners who were forced to act as his guides. Abraha's army is reported to have eventually crossed through Taif, where the Banu Thaqif provided a guide named Abū Righāl to accompany him. As they approached al-Mughammas, a short distance from Mecca, Abū Righāl unfortunately passed away and was laid to rest there. It has become a tradition among the local Arabs to throw stones at his grave ever since.
The memory of the Mecca campaign is encapsulated in "The Year of the Elephant," typically dated to 570 CE, which serves as the starting point for Mecca's pre-Islamic history chronology. Some traditions link Muhammad's birth (usually stated as 570 CE) with this year, while others place his birth either 23 or 40 years after the Year of the Elephant, suggesting a date range between about 530 and 547 CE.
The earliest Islamic reference to Abraha's attack on Mecca is found in the Al-Fil (Qur'an 105), which describes a divine intervention against the "People of the Elephant." God was said to have thwarted their wicked scheme, sending flocks of birds to rain down stones upon them, reducing them to "straw eaten up." Muslim scholars concur that the "People of the Elephant" were Abraha's troops who assaulted the Kaaba. Abraha had a troop of about 13 war elephants in the expeditionary forces. Muhammad's paternal grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, put the battle in God's hands, realising that he could not take on the forces of Abraha. As Abraha's forces approached the city, the story goes:
The next day, as they prepared for battle, they discovered that their elephant (called Mahmud) refused to approach Mecca. Even worse, birds came from the sea, each of which brought three small stones, which they dropped on the soldiers of Abraha. Everyone hit by these stones was killed. Abraha was hit repeatedly and slowly dismembered. By the time he reached Sanaa, he was nothing but a miserable stump of a body. His heart burst from his chest, and he died. So the year of the War of the Elephant was a year of death. But it was also a year of life, for in that same year Muhammad was born.
Earlier mentions appear in pre-Islamic poetry, particularly in some qaṣīdas considered of unquestionable pre-Islamic origin, such as Abū Qays Ṣayfī b. al-Aslat's. This poet praises God for His help "on the day of the elephant of the Abyssinians" and narrates the elephant's defiance when the Abyssinians tried to force it forward with hooks and knives. God sent a wind showering pebbles from above, causing them to retreat in disarray. In the verses of another poet, an "ingenuous test" is mentioned, wherein God's armies compelled the Quraysh to withdraw with regret after pelting them and covering them with dust. Only a few of them reached their homes, and Ṭufayl al-Ghanawī's poetry mentions a place near Mecca where "the elephant disobeyed his masters."
Critique of Islamic Traditional Version
Outside of later Islamic tradition, there is no mention of Abraha's expedition at Mecca, including from Abraha's own inscriptions. Historians see the story as a later Islamic tradition designed to explain the "Men of the Elephant" in Qur'an 105:1-5. However, recent findings of Himyaritic inscriptions describe an hitherto unknown expedition by Abraha, which subsequently led Iwona Gajda to identify this expedition as the failed conquest of Mecca. In addition, scholar Christian Julien Robin notes that the historicity of a failed expedition is completely plausible, given that the Quraysh, despite their small number, quickly rose to prominence in the following years, evidenced by the great fair of Quraysh, held in al-ʿUkāẓ, as well as the ḥums cultural association, which associated members of tribes of Western Arabia with the Mecca sanctuary.
Gajda accepted the dating of the expedition to 552 CE, thus not coinciding with the birth of the Prophet, traditionally dated to 570 CE. It also observed that Mecca is not mentioned in the inscription. On the other hand, Daniel Beck claims that there are several issues with the story. He claimed that African war elephants hadn't been used in the region for over 600 years. It is also difficult to explain how Abraha would have obtained African war elephants in Arabia. He also claims that surah al-Fil appears to be in reference to 2 Maccabees and 3 Maccabees, and not referencing any expedition on Abraha's part. However, Michael Charles published a study where he detailed how the Aksumite kingdom used elephants for war and had access to them during the 6th century when the expedition is said to have taken place. It should also be noted that while 2 Maccabees mentioned elephants as war beasts and a foiled military expedition, it did not mention any flying creatures. However angels as protective flying creatures foiling an elephant army can be found in 3 Maccabees 5 and 6:18-21.
Ibrahim Zein and Ahmed el-Wakil state that the week of the attack according to the Muslim commentaries began Sunday, 14 February 572 (13 Muḥarram 51 Before Hijrah) and the birth of Muhammad was on Monday, 11 April 572 (12 Rabī‘ al-Awwal 51 BH).
Death
Munro-Hay dates his death to some time after 553 based on the inscription at Murayghän. Islamic tradition places his death immediately after his expedition to Mecca. He was succeeded on the throne by two of his sons, Yaksum and Masruq, whose mother was Raihäna, a Yemenite noblewoman whom Abraha had abducted from her husband.
Between 570 and 575 a pro-Persian group in Yemen made contact with the Sassanid king through the Lakhmid princes in Al-Hirah. The Sassanids then sent troops under the command of Wahriz, who helped (the semi-legendary) Sayf ibn Dhi Yazan drive the Aksumites from Yemen and Southern Arabia. As a result, Southern Arabia and Yemen came under the control of the Sassanid Empire.
See also
Ancient history of Yemen#Kingdom of Aksum (520 – 570 CE)
Abd al-Muttalib
References
Further reading
Sidney Smith, "Events in Arabia in the 6th Century A. D.", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 16 (1954), pp. 425–468
People from the kingdom of Aksum
6th-century soldiers
6th-century regents
Pre-Islamic Arabia
Yemeni Christians
South Arabia
Ethiopian military personnel