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Abu Karib

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Abu Karib As'ad al-Kamil
King of Saba', Dhu Raydan, Hadramawt, Yamnat and their Arabs, on Tawdum and Tihamat
  • Tubba' al-Awsat
Reign390–420 CE
PredecessorDhara'amar Ayman II
SuccessorHassan Yuha'min and Sharhabil Yafar
Diedc. 430
Yemen
Names
Abu Karib As'ad ibn Hassan Malikikarab Yuha'min
FatherHassan Malikikarab Yuha'min
Religion

Abū Karib As’ad al-Kāmil, (Arabic: أسعد الكامل), called "Abū Karīb", sometimes rendered as As'ad Abu Kurayb, full name: Abu Karib As'ad ibn Hassān Maliki Karib Yuha'min, was king (Tubba', Arabic: تُبَّع) of the Himyarite Kingdom (modern day Yemen). He ruled Yemen from 378 CE until 420 CE.[1] As'ad is cited in some sources as the first of several kings of the Arabian Peninsula to convert to Judaism,[2][3][4][5][6][7] although later scholars doubted it.[8] He was traditionally regarded as the first one to cover the Kaaba with the kiswah. [9]

Biography

While some sources agree that Abu Karib was the first of the Himyarite kings to convert to Judaism, the circumstances of his conversion are immersed in myth and legend. According to the traditional account, Abu Karib undertook a military expedition to eliminate the growing influence of Byzantium in his northern provinces.[2] His forces reached Medina, which was then known as "Yathrib". Not meeting any resistance, the Himyarites passed through the town, leaving one of the king’s sons behind as governor of the town. A few days later, however, the people of Yathrib killed their new governor, the king's son. Upon receiving the news, the king turned his troops back to avenge his son’s death, and destroy the town. He ordered that all palm trees around the town be cut down, because the trees were the main source of the town's inhabitants' income, and then laid siege to the town.[2]

The Jews of Yathrib fought alongside their pagan Arab neighbors, trying to protect their town. During the siege, Abu Karib fell ill. Two local Jewish scholars, named Kaab and Assad, took the opportunity to travel to his camp, and persuaded him to lift the siege.[10] The scholars also inspired in the King an interest in Judaism, and he converted in 390, persuading his army to do likewise.[2][11] Kaab and Assad later returned with Abu Karib to his kingdom, where they were tasked with converting the population. However, while some scholars say the population converted on a wholesale basis,[12] others opine that only about half became converts, the rest maintaining their pagan beliefs and temples.[2] Among those who converted to Judaism was Harith ibn Amr, a nephew of Abu Karib, who was then appointed as the Viceroy of the Maadites on the Red Sea, and headed the government of Mecca and Yathrib.[2]

Tubba Abu Karib As'ad is said to have been killed by his own soldiers, who tired of his constant military campaigns. He left two sons: Hassan and Amr, who was also known as Sharhabil Yafar.[2]

One dissenter from the view that Abu Karib Asad was a convert to Judaism is author J. R. Porter. Writing in the 1980s, Porter argued that the accounts of Karab's conversion first appear much later in the historical record and are therefore unreliable. Porter nonetheless acknowledged that a move toward Judaism on Karab's part would be "entirely credible", given the presence of powerful Jewish tribes in Yathrib. Porter states that a later Himyarite King, Dhu Nuwas (517–525 CE) was "certainly" a convert to Judaism.[13]

Islamic view

While Abu Karib As'ad is not mentioned in Muslim sources, exegesis scholar Ibn Kathir provides the Islamic traditions regarding Abu Karib Asad. He is described as being the mysterious Tubba' who is mentioned in the Surah Ad-Dukhan of the Qur'an.[14]

Ibn Kathir mentions that the Tubba' Abu Karib was formerly a polytheist king of Saba' and Himyar who intended to attack Medina, but was told off by two Jewish rabbis who warned him that Medina would be the final place of migration for an upcoming Prophet. The Tubba' went to Makkah and almost proceeded to destroy the Kaaba, but he was warned against doing so as well. He then felt an interest in Judaism and converted to the religion of Moses, which was described as the religion that which the rightly guided followed before the coming of Jesus.[15] He brought the Rabbis back with him to Yemen, where they converted the population to Judaism, but after the death of the Tubba' the people went astray and so God sent down his wrath on them.[16] Additionally, Ibn Kathir also mentions in his Al-Bidayah wan Nihayah that the Tubba' had two daughters who were buried in Yemen.[17]

Earlier Muslim historians like Ibn Ishaq claimed that the Tubba' had a son named Zu'rah (who would later become Yusuf Dhu-Nuwas) but these were merely erroneous claims.[18]

References

  1. ^ Nehama C. Nahmoud (January 1, 1998). "When We Were Kings; The Jews of Yemen, Part II".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Heinrich Graetz; Bella Löwy; Philipp Bloch (1902). History of the Jews, Volume 3. Jewish Publication Society of America. pp. 62–64. Abu Kariba Asad.
  3. ^ Simon Dubnov (1968) [Prior to 1941]. History of the Jews: From the Roman Empire to the Early Medieval Period. Cornwall Books. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-8453-6659-2.
  4. ^ S.B. Segall (2003). Understanding the Exodus and Other Mysteries of Jewish History. Etz Haim Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-9740461-0-5. The Jewish Kingdoms of Arabia 7th century.
  5. ^ The Oriental Herald and Journal of General Literature. Vol. 14. London. 1827. p. 544.
  6. ^ Nathanael Ibn Al-fayyumi (1907). Columbia University Oriental Studies. Vol. 6. Columbia University Press. p. vii.
  7. ^ Kharif, Badr Al (February 15, 2009). "Kiswah: The Covering of the Kaaba". Aawsat.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  8. ^ M. Avrum Ehrlich (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, p. 793. ABC-CLIO, 2008.
  9. ^ "إسلام ويب - البداية والنهاية - ذكر أخبار العرب - قصة تبع أبي كرب- الجزء رقم3". www.islamweb.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  10. ^ Chaikin, Moses Avigdor (1899). The Celebrities of the Jews: A glance at the historical circumstances of the Jewish people from the destruction of Jerusalem to the present day. Part I. 70-1290. Pawson & Brailsford. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  11. ^ Justin Paul Heinz (August 2008). "The Origins of Muslim Prayer: Sixth and Seventh Century Religious Influences on the Salat Ritual" (PDF). Retrieved July 9, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Sigmund Hecht (1908). Post-Biblical History: a compendium of Jewish history from the close of the biblical records to the present day, for the home and Sabbath-school. Bloch. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  13. ^ Netton, Ian Richard (1986): Arabia and the Gulf: From Traditional Society to Modern States, Croom Helm Ltd., p. 10, ISBN 978-0-7099-1834-9.
  14. ^ "من هو تبع المذكور في القرآن الكريم ؟ - الإسلام سؤال وجواب". islamqa.info (in Arabic). Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  15. ^ "Al-Quran Ibn Kathir Tafsir | Alim.org". www.alim.org. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  16. ^ "Al-Quran Ibn Kathir Tafsir | Alim.org". www.alim.org. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  17. ^ "إسلام ويب - البداية والنهاية - ذكر أخبار العرب - قصة تبع أبي كرب- الجزء رقم3". www.islamweb.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 2023-11-09.
  18. ^ AbdurRahman.org (2014-01-31). "The Story of the Boy and the King (from Surah Burooj) : Ibn Kathir". AbdurRahman.Org. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
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