Tubb'a Abu Kariba As'ad

Abu Kariba is commonly cited as the first of several kings of Arabia to convert to Judaism.

Tubbaʿ

“The people of Tubbaʿ” ( qawm tubbaʿ), an extinct community mentioned twice in the Qurʾān. Among other pre-Islamic groups, they were punished because they refused to believe God or obey God's prophets (see belief and unbelief; obedience; prophets and prophethood ). q 44:37 compares Muḥammad's detractors (see provocation; opposition to muḥammad ), who challenged him to prove resurrection (q.v.) by himself reviving the dead (see death and the dead ), with the people of Tubbaʿ, who were destroyed for their sins (see sin, major and minor; punishment stories ): “Are they better, or the people of Tubbaʿ and those before them? We destroyed them, for they were sinners.” In q 50:14, the people of Tubbaʿ are listed along with other lost communities (see geography ): the people of Noah (q.v.), those of al-Rass (q.v.), and the Thamūd (q.v.), the ʿĀd (q.v.), Pharaoh (q.v.) and the brethren of Lot (q.v.): “And the dwellers in the wood (see people of the thicket ), and the people of Tubbaʿ: all denied the messengers (see messenger; lie ), so [my] threat took effect.”

Arab lexicographers (see arabic language; grammar and the qurʾān ) define the term tubbaʿ as a title of rulership among the kings (see kings and rulers ) of Yemen (q.v.) and specifically among the ¶ Ḥimyar. The title is explained from the root meaning “to follow”: every time one tubbaʿ died, he was followed immediately by one who took his place. Specifically, tubbaʿ was the royal title of the kings of the second Ḥimyarite kingdom (ca. 300-525 c.e.). According to Ibn Isḥāq (d. ca. 150/767), Ibn al-Kalbī (d. ca. 205/820), al-Yaʿqūbī (fl. third/ninth cent.), al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923) and others (with differences in detail), the Tubbaʿ Asʿad Abū Karib returned from Iraq (q.v.; or Yathrib [see medina ]) with two rabbis ( ḥabrayn min aḥbār al-yahūd; see jews and judaism ), who convinced him to destroy the image of the idol (see idols and images ) or place of sacrifice (q.v.) called Riʾām, located in Medina, Mecca (q.v.) or in Yemen (see also south arabia, religions in pre-islamic ). “Thereupon they demolished it, and the Tubbaʿ, together with the people of Yemen, embraced Judaism” (Faris' translation of Ibn al-Kalbī). Beeston questions whether the Ḥimyar actually became Jewish or practiced some heterodox indigenous pre-Islamic expression of monotheism. The Ḥimyar are known in legend to have remained Jewish for a century until the time of their last great king, Yūsuf, also known as Dhū Nuwās, who was killed according to legend after his massacre of the Christians of Najrān (q.v.) and the subsequent invasion of the Christian Abyssinians to destroy him (see abyssinia; christians and christianity ).

According to most commentators, the Tubbaʿ referenced in the Qurʾān was good and a believer but his subjects were not. They (the qurʾānic “people of tubbaʿ ”) are destroyed while he is saved. The role of the two Jewish learned men includes (1) proving the future coming of Muḥammad through the esoteric knowledge of the Jews and thus convincing the Tubbaʿ not to destroy Yathrib, the future home of the Prophet, and (2) proving the original ¶ monotheistic purity of the Kaʿba (q.v.) even before Muḥammad. They affirm that “it is indeed the temple (see sacred precincts ) of our forefather Abraham (q.v.)… but the local people… set up idols around it.” They instruct the Tubbaʿ how to perform the pilgrimage (q.v.) rituals at the Kaʿba and he subsequently learns in a dream (see dreams and sleep ) that he should make for it a beautiful kiswa or covering. In an oft-repeated legend, when the Tubbaʿ returns to Yemen with the two Jewish learned men, the people of Ḥimyar refuse him entry because he abandoned their ancestral religion. The Tubbaʿ calls them to his new religion and the Ḥimyarites propose that the conflict should be settled by their traditional ordeal of fire (q.v.), through which the guilty are consumed while the innocent remain unscathed. The idolaters (see idolatry and idolaters ) came with their idols and offerings (see consecration of animals ) while the (Jewish) learned men came with their texts ( maṣāḥif) hanging from their necks (see scrolls; sheets ). The idolaters are consumed along with their idols but the wise men are not. The Ḥimyarites are convinced and thus accept Judaism, the Tubbaʿ's religion. The Ḥimyarites were said to have claimed that there were seventy Tubbaʿ kings.

Tubbaʿ is a name as well as a title. Al-Thaʿlabī (d. 427/1035) cites Wahb b. Munabbih (d. ca. 114/732), who narrates how Solomon (q.v.) married Bilqīs (q.v.) to Tubbaʿ the great, king of Hamdān, and brought him back to Yemen, and conflates this with Dhū Tubbaʿ, who ruled over Yemen with the support of King Solomon and the help of the Yemeni jinn (q.v.). In al-Kisāʾī's Qiṣaṣ, Kaʿb al-Aḥbār (d. 32/652-3) is made to include a Tubbaʿ among the twelve male children of ʿĀd b. ʿŪṣ b. Aram b. Sām b. Nūḥ.

¶ A pre-Islamic alabaster stele made by “ Layaʿathat the Sabaean” (see sheba ) on behalf of “ Abibahath wife of Tubbaʿ son of Subh” for the goddess Shams depicts a male figure with bow, spear and dagger, presumably Tubbaʿ, making an offering with his wife to the goddess. See also pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān.

Reuven Firestone

Bibliography

Primary:

Ibn Isḥāq, Sīra, 2 vols., Beirut n.d., i, 19-28

Ibn Isḥāq-Guillaume, 6-12

Ibn al-Kalbī, Hishām b. Muḥammad b. al-Sāʾib, Kitāb al-Aṣnām, trans. N.A. Faris, Princeton 1952

Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, Beirut 1985

Kisāʾī, Qiṣaṣ

trans. W.M. Thackston, Jr., The tales of the prophets of al-Kisāʾī, Boston 1978, 109

Lisān al-ʿArab, viii, 31

Ṭabarī, Tafsīr, Beirut 1984, xiii, 128-9, 154-5

id., Taʾrīkh, ed. de Goeje, 684, 901-10

trans. M. Perlmann, The history of al-Ṭabarī. iv. The ancient kingdoms, New York 1987, 79

C.E. Bosworth, The history of al-Ṭabarī. v. The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen, New York 1999, 164-76

Thaʿlabī, Qiṣaṣ, 286

trans. W.M. Brinner, ʿArāʾis al-majālis fī qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ or “Lives of the prophets”, Leiden 2002, 536

Wahb b. Munabbih, Kitāb al-Tijān fī mulūk Ḥimyar, Sanʿāʾ 1979

Yaʿqūbī, Taʾrīkh, 222-4

Secondary:

A.F.L. Beeston, Ḥimyarite monotheism, in Studies in the history of Arabia. ii. Pre-Islamic Arabia, Riyadh 1984, 149-54

Horovitz, ku, 102-3

R. Hoyland, Arabia and the Arabs. From the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam, London 2001

M. Lecker, The conversion of Ḥimyar to Judaism and the Banū Hadl of Medina, in wo 26 (1995), 129-36

id., Judaism among Kinda and the ridda of Kinda, in jaos 115 (1995), 635-50

C.A. Nallino, Raccolta di scritti editi e inediti, 6 vols., Rome 1941, iii, 88-9

Citation
Firestone, Reuven. " Tubbaʿ ." Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Brill Online , 2013. Reference. Jim Harlow. 10 January 2013 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-the-...>

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Abu Karib As'ad Tubba', r.390-420CE by Ben Abrahamson on Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 12:43am

Abi Karib As'ad came to power as epidemics and social upheavals along with Gothic invasions rocked the Roman Empire.  Theodosius I died in 395CE, and his son Honorius Flavius (364–423) succeeds to the western throne, his other son Arcadius (377-408) to the eastern throne. The Roman Empire permanently split and the Visigoths renounced their allegiance to Rome. In the West, Honorius confiscated gold and silver which had been collected by the synagogues to be sent to Jerusalem. Judaism was defined as an unworthy superstition (superstitio indigna). Honorius was greatly influenced by St. Ambrose, and his legislation is considered to be a repercussion of the reign of Julian the Apostate.  

Yazdegerd I king of Persia (399-421 CE) had friendly relations with the Jewish people, which perhaps influenced Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius to be relatively friendly to the Jews in the East.  In this time of persecution of the Jewish religion, a false Messiah for the Jews named Moses appeared in Crete.  In Arabia, a different kind of ruler was taking up the cause of Tribes of Israel. Given the preoccupation of Western and Eastern Roman Empires as well as the Persian Empire, Abu Karib As'ad succeded to expand his territories into central Arabia in the first half of the fourth century. He changed the royal title from that of the founder Shamir Yur'ish "Lord of Saba, Dhu Raydan, Hadramawt and Yamant" to include "and of their Arabs (i.e., Bedouins) in Tawd and Tihamah", a title used by all the succeeding Tubba' kings.  Al-Tawd denoted the mountain range of the Sarat, which divided Yemen between its coastland, Tihamah, and its inland plateau, Najd.  Given his descent from Tobiah, and Tobiah’s connection with Alexander the Great, it is not surprising that Abu Karib’s fame ensured the later growth around him of a fantastic romance and epic similar to that of, and, as noted above, conceivably inspired by, that of Alexander the Great.  The Tubbas viewed themselves as the continuation of the Davidic Dynasty, as Tabari has 'Amr b. Tuban As'ad reciting "We exercise royal power over all other peoples; we have the connections of nobility and power, after the two Tubba's. We assumed royal power after Dawid (David) for a lengthy period, and we made the kings of East and West ourslaves." Seige of Yatrib About the year 418 CE, Abu-Kariba Assad Tubba', undertook a military expedition into northern Arabia in an effort to consolidate his control and eliminate Byzantine influence. 

The Byzantine emperors had long eyed the Arabian Peninsula as a region in which to extend their influence, thereby to control the lucrative spice trade and the route to India. Without actually staging a conquest of the region, the Byzantines hoped to establish a protectorate over the pagan Arabs by converting them to Christianity. The cross would then bear commercial advantages as it did in Ethiopia. The Byzantines had made some progress in northern Arabia but had met with little success in "Jewish" Himyar. Abu-Kariba's forces reached Yathrib, and passed by it at the beginning of his expedition (i.e. on his outward journey). He met no resistance and left one of his son of the king behind as governor. In spite of the fact the Palmyrenes had been accepted as refugee by Abu-Kariba’s ancestor, Shamir Yur'ish Tubba', they did not recognize the authority of this Tubba’ king. Within a short time a mob of the people of Yathrib had killed his son.  

On his return journey, Abu-Kariba discovered what had happened and returned to punish the city. He now came to the town with the intention of reducing it to ruins, extirpating its people and cutting down its date palms. When they heard of his plans, this tribe (bayy) of the Ansar banded together against him in order to defend themselves. Their chief at that time was 'Amr b. al-Tallah, one of the Banu al-Najjar, and then of the Banu 'Amr b. Mabdhul The word Ansar has come to mean the “Helpers” of the Prophet after his hijrah in 622 CE to Medinah. Here another, older meaning is used. The “Tribe of Ansar” is used, specifically to describe the Palmyrene Nasaara, who were both ethnically related and part of the Tobiad Notzrim.  The Arabs inhabiting Yathrib, were traditionally recorded as coming from the Banu Qaylah bt. Halik, with its two branches of the Aws and the Khazraj. Al-Najjar were a clan of the Khazraj, and the 'Amr b. Mabdhul part of their subclan Mazin. The 'Adi mentioned below were another subclan. 

While Abu-Kariba was engaged in the seige, two rabbis (the term used, ahbar, is more properly translated “priest” in the sense of “Cohen”) from the Jews of the Banu Qurayzah, who had heard about Tubba’s intention of destroying the town and its people, came to him.  Although a poem brought by Tabari speaks of one rabbi/priest “Until there came to me a priest of Qurayzah, a rabbi to whom, by your life, the Jews accorded primacy.”  “Primacy” may refer to a descendant of Onias or a decendant of King David.  The Qurayzah were one of the three main Jewish tribes in Yathrib, confederates of the Aws.  One may speculate a connection between the rabbis/priests of Yathrib and Qusai ibn Kilab who appeared at the same time. They related a prophecy, current at the time, to the King, that a Prophet would come from the tribe of Quraish in Medinah, and thus the settlement should not be destroyed.  This could relate to the Prophecy of Daniel 9, which says the Redeemer would come 490 years after the destruction of the Temple (70CE) or the crushing of Bar Kochba (132CE).  It could also relate to the Quraish being the last line of Zaddokite Priests, descended from Onias IV.  

Lastly, if the name Medinah was current at that time, it may have something to do with the Prophet Jethro and Midian.  In any event, Tubba' desisted from what he had intended to do regarding Medina and took these rabbis/priests with him. Perceiving that the two Palmyrene rabbis/priests had special knowledge and being impressed at what he had heard from them. He departed from Medina, took them with him to Yemen, and embraced their religion. The names of the two rabbis were Ka'b (Jacob) and Asad (related to Said/Ezra), both from the Banu Qurayzah and paternal cousins of each other.   Historian Michael Lecker has pointed out that al-Samhudi cites Ibn Zabalah that the names of the two men were Suhayt/Sukhayt and Munabbih, from the Medinan Jewish tribe of Hadl, who were actually clients of the more powerful Qurayezah. A certain poet of the Ansar, one Khalid-b. 'Abd al-'Uzzd b. Ghaziyyah b.'Amr b.'Abd b.'Awf b. Ghamn b. Malik b. al-Najjar, perhaps hinted that a commet was visible “So ask 'Imran or ask Asd, then, at the time when [the army] came, when the morning star was still visible.”  The poet mentions that Abu-Kariba came with the Banu Awf and the al-Najarah, this reinforces the idea that the Palmyrene refugees had sworn allegiance to the Yemenite king almost a century before.  He also mentions the “terrifying cavalry hosts of Abu Karib” In spite of the adoption of the religion of the Palmyrene Jews, Abu Kariba still did not trust the Palmyrenes.  He left behind at Yathrib a group of Himyarite men “of personal achievement and valor, whose deeds are praised” The latter term is rabbi muhammadi in Arabic which could be taken as presaging the coming of the Prophet Muhammad. 

The Oniad Religion before Qusai ibn Kilab It is further recorded how these two rabbis/priests went to various temples and idols to destroy them and cleans the land of idolatry.  The nature of this idolatry had devolved from the Oniad missionizing movement of the 2nd century BCE.  The priests, Cohens, called Kahins, took on the connotation of soothsayer.  They used to pray and offer up sacrifices, and then speak under inspiration..  Their prophetic/visionary speech took the form of gnomic pronouncements, in assonantal, rhymed prose. “A woman with her eyelids never looked forth like with a look full of penetration, as when al-Dhi'bi made pronouncements when he spoke in saj’." This was done at any altar, and Abu Kariba was not aware of the special nature of the Ka’aba in Mecca, until told by the Banu Haydil and the rabbi/priests from Yathrib. Abu Kariba had a Kahin named Shafi, b. Kulayb al-Sadafi.  One time Tubba’ asked him, "What does there remain of your learning?" Shafi' replied, "An eloquent piece of historical lore-and a veracious item of knowledge." He said, "Can you find a people with a kingdom equal in status to mine?" Shafi' replied, "No, except that the king of Ghassan has numerous offspring (nail)." Tubba' said, "Can you find any king superior to him in status?" He replied, "Yes." He said, "Who has such a kingdom?" He replied, "I find it belonging to a pious and God-fearing man-who has been made strong by conquests-and who has been described in the Scriptures (al-zabur, literally "the Psalms of David") - his community is given a superior status in the sacred books (al-sufar)-and he will dispel darkness with light-Ahmad the prophet-blessed be his community until he comes! -[He is] one of the Banu Lu'ayy-and then of the Banu Qusai.”   Qusai was of the Banu Lu'ayy of Fihr or Quraysh who was an ancestor, separated by five generations, of the Prophet. He is said to have restored the Ka'bah to the primitive monotheistic worship of the millat lbrahhri after the cult there had lapsed into pantheism under the Jurham. Tubba' sent for a copy of the scriptures and perused them; and lo and behold, he found there the Prophet's description. 

(Excerpt from "Yosef Dhu Nuwas, a Sadducean King with Sidelocks" by Ben Abrahamson) http://www.facebook.com/notes/ben-abrahamson/abu-karib-asad-tubba-r...

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