It Appears, Then, By
The Concurrence Of Historians, That The Jews At An Early Time Either
Colonised, Or Supplanted The Amalik At, Al-Madinah.
At length the Israelites fell away from the worship of the one God, who
raised up against them the Arab tribes of Aus and Khazraj, the
progenitors of modern Ansar.
Both these tribes claimed a kindred
origin, and
[p.348]Al-Yaman as the land of their nativity. The circumstances of
their emigration are thus described. The descendants of Yarab bin
Kahtan bin Shalik bin Arkfakhshad bin Sam bin Nuh, kinsmen to the
Amalik, inhabited in prosperity the land of Saba.[FN#14] Their sway
extended two months' journey from the dyke of Mareb,[FN#15] near the
modern capital of Al-Yaman, as far as Syria, and incredible tales are
told of their hospitality and of the fertility of their land. As usual,
their hearts were perverted by prosperity. They begged Allah to relieve
them from the troubles of extended empire and the duties of hospitality
by diminishing their possessions. The consequence of their impious
supplications was the well-known Flood of Iram.
The chief of the descendants of Kahtan bin Saba, one of the ruling
families in Al-Yaman, was one Amru bin Amin Ma al-Sama,[FN#16] called
"Al-Muzaykayh" from his rending in pieces every garment once worn. His
wife Tarikah Himyariah, being skilled in divination, foresaw the fatal
event, and warned her husband, who, unwilling to break from his tribe
without an excuse, contrived the following stratagem.
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