It is also related, to prove how Al-Madinah was predestined to a high
fate, that nearly three centuries before the siege of the town by Abu
Jubaylah, the Tobba
[p.350]al-Asghar[FN#17] marched Northward, at the requisition of the
Aus and Khazraj tribes, in order to punish the Jews; or, according to
others, at the request of the Jews to revenge them upon the Aus and
Khazraj. After capturing the town, he left one of his sons to govern
it, and marched onwards to conquer Syria and Al-Irak.
Suddenly informed that the people of Al-Madinah had treacherously
murdered their new prince, the exasperated Tobba returned and attacked
the place; and, when his horse was killed under him, he swore that he
would never decamp before razing it to the ground. Whereupon two Jewish
priests, Ka'ab and Assayd, went over to him and informed him that it
was not in the power of man to destroy the town, it being preserved by
Allah, as their books proved, for the refuge of His Prophet, the
descendant of Ishmael.[FN#18]
The Tobba Judaized. Taking four hundred of the priests with him, he
departed from Al-Madinah, performed pilgrimage to the Ka'abah of
Meccah, which he invested with a splendid covering[FN#19]; and, after
erecting a house
[p.351]for the expected Prophet, he returned to his capital in
Al-Yaman, where he abolished idolatry by the ordeal of fire.
