Armah ( gez, አርማህ) or Aṣḥamah ( ar, أَصْحَمَة),
commonly known as Najashi ( ar, النَّجَاشِيّ, translit=An-najāshī), was the ruler of the
Kingdom of Aksum who reigned from 614–631
CE. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign. It is agreed by Islamic scholars that Najashi
gave shelter to the Muslim emigrants around 615–616 at
Axum
Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015).
It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole region ...
.
Kingship
Najashi reigned for 18 years from 614–631
CE. During his reign,
Muslims migrated to Abyssinia and met Najashi. According to Islamic sources,
Jafar ibn Abi Talib told Najashi about the persecution they had faced at the hands of the Quraysh. Najashi asked if they had with them anything which had come from God. Ja‘far then recited a passage from Surah Maryam. When the Najashi heard it, he wept and exclaimed:
Najashi then affirmed that he would never give up the Muslims.
Scholar of
ancient Ethiopia, Stuart Munro-Hay (1947–2004), stated that either Armah or
Gersem was the last
Axumite king to issue coins.
Bronze coins from the reign of Armah depict him as a full-length figure enthroned, with
Christian cross motifs throughout.
Personal life
Najashi was raised as a Christian. Traditional Muslim sources indicate that the
Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
prayed an absentee
funeral prayer ( ar, صَلَاة الْغَائِب, Ṣalāt al-Ġāʾib) in
Madinah
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
which is performed upon a dead Muslim if they die in a place with no Muslims to pray for the dead.
Artifacts
Armah's silver coins have an unusual reverse, showing a structure with three crosses, the middle one
gilded
Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was trad ...
. Munro-Hay quotes
W.R.O. Hahn as suggesting that this is an allusion to the
Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
, as a reference to the
Persian capture of Jerusalem in 614.
See also
*
Saifu
Saifu (c. 577) was a king of Axum.
He is known from a chance mention in a Chinese biography of Muhammad, the ''T'ien-fang Chih-sheng shih-lu'', written between 1721 and 1724 by Liu Chih. This work uses older materials that have been traced to a ...
References
*
External links
Muslim Emigrants & Quraysh in Courtroom of Negus (The Message Movie Scene)(
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
)
Ethiopian Christian King saves Muslim Captives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armah
Kings of Axum
Ethiopian Christians
7th-century monarchs in Africa
Christian and Islamic interfaith dialogue
Hijrah
631 deaths