the Negus of Aksum

The Negus, whom the Arabic sources name Ashama ibn Abjar, was the Christian king of Abyssinia who took in the first Muslim emigrants and refused to hand them over. In tradition he is the model of a just foreign ruler.

When the harm in Mecca grew long, the Prophet ﷺ sent a group of Muslims across the sea to Abyssinia, describing its king as one under whom "no one is wronged." Mecca sent envoys asking for the emigrants to be returned ¹. In The Sealed Nectar, the Prophet is described as calling him "a just king under whom no one is wronged," and advising the Muslims to emigrate to his land to save their religion ².

At the Negus's throne, Ja'far described what his people had been and what the Prophet called them to. He then recited from the Qur'an's account of Mary and Jesus. The sources say that the king wept until his beard was wet, and said that the difference between their two faiths is no more than a line drawn in the sand ³. He sheltered the first group in the best of neighbourliness, refused to hand the emigrants over to the two Qurashi envoys, and returned the gifts of Amr ibn al-As and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabi'a ².

The emigrants remained under his protection for years. A later tradition adds that the Negus himself embraced Islam, and that the Prophet performed the funeral prayer for him in absentia. Historians treat this as tradition rather than documented fact ¹.

In Muslim memory, Abyssinia is the first foreign land that sheltered Muslims, and the Negus stands at the head of this museum's gallery of protectors who were not themselves of the community.

Quraysh sent Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabi'a with gifts, asking for the return of the emigrants. The Negus heard from Ja'far the opening of the chapter of Mary, and wept until his beard was wet. He refused to hand the emigrants over and returned the gifts (the Quraysh delegation to the Negus) ^{4 5}.