Second Preparatory Essay
(I do not know what happened to the first preparatory essay.)
Lester Allyson Knibbs
I have a plan to write an essay or short book about three historical incidents mentioned in the Qur’an: (1) Dhu Nuwas and the slaughter of Christians by Jews in southern Arabia, ca. 518 CC, mentioned in Soorat-ul-Burooj (85:4-11); (2) Abraha and the Christian attack on the Ka`bah, ca. 570 CC[1], mentioned in Soorat-ul-Fīl (105:1-5); and (3) The Persian campaign against Rome, ca. 602-628, mentioned in Soorat-ur-Rūm (30: 1-7). These three incidents are connected by the ongoing relationships between the three great empires of that time and place – Abyssinnia (Ethiopia), Rome (referred to as the Byzantine Empire, by that point in its history, by European historians), and Persia (Iran).
I do not remember specifically why I chose these particular three events. As you may know, the Qur’an is not a history book. Most of the historical events mentioned in the Qur’an are events taking place in the living experience of Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his companions. I do not understand the narrations of events in the lives of the prophets before Muhammad to be intended as history. Those narrations are obviously moral lessons and usually contain details which make it obvious that they must be understood allegorically. Taken literally, those narrations can lead to dangerous states of mind, or to disbelief or (more commonly) hypocrisy – claiming to believe things we do not actually believe, under the guise of “religion”.
One common element of my three chosen events is their connection to The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. The title is “decline and fall” – not “rise and fall” – and its narrative begins approximately three centuries before the birth of Muhammad. If we consider the conquest of Constantinople in the year 1453 CC, by the Ottoman Empire (a “Muslim” state), as the final, total and complete fall of the Roman Empire, then the Roman Empire spent twelve of its fifteen centuries in a state of decline. Undead. An awful, brutal, stupid, blood-sucking creature that refused to die.
(We live in a world governed by people who admire the Roman Empire. Most of us waste our lives in a desperate and pathetic effort to be comfortable in a wannabee Roman Empire. In some ways, this “global economy” has outdone its model. In Rome, only 60 percent of the people were slaves. In the United States, some 95 percent of us are slaves. Look around you. That’s what slaves look like. Harriet Tubman said that she could have freed thousands more from chattel slavery if the people she was trying to free had realized that they were slaves. Get that? Most of our brutally enslaved ancestors did not know they were slaves.)
In the sixth and early seventh centuries CC, a chain of events connected the three great empires surrounding Arabia – Rome, Iran (Persia), and Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Of the three events mentioned in the Qur’an, the massacre of Christians by Dhu Nuwas occurred first. Dhu Nuwas and his people had converted to Judaism in a bid to ally themselves with the Iranian Empire – which had a historical friendship with the Jews. The founder of that empire, Cyrus the Great, had freed the Jews from their Babylonian captivity – initiating centuries of friendship and alliance between Jews throughout the region and Iran. (Seems odd today, doesn’t it?) The Iranian Empire – having degenerated from the high-minded leadership of its founder into a brutal and sadistic regime even worse than its rival, Rome – accepted the alliance with Dhu Nuwas, and laid claim to all Arabia, not only its southern edge.
Survivors of the massacre appealed to Rome – historically, the most powerful Christian power – but Rome was not as powerful as it had been in the days of Constantine and Diocletian. Rome called on Abyssinia – the Christian power closest to the scene of the atrocity. Abyssinia, in turn, sent an army to occupy what is now Yemen – establishing a powerful Christian presence in southern Arabia. The man who came to be in charge of the Christian presence in Yemen built a church, hoping to attract Arabs from all over Arabia. Instead, Arabs continued to make their pilgrimage to the Kaaba – as they had done for many centuries, since the days of Abraham. Spurred on by some offense committed against his church, Abraha took his army to Makkah – with an elephant, the superweapon of the day – with the intention of destroying the Kaaba. Not only did Abraha, with his army and his elephant, fail to destroy the Kaaba, but the army itself was destroyed. The Makkans were incapable of such a deed, and had abandoned their city when they saw the army coming. No historian has been able to find out exactly how the army was destroyed. The commonest theory is that they came down with smallpox. Allah says, in the soorah entitled al-Feel (The Elephant), that he (Allah) sent flocks of birds armed with stones against them.
According to J.A. Rogers, in his book, 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro, this attack on the Kaaba was the beginning of a war that lasted a thousand years (570 CC to ca. 1570 CC). I believe that that war continues to this day – the war between the Christian powers and the true legacy of Abraham (which would not have its capital in Rome or its scriptures in Latin).
The rivalry between the Roman and Persian empires reached a climax in 602 CC, when the Persian emperor launched a major attack on the Roman Empire. The Persian campaign was so successful that Persian armies had overrun the entire Middle East and Egypt, and were about a hundred miles southeast of the capital, Constantinople. In addition, for the first and only time in history, the Persians had an alliance with a barbarian tribe from Asia, which laid siege to Constantinople from the north.
For years, I had been reading the first few ayats of the soorah entitled “Rome” without understanding the extent of the Roman predicament. When I read Gibbon’s narrative of those events, I realized that, under the circumstances, it would be easy to see that this was the end of Rome. It’s capital was surrounded and under siege. Its breadbasket (Egypt) was lost. Disease and starvation had set in. Its leadership was in disarray. At the time that this revelation came down, no one in the world would have predicted that Rome would survive.
At this point, Rome chose a new emperor – a man with a solid reputation as a timid and mediocre bureaucrat with no outstanding qualities, a man with the unlikely name of Heraclius (Hercules). Amazingly, Heraclius embarked on an amazing series of military campaigns – demonstrating a strategic and tactical sense previously unnoticed – which ultimately led to Roman forces outflanking the Persian armies and descending upon the Persian capital, Ctesiphon. The Persian emperor not only had to retreat, but returned home humiliated and in disgrace. He was assassinated by his own son. The war over, the Qur’anic prophesy fulfilled, Heraclius returned to his original mediocrity. (I love this story.)
I need to verify the details and elaborate on various aspects of these events. You might like to have some maps, perhaps? I love maps. This might turn out to be a fascinating essay (or a short book).
What’s worth to you? I have no idea. But I am convinced – I have faith – that Allah does not mention things that are lacking in value.
Created: 4/16/2011
Edited: 4/16/2011
Printed: 10/12/2023 3:46:15 PM
[1] I’ve decided to use “CC” to indicate dates in the “Christian calendar” because AD (for “Anno Domini” – “year of our Lord”, referring to Christ) is offensive and “CE” (for Christian era or Common era) is misleading, inasmuch as most of the world was mercifully ignorant of the so-called “Christian” era or of some supposed “common” era until hardly more than a century ago. A more appropriate calendar is the Hijrah calendar, marking, as of a few days ago, 1,432 years since the beginning of modern civilization.
Which Way Is Up? 