Source: Lowell Paul , Paul-Pierce database
Johanna Ainsworth Fannin
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lowellpaul&id =I
06962

Johnanna Ainsworth was two years old in 1860 when the Census of Indian Lan ds
West of Arkansas was taken in October of that year. Judie as she was ca lled,
lived with her parents, John Garret Ainsworth and Martha Ann Bashear s, and
her brothers, Tom, Pete, Dime and baby Joseph. The family farm w as in
Skullyville County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Nine slaves al so lived
there. Johnanna lost the sight of her left eye in a childhood acc ident
involving one of the slave children. Some of their neighbors were Na thaniel,
Edmond and Peter Folsom, as well as Tandy Walker and Campbell LeF lore, names
listed in the Census. Johnanna’s brother Joseph and her twin s isters Cebellea
and Isabelle, who were born in December of 1862, all di ed within months of
each other in 1864, possible of a childhood disease f or which there was no
treatment. When she was 19, Johnanna married Elij ah Watson Fannin, a Canadian
from Ontario. He was the son of Henry W. Fann in, physician at the New Hope
Seminary for girls near Skullyville. Judie a nd Lige moved to a farm called
Krebb’s Place. Their first five children we re born there. The first was
Adaline, who only lived a few months, a nd is the only one of the family who
is buried in the Skullyville Choct aw Burying Ground. The others were Henry,
the only son, who di ed of TB at age 32, then Pauline, Fredrica and Georgina.
In 1888, after th ey moved into Kyle, Madeline, Faye and Alice were born.
Their house in Sku llyville was typical of times being built with three rooms
on either si de of a wide hall that ran the full length of the building. Each
side of t he house had a fireplace for heat. There was a pump in the kitchen
and a d ug well in the yard near the road. Travelers on their way to and from
Fo rt Smith were permitted to draw water for themselves and their horses at t
his well. Johnanna and Elijah moved their family into Spiro in 1907. Th ey had
a two-story home with silver maple trees in the front yard. The hor ses were
hitched here and the cows slept under the trees at night. The hou se was lit
by oil lamps until 1910 when Spiro got electricity. At nig ht a crock of dough
was often left to rise on the tile hearth of the dini ng room fireplace. The
bread was baked in a huge iron kitchen stove that b urned coal. Between the
dining room and the kitchen was a swinging door. T he coal bin was located
next to the privy in the barn, along with the ta ck room, feed storage and the
horse stalls for Old Bill and Bissie. Johnan na was a dedicated worker in the
Methodist Church. She was easy going a nd had a droll sense of humor. Lige
would often read books to her in the e vening. One of the characters in a book
was called Wilberforce, which s he thought was amusing, so she called her
husband Wilber after that. The F annins had a series of cooks over the years
that Judie always called Jerus h, regardless of what their real names were.
Two years after Elijah die d, Johnanna passed away at age 62. They are buried
side by side in the cem etery in Spiro, OK. Johnanna was an Original Enrollee.

Compiled by Sarah Daniel Rinehart, granddaughter of Johnanna Fannin, fr om
information received from her mother, Alice Fannin Daniel, other fami ly
members, census records and other historical sources.

Some sources state his place of birth was in the community of Bound in Cop iah
County, Mississippi

Martha Ann Ainsworth was the daughter of David Spence & Nancy Pruitt Ainsw
orth. Her first husband was Green McCurtain, later Chief of the Choctaw Na
tion. A son by that marriage, David Cornelius McCurtain, became famo us as a
lawyer and judge. Her second marriage was to her cousin, Thomas Dr ennon
Ainsworth.

Eanna Airgthach was the 21st Monarch and the first to cause silver shiel ds to
be made.

Nahum was Exilarch of the Jews in Babylon about 140-170.  He is the fir st
Exilarch of whom there is any historical record.  He was Exilarch duri ng the
reign of Hadrian as Roman emperor, giving him a birthdate of abo ut 100 to 120
CE. Contemporary Jewish leaders believed that the Exilarc hs were descended in
the male line of King David through the King Jehoachi n, who was carried off
to Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem in 6 07 BCE.  As Jehoachin was a
young man at that time a birthdate about 620-6 10 BCE is likely for him. The
return of some of the Jews to Judah occurr ed about 538 BCE when the tribal
leader was Zerubbabel, Jehoachin's grands on, who can be assigned a birthdate
of about 550 BCE.  This leaves a g ap of about 660 to 680 years between
Zerubbabel and Nahum for which the re are virtually no historic markers for
the Jews of Babylon. One of the l ists of supposed earlier Exilarchs gives
Shechaniah as the leader during t he destruction of the temple in Jerusalem,
which took place in 70-72 C E.  Shechaniah was third on this list back from
Nahum.  If we add these th ree leaders [a reasonable possibility as at some
scholars suggests the Bab ylonian Jewish hierarchy may have arisen during
later Parthian rule], t he gap narrows to a little less than 600 years.  This
gap would contain ab out 17 to 20 generations.  None of the known lists give a
sufficient numb er of people to fill all of these years.  The list from the
Jewish Enclyco pedia has been used in this compilation with a break between
Meshullam not ed by Chronicles as son of Zerubbabel and Hananiah.  Within this
break a re an appropriate number of generations.

Sources:
1.  Dills Gedcom-William L. "Toby" Dills
2.  Stuart, R.W. "Royalty for Commoners" line 329.
3.  "Encyclopedia Judiaca", Vol.6, pp.1024-1025.
4.  "The Jewish Enclyclopedia" Vol.V, pp.288-290.
5. ..., University of Oklahoma, Michael Marcotte

Great granddaughter of the Prophet

Juwayriyya bint Harith, may Allah be pleased with her, married the Proph et
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in 5 AH, when the P rophet
was fifty-eight years old and she was twenty, not long after his ma rriage to
Zaynab bint Jahsh, and as a result of the Muslims ' successful c ampaign
against the Banu Mustaliq who were swiftly defeated after the Prop het's
surprise attack. Among the captives taken in this campaign was the b eautiful
Juwayriyya, the daughter of al-Harith, who was the chief of the B anu
Mustaliq. She was afraid that once the Muslims realized who she was, t hey
would demand an exorbitant ransom for her safe release. After the Musl ims had
returned to Medina with their booty and prisoners, she demand ed to see the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon hi m) hoping that he
would help to prevent what she feared. Seeing how beauti ful she was, A'isha
was not keen on her seeing the Prophet.

But she persisted, and eventually she was permitted to see the Prophet (pe ace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) and was taken to him while he w as with
A'isha. After she had finished speaking, the Prophet thought f or a moment,
and then said, "Shall I tell you what would be better than th is?"

He then asked her to marry him, and she immediately accepted. Although Juw
ayriyya was young and beautiful and of noble lineage, the Prophet (peace a nd
blessings of Allah be upon him) was thinking of how to save her and a ll her
tribe from an ignoble fate. By marrying Juwayriyya, the Banu Mustal iq would
be able to enter Islam with honor, and with the humiliation of th eir recent
defeat removed, so that it would no longer be felt necessa ry by them to
embark on a war of vengeance that would have continued unt il one of the two
parties had been annihilated. As soon as the marriage w as announced, all the
booty that had been taken from the Banu Mustaliq w as returned, and all the
captives were set free, for they were now t he in laws of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon h im). Thus A'isha once said of
Juwayriyya, "I know of no woman who was mo re of a blessing to her people than
Juwayriyya bint al-Harith." After th ey were married, the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) ch anged her name was Barra to Juwayriyya.

It has been related by Juwayriyya that early one morning the Messenger (pe ace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) left her room while she was doi ng the
dawn prayer. He returned later that morning and she was still sitti ng in the
same place. "have you been sitting in the same place since I le ft you?" he
asked. "Yes," she replied. Whereupon the Prophet said, "I reci ted four
phrases three times after I left you, and if these were to be wei ghed against
what you have been reciting since dawn, they would still outw eigh them. They
are: 'Glory be to Allah and Praise be to Him as much as t he number of his
creations, and His pleasure, and the weight of His Thron e, and the ink of His
words.'" Which reminds us of the following ayat of t he Qur'an:

Say: 'If the sea were the ink for the words of My Lord, truly the sea wou ld
be used up before the words of my Lord were completed, and even if We u sed
the same again to assist. (Qur'an 18:109)

Juwayriyya was married to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be up on
him) for six years, and lived for another thirty-nine years after his d eath,
dying in 50 AH at the age of sixty-five, may Allah be pleased with h er.

Maymuna bint al-Harith, (may Allah be pleased with her), married the Proph et
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in 7 AH, when the P rophet
was sixty years old and she was thirty six years old. Maymuna's sis ter, Umm
al-Fadl Lubaba, was the mother of Abdullah ibn Abbas, the s on of one of the
uncles of the Prophet and the one of the wisest of his Co mpanions. Umm
al-Fadl was one of the earliest Companions of the Prophet. O nce Abu Lahab,
the enemy of Allah and the Messenger of Allah, entered t he house of his
brother, al-Abbas, and proceeded to attack Abbas client, A bu Rafi, because he
had embraced Islam. Abu Lahab knocked him to the grou nd and knelt on him,
continuing to beat him. Umm al Fadl grabbed a post th at was there and cracked
it across Abu Lahab's head, saying, "Will you vic timize him because his
master is absent?" He treated in shame and died a w eek later.

Zaynab bint Khuzayma, Umm al Muminin, was also her half-sister. Her oth er
sisters included Asma bint Umays, the wife of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, w ho later
married Abu Bakr, and Salma bint Umays, the wife of Hamza, the "L ion of
Allah". Her full sisters were Lubaba, Asma and Izza. Maymuna was th us one of
the 'Ahlul- Bayt' , 'the people of the House', not only by virt ue of being a
wife of the Prophet, (peace and blessings of Allah be upon h im) but also
because she was related to him. Zayd bin Arqam related that t he Messenger of
Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sai d, "I implore you by
Allah! The People of my House!" three times. Zayd w as asked who were the
People of the House, and he said, "The family of A li ibn Abi Talib, the
family of Jafar ibn Abi Talib, the family Aqil ibn A bi Talib, and the family
of Al Abbas ibn Abdal Muttalib."

Maymuna or Barra as she was then called, yearned to marry the Prophet. S he
went to her sister, Umm al Fadl to talk to her about that and she, in t urn,
spoke to her husband, al-Abbas. Al-Abbas immediately went to the Mess enger
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) with Maymuna's offer of m arriage
to him and her proposal was accepted. When the good news reached h er, she was
on a camel, and she immediately got off the camel and said, "T he camel and
what is on it is for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessi ngs of Allah be
upon him)." They were married in the month of Shaww al in 7 AH just after the
Muslims of Medina were permitted to visit Mec ca under the terms of the treaty
of Hudaybiyya to perform umra. Allah Almi ghty sent the following ayat about
this:

Any believing woman who dedicates herself to the Prophet if the Prophet wi
shes to wed her, that is only for thee and not for the believers. (Quran 3
3:50)

The Prophet gave her the name, Maymuna, meaning "blessed", and Maymuna liv ed
with the Prophet for just over three years, until his death. She was ob
viously very good natured and got on well with everyone, and no quarr el or
disagreement with any of the Prophet's other wives has been relat ed about
her. 'A'isha said about her, "Among us, she had the most fe ar of Allah and
did the most to maintain ties of kinship." It was in her r oom that the
Prophet first began to feel the effects of what became his fi nal illness and
asked the permission of his wives to stay in A'isha's ro om while it lasted.

After the Prophet's death, (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) Maym una
continued to live in Medina for another forty years, dying at the a ge of
eighty, in 51 AH, (may Allah be pleased with her), being the la st of the
Prophet's wives to die. She asked to be buried where had marri ed the Prophet
at Saraf and her request was carried out. It is related th at at the funeral
of Maymuna, Ibn Abbas said, "This is the wife of Allah 's Messenger, (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) so when you li ft her bier, do not shake
her or disturb her, but be gentle." It is also r elated by Ibn Abbas that he
once stayed the night as a guest of Maymuna, w ho was his aunt, and the
Prophet, (peace and blessings of Allah be upon hi m) They slept on their
blanket lengthways and he slept at the end, crosswa ys. After they had all
slept for awhile, the Prophet rose in the midd le of the night to pray the
tahajjud prayer, and Ibn Abbas joined him.

They both did wudu, and he prayed eleven rakats with the Prophet (peace a nd
blessings of Allah be upon him). Then they both went back to sleep aga in
until dawn. Bilal called the adhan, and the Prophet did another two sho rt
rakats, before going into the mosque to lead the Dawn Prayer.

Ibn Abbas said that one of the dua'ahs that the Prophet made during this n
ight was : "O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my tongue, lig ht in my
hearing, light on my sight, light behind me, light in front of m e, light on
my right, light on my left, light above me and light below m e; place light in
my sinew, in my flesh, in my blood, in my hair a nd in my skin; place light in
my soul and make light abundant for me; ma ke me light and grant me light."

It is commonly agreed that it was after the Prophet had married Maymuna, g
iving him now nine wives (A'isha, Sawda, Hafsa, Umm Salama, Zainab bint Ja
hsh, Juwayriyya, Umm Habiba, Safiyya and Maymuna), that the following ay at
was revealed:

It is not lawful for you (O Muhammad, to marry more) women after this, n or to
exchange them for other wives, even though their beauty is pleasi ng to you,
except those whom your right hand possesses (as maid servants ); and Allah is
always watching over everything. (Quran 33:52)

After this, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did n ot
marry again. When however, the Christian ruler, or Muqawqis, of Egyp t, sent
him two Christian slave girls 0 who were sisters as a gift (in res ponse to
the Prophet's letter inviting him to embrace Islam), along wi th a fine robe
and some medicine the Prophet, accepted one of the slave gi rls, Maria, into
his household; he gave her sister Serene, to a man wh om he wished to honor,
namely Hassan ibn Thabit; he accepted the robe; a nd he returned the medicine
with the message, "My Sunna is my medicine!" T his occurred in 7 AH, when the
Prophet was sixty years old and Maria was t wenty years old.

Great grandson of the Prophet

Born ca. 700 BCE

Yemen and the Himyarite Dynasty.

The history of Yemen, in consequence or inscriptions, ascends higher th an
that of the rest of Arabia
In the first chapter I have referred to the national tradition and poet ry of
the Arabs, and have admitted that with respect to genealogical and p
hylarchical events, their reminiscences have peculiar claims upon our beli
ef1. In the case of the Himyar empire in the south of Arabia there is, bes
ides these sources, ground for believing that national events were chronic led
by inscriptions, and thence incorporated in the traditional accoun ts of the
Arab historians. It is thus possible for the history of the Himy ar dynasty to
ascend far above that of the Abrahamic tribes, which was dep endent solely on
oral tradition.

These inscriptions not now decypherable, but known to the early Mahomet an
historians and traditionists
The reader has probably followed with interest and curiosity the successi ve
discoveries of Himyar writing at Sana, Hisn al Ghorab, Khariba, and Mar eb.
These were ancient seats of Himyarite rule; and as we are assured th at the
nation was acquainted with letters and far advanced in civilizati on and
opulence, it corresponds certainly with our natural expectation th at we
should find in the neighbourhood permanent memorials of ancient grea tness,
"graven in the rock with a pen of steel." Notwithstanding many lear ned and
ingenious attempts to unravel these inscriptions no certain clue h as yet been
found. In a few words, indeed, resemblance may be traced to an cient names in
the Himyar dynasty2; but the foundation is far from being b road enough to
build any sure theory upon.

Still there remains the indisputable fact that events of some descriptio n,
and most likely the names of the ancient kings of Yemen, were thus reco rded.
It is also certain that, at the time of the Mahometan conquest, the re were
alive upon the spot inhabitants versed in the Himyar alphabet, a nd able to
communicate the meaning of the inscriptions to the curious inqu irer.
Wherefore, although the knowledge of the Musnad character became rap idly
extinct, and we nowhere read of any native history of Yemen3, it is y et
highly probable that the early Mahometan writers had the ready mea ns of
decyphering the numerous inscriptions, and with the aid of local tra dition of
framing therefrom a chronicle of the names and of some of the ac ts of the
kings of the Himyarite line.

Confused and discrepant narrative compiled by Mahometan historians from su ch
sources
These sources of information must however at the best have been very imper
fect. The materials presented to us by the Arab historians are so doubtfl il
and discrepant that M.C.de Perceval, after extraordinary pains to redu ce them
to an uniform narrative, admits that they are involved in "a profo und
uncertainty."4

Cahtan 800 to 500 B.C.
The first of the Yemen dynasty is the great CAHTAN5. To calculate the e ra at
which he lived, we must note the number of generations between him a nd Dzu
Nowas, the last of the Himyar race. As adjusted by M.C. de Perceva l, they
amount to thirty nine; which, at thirty-three years to a generatio n6, gives
an interval of 1,287 years. Now the birth of Dzu Nowas may be pl aced
approximatively at 460 AD.; so that the era of Cahtan would by this c
alculation be carried back to 827 B.C.

Calculation by the lines of Cahlan and Codhaa
When, however, the descent is followed by another line, that of Cahlan t he
brother of Himyar, and also by the separate Himyarite stem of Codha a, we find
only from thirty-three to thirty-six generations between Caht an and Mahomet7;
and this would bring closer to us the era of Cahtan by t wo or three
centuries. In favour of the more modern era there are the unce rtainties and
discrepancies in the Yemen succession; for it is possible th at different and
contemporaneous branches have been confused and represent ed as one continuous
line8. Tbis is the more likely from the yearning of t he Mahometan writers
after extreme antiquity, and their desire, by protrac ting the genealogies, to
connect them with the Mosaical record.

The identification of Cahtan with Joktan is an extravagant fiction
Whichever line be adopted, we may, with tolerable confidence place the a ge of
Cahtan between the years 800 B.C. and 500 B.C. It is this Cahtan wh om
Mahometan writers have identified with Joktan (Yectan), the sixth fr om Noah;
but the identification is one of those extravagant fictions whi ch the
followers of Islam, in their zeal to accommodate Arab legend to Jew ish
scripture, have made in defiance of the most violent improbability, a nd the
grossest anachronisms9.

Cahtan and his descendants
Cahtan was succeeded by his son YAROB, who expelled or destroyed the Adite s,
consolidated the empire of Yemen, and gave to his brothers Oman and Had
hrarnaut (the story is perhaps a myth) the government of the two countri es
thenceforward called by their names. Yarab begot Yashjob; and Yashjo b, Abd
Shams Saba the Great.

Abd Shami builds Mareb or Saba, and the famous dam
ABD SHAMS SABA is said to have been the founder of the city of Mareb or Sa ba,
represented by classical writers, under the name of Mariaba, as the ca pital
of the Sabeans, and situated upon a mountain. He also construct ed or repaired
the famous lake-embankment (Sadd Mareb) in the vicini ty of that city ; -
remains of it being traceable at the present day10.

Himyar and Cahlan, 700 to 400 B.C.
Among the sons of Abd Shams Saba are the two famous patriarchs, HIMYAR a nd
CAHLAN; the sires (as tradition has it) of the whole Arab progeny. The ir
birth, according to the variety of opinion above expressed, occurred fr om 400
to 700 B.C.

Mutdriba and Mustdriba
The pure races from this descent are termed Mutariba; those mixed with sup
posed Ishmaelite blood, Mustariba11.

The children of Himyar urban, those of Cahlan nomad in their habits
The children of Himyar are marked by their comparatively settled habits. T hey
lived chiefly in cities, and acquired the civilized manners and tast es of an
urban life. But the descendants of Cahlan, scorning the restricti ons of place
and the self-imposed wants of a sedentary residence, betook t hemselves to the
free and wandering occupations of the Bedouin.

Himyarite and Arabic languages
A different speech distinginislied the two races. The Himyarite was spok en in
the towns of Yemen, and was early provided with an alphabet. The Ara bic of
the Cahlanite tribes (acquired by their intermixture with the Abrah amic
tribes of the north) did not possess the advantage of writing, appare ntly,
till near the time of Mahomet12. The Bedouins alone cultivated poetr y, and
that only in the Arabic language. We meet with no tradition mention ing a
single couplet composed in the Himyar tongue13.

The Tobbas
From Himyar, fifteen or twenty reigns, vaguely and dimly described, and so me
even of doubtful existence, may be passed over14. We then come to th at
portion of the Himyarite line known as the illustrious dynasty of the T
OBBAS15, and enter on a period where historical probability rests upon pro
gressively improving grounds16.

Harith, "the philosopher" born 150 B.C.
HARITH AL RAISH, or AL FILSUF "the philosopher;" supposed have flourish ed
about a century before Christ, is termed the first of the Tobbas. He re
-invigorated the empire, and restored to his single sceptre several kingdo ms
which had fallen under princes of the Cahlan stock.

Essab, "the horned," Identified with Alexander the Great
His successor was ESSAB Dzu-al-Carnain, or the Horned." The surname is th at
which the Arabs accord to Alexander the Great; it is connected in the C oran
with some strange legends, especially with the construction in the no rth of
the prodigious rampart of Yajaj and Maja 17. The marvel-loving hist orians of
Arabia have not been slow to follow up the clue. Some have ident ified Essab
at once as the hero of the Coran, and as the great Alexande r; while others
hold that he was a monarch contemporary with Abraham18.

Africus, 50 B.C.
The third from Essab, styled by the foreign name of AFRICUS or AFRIKAN, fl
ourished probably about half a century before our era. The name, as usua l,
has suggested a variety or wild stories. Some allege that he locat ed in
Africa the Amalekites who escaped from Joshua, and who there gr ew up into the
Berber nation; others, that his exploits against the Berbe rs procured him the
distinctive title. The reigning prince of his day in A frica was Jirjir, or
Gregory 19 - a strange contemporary indeed for Joshua !

Dzu-al-Adzar, identified by C.de Perceval with Ihsare of the Roman expedit ion
Africus was followed by his brother DZU-L-ADZAR, to whose reign attach a t
issue of imbecile legends. Caycaus king of Persia, having attacked him, w as
taken prisoner; but was subsequently liberated by the famous Rustam, a nd
returned to his kingdom, after marrying the daughter Dzu-l-Adzar20. M.C .de
Perceval ingeniously surmises that these facts bear traces of the Roma n,
rather than of a Persian, invasion; for it was somewhere about this per iod
that AElius Gallus, after having taken Negranes or Negra (Najran), bes ieged
and was repulsed from Marsyaba (Muriaba or Mareb), a city belongi ng to the
Yemenites21, who were then governed by Hasare. The Chief, Hasar e, he
recognizes in the name of Dzu-l-Adzar.

Conjecture that it may rather have been his son Aleishra, 668 B.C.
The title, however, of this princes son and successor, ALEISHRA or LEISHR A;
has a more close resemblance to that of Strabo's Yemenite Governor. H is era
also is more appropriate; for according to C. de Perceval's genealo gical
table, Aleishra (who was also called SHURAHBIL, and YAHSAB) was bo rn 68 B.C.,
or forty-four years before the Roman inroad; so that he cou ld hardly have
failed to take a part in the Arab defence.

Strange oblivion of the Arabs as to the Roman Expedition
It will not escape observation that the Arab histories contain no farth er
date to this memorable incursion of the Romans; yet it was a circumstan ce,
which from its unprecedented novelty, from the lasting marks of devast ation,
and from the glory acquired in the repulse, was likely above all ot her events
to have lodged itself in the national mind and tradition. Fooli sh and
unmeaning stories are, after a lapse of two thonasand years, told w ith all
freshness of detail and circumstance; while this, which is perha ps the most
salient and striking incident in the history or Arabia, and wh ich occurred
within five or six centuries of the Moslem era, is unnotic ed and unknown!

Balkis, 1st century, A.D.
The grand-daughter of Aleishra, the famous Queen BALKIS, who must have flo
urished during the first century of the Christian era, furnishes a still m ore
remarkable example of the illusory nature of remote Mahometan traditio n.

Confounded by tradition with the Queen of Sheba
She is held to have been no less a personage than the Queen of Sheba, w ho
visited Solomon the son of David a thousand years before! Her moth er is said
to with the have been one of the genii. It would be unprofitab le to enter
into a detail of the extravagant legends related of this perso nage, some of
which have received countenance even in the Coran. It is rem arkable that
Mahomet there represents her people as addicted to the worsh ip of the Sun22.

Tobba al Akran, beginning of second century, A.D.
Two more successions bring us to TOBBA AL AKRAN, in whose reign occurred t he
celebrated exodus of the Azdites, a people descended from the sto ck of
Calhan.

Amr Mozaikia
This tribe, under the command of two brothers, Omran and AMR MOZAJKIA23 be
came independent of the Himyarites, and made themselves masters of Mare b.
Omran died, but not (so goes the legend) without giving his brother int
imation of the dire calamity impending over the land. The wife of Amr Moza
jkia followed up the monition by on ominous vision. She bade him go to t he
embankment of the lake formed by the Saad Mareb near the city; an d, if he
should see a rat scraping the mound and detaching from it huge st ones, she
prognosticated a speedy and inevitable ruin.

Migration of the Azdites: and destruction of the Lake of Mareb, 120 A.D.
He went and saw the fatal sign. Thus warned, Amr Mozaikia made immediate p
reparations to emigrate, and set out northward with the greater porti on of
his tribe. Shortly after their departure, the embankment rent asunde r, and
the flood, escaping with devastating fury, spread destruction in i ts wake.

True cause of the exodus of the Azdites
At the close of the preceding chapter, I have shown grounds for the beli ef
that a cause of far greater depth and extent than the destruction of th is dam
had long been at work paving the way for emigration. The dryi ng up of the
Yemen commerce, and stoppage of the carrying trade, had disor ganized society
and led perhaps to the rebellion of the Azdites and the ir seizure of Mareb.
The threatened breach of the dam accelerated the cris is, and gave the last
impulse to an over-burdened and necessitous populati on, already eager to go
forth in quest of a livelihood to some less straig htened country. The
emigration took place about the year 120 A.D.24

Yemen soon recovers its prosperity
Yemen, thus relieved or part of its surplus inhabitants, regained rapid ly its
prosperity, notwithstanding the ravages of the flood. Tobba al Akr an
recovered his authority. He is renowned as a great warrior; and is sa id to
have carried his arms to the borders of China.

Tibban Asad, Abn Karib; beginning of third century, A.D.
The fourth in succession from Tobba al Akran, was Tinsiw TIBAN ASAD, ABU K
ARIB, who flourished about the beginning of the third century of our er a, one
of the most illustrious of the Trobbas25. His name is connected wi th Yathreb
or Medina. Being on an expedition to Persia, he left his son un der the care
of the people of Medina. They murdered the boy; and in reven ge Tibban Asad
besieged their city and threatened it with destruction.

His attack upon Medina, and conversion to Judaism
But two Jewish doctors of the Beni Coreitza, then resident at Medina, havi ng
brought him over to Judaism, diverted him from his designs by foretelli ng (as
is pretended) that Yathreb would become the refuge of a great proph et to
arise in Arabia. At their instance he visited and enriched the Kaa ba as the
shrine of Abraham, and was the first to adorn it with a coveri ng of cloth. On
returning to Yemen, he introduced there the Jewish religio n. The idolaters
contested the change, and appealed to the trial by fir e; but they were
miraculously confuted by the two Jewish doctors26. Judai sm did not, however,
gain any important extension in Yemen till the rei gn of Dzu Nowas, and even
to the era of Islam it had to contend against id olatry.

Circumstances tending to confuse the history of this attack
The details of the Median expedition are much complicated by two circumsta
nces. For the same adventure is attributed by various writers to Hassan To bba
the Less, who flourisined about a century after Tibban Asad; whil e, in many
important particulars, it is confounded with another attack ma de upon Medina
by a sovereign of Yemen, at least three centuries after Tib ban Asad, the
memory of which was yet recent in the time of Mahomet27.

Rabia
After Tibban Asad there is a break in the Himyar line; for a prince call ed
RABIA, of the Cahanite stock and Bani Lakhm tribe28. succeeded to hi m. The
following characteristic legend of Rabia is cherished by Mahomet an writers.
He was affrighted by a portentous dream; the diviners were sum moned; but, as
in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, they could not tell the inte rpretation unless
the dream were made known to them. At last two divine rs were introduced, each
of whom separately narrated to the king both t he dream mind its signification
:

His dream and the Lakhmite emigration to Iraq, 205 A.D.
- Thou sawest a flame burst forth from the darkness; it fell upon the la nd of
Tihama, and devoured every living thing. The flame prefigured the Ab
yssinians, who would overrun Yemen from Aden to Najran, and rule for abo ve
seventy years. After that, proceeded the diviners, these invaders wou ld be
overthrown, and would be succeeded by an inspired prophet of the Cor eishite
stock, to whose rule all Arabia would submit, and whose law wou ld prevail
until the day of judgment. The prince, terrified by the thre at of Abyssinian
invasion, immediately sent off his family and adheren ts to Irac. This
emigration took place early in the third century. It wi ll be seen below that
from Adi, one of Rabia's sons sprang the Lakhmite dy nasty of Hira29.

Hassan Tobba, 236-250, A.D.
On Rabia's death the kingdom reverted to the son of Tibban Asad, HASSAN TO
BBA, during whose reign, in the first half of the third century, a farth er
emigration took place from Yemen.

Emigration northwards of the Bani Tay
The Bani Tay, a great Cahlanite family, isolated since the departure of th eir
neighbours the Azdites, and like them suffering from the of the effec ts of
the great commercial change, moved northwards and finally took up th eir
position in the mountains of Aja and Salma to the north of Najd and t he
Hejaz.

Abd Kelal, a Christian king, 275 A.D.
After four successions we find, towards the close of the third centur y, a
Christian king of Yemen called ABD KELAL. He is said to have been con vened by
a Syrian stranger whom the Himyarites, enraged at their prince 's defection,
murdered. This is the first intimation we meet with of Chris tianity in Yemen;
and,
as it is attributed to a foreign source, there would appear to have be en no
indigenous or hereditary profession or it there.

Hassan Tobba the Less, 300 A.D.
The next prince was HASSAN TOBBA, AL ASGHAR, or the Less, styled the la st of
the Tobbas, to whom is attributed by Hishami and other writers, t he attack
upon Medina just mentioned. He reigned about 300 A.D.; and Ar ab historians
speak of a treaty concluded between him and the Meccan tribe .

Dependence of the central tribes on the Himyar kings
From this time forward we have frequent proof that the central tribes of t he
peninsula acknowledged a general allegiance to the Himyar kingdom. T he
relation was ever and anon interrupted by hostilities, and as often aft er
short intervals renewed.

The tolerant reign Of Marthad, 330 A.D.
Hassan was succeeded by MARTHAD son of Abd Kelal, who is famed for wise a nd
moderate views upon religious toleration. He used to say, "I reign ov er men's
bodies, not over their opinions. I exact from my subjects obedien ce to my
government; as to their religious doctrine, the Judge of th at is the Great
Creator." During this exemplary reign we learn from eccles iastical history
that a Greecian embassage appeared in the capital of Yeme n.

The mission sent by Constantius
It was sent by the Emperor Constantinis to strengthen his alliance with t he
Himyarites, and to attract them to Christianity. At its head was the In dian
Bishop Theophilus, who presented to "the prince of the Sabeans or Hom erites,"
among other royal gifts, "two hundred horses of the purest bre ed of
Cappadocia," and sought permission to erect churches for the subjec ts of the
Roman emperor attracted to Yemen by merchandize, and for the nat ives who
might wish to embrace the religion of Jesus. So far the mission w as
successful: three churches were built, one at Tzafar, the royal residen ce;
another at Aden, the point of traffic with India; a third at the chi ef
maritime town on the Persian Gulph; Theophilus flattered himself th at he had
even converted the Himyarite monarch; but for conversion he prob ably mistook
what was no more than a latitudinarian and tolerant philosop hy 30. It is
certain that Arab history makes no mention either of this mis sion or of its
effects.

State of Yemen as described by the embassy
Philostorgius informs us that the inhabitants of Yemen were at that time p
artly Jewish, partly Pagan. The Pagans, though far the most numerous, prac
tised the rite or circumcision, and like the Jews on the eighth day. Th ey
also sacrificed to the sun and the moon, and to other divinities sever al of
whose names we learn from Arab writers.

Disorganization in Yemen, 350 A.D.
After the death of Marthad, the Himyarite empire began to decline, and i ts
subordinate rulers to throw off the yoke of dependence. The disorganiza tion
arose, perhaps, from unsuccessful war with the Abyssinian kingdom; fo r, about
the middle of the fourth century the sovereign of Axurn (betwe en the Red Sea
and the Nile) joined to his other titles that of King of t he Himyarites 31.

Period of uncertainty
To such troubles may be attributed the brevity and frequent uncertain ty of
the history of Yemen for a long series of years. The Himyar dynast y, however,
still maintained its supremacy over the tribes of Najd and t he Hedjaz;

A viceroy given to the central tribes, 450 A.D.
and about the middle of the fifth century gave them a king or viceroy, cal led
Hojr Akil al Morar of the Kinda tribe32.

Dru Shenatir assinated by Dzu Nowas 490-525 A.D.
Towards the end of the fifth century the throne was usurped by the dissolu te
Dzu Shenatir. He was abhorred of the people for his flagitious deeds, w hich
he carried to such an extreme as to dishonour the youths even of t he most
noble families. One of them, rather than submit to his indignitie s, put an
end to the tyrant's life. This youth, called DZU NOWAS, belong ed to the royal
stock, and was unanimously called to the throne.

During his reign there were several encounters between the Kinda viceroy s
upported by Yemen troops, and the tribes of Central Arabia. The latter we re
repeatedly victorious, but always returned again after a time to the ir
allegiance. The Himyar dynasty thus continued to maintain its Arabian i
nfluence, until it was finally overthrown by the Abyssinians, when the feu dal
authority over the Arabs passed into the hands of the Prince of Hira t he
vassal of Persia.

Dzu Nowas attacks Najran, and massacres the Christians, 523 A.D.
Dzu Nowas was a votary of Judaism, which he was said to have embrac ed on a
visit to Medina 33. This creed he supported with an intolerant a nd
proselytizing adherence, which at last proved fatal to his kingdom. H is
bigotry was aroused by the prevalence and success of Christianity in t he
neighboring province of Najran; and it with a large army. The Christia ns
offered a strenuous resistance, but yielded at length to the treachero us
promise that no ill would be done to them. They were offered the choi ce of
Judaism or death, and those who remained constant to the faith of Je sus were
cruelly massacred. Deep trenches were dug, and filled with combus tible
materials; the pile was lighted, and the Christian martyrs cast head long into
the flame. The number thus miserably burned, or slain by the swo rd, is stated
at no less than twenty thousand 34.

The court of Constantinople stirs up the Prince of Abyssinia to avenge t he
tyranny of Dzu Nowas
However much the account of this melancholy carnage may have been exaggera
ted, there can be no doubt of the cruel and bloody character of the tyrant 's
administration in Najran. News of the proceedings reached the emperor J ustin
I, through his ambassador at Hira, to which court Dzu Nowas had exul tingly
communicated tidings of his triumph 35. One of the intended victim s, Dous dzu
Tholaban, also escaped to Constantinople and, holding up a hal f-burnt Gospel,
invoked in the name of outraged Christendom retribution up on the oppressor.
The emperor was moved, and indicted a dispatch to the Na jashi or prince of
the Abyssinians, desiring him to take vengeance upon t he barbarous Himyarite.
Immediately an armament was set on foot, a nd in a short time seventy thousand
warriors, embarked in thirteen hundr ed merchant ships or transports 36,
crossed the narrow gulph which separat es Yemen from Adulis.

Victory of the Abyssinians, and death of Dzu Nowas 525 A.D.
Dzu Nowas was defeated; in despair he urged his horse into the sea, and ex
piateted in the waves the inhumananities of his career. The Abyssinian vic
tory occurred in 525 A.D. 37.

Abraha the Abyssinian viceroy, attacks Mecca, and perishes in the expediti on,
570 A.D.
The African army was commanded by Aryat, who reigned over Yemen as the vic
eroy of the Najashi. But another Abyssinian chief named ABRAHA, who had ac
companied the expedition, rebelled against Aryat and, having slain h im in
single combat, succeeded to the government. Abraha was a zealous Chr istian;
and the efforts of Gregentius, a bishop deputed by the Patriar ch of
Alexandria to follow up the secular by a spiritual conquest, were se conded by
him with more energy than judgment. He built at Sanna a magnific ent
cathedral, and professed himself desirous that the worship of the Ar ab tribes
should be diverted from Mecca to this new shrine. With this obje ct it is
alleged that he published a general order, and sent missionari es throughout
Arabia, calling upon the Arabs to make the pilgramage. The M eccans were
displeased, and killed one of his emissaries; a Coreishite h ad even the
audacity to defile the precincts of the Christian edifice. Enr aged at such
opposition and contempt, Abraha set out with an army to destr oy the Kaaba;
but he perished in the expedition. This attack, famous in t he annals of Mecca
as that of the Elephant, occurred in the year 570 A.D ., within two months of
the birth of Mahomet.

Aided by Persia, Madicarib overthrows the Abyssinians 575 A.D.
The history of Yemen is now detached from the rest of Arabia. The Abyssini an
rule was distasteful to the natives; and a Himyarite of the royal hous e,
named Saif, whether impelled by the tyranny of the invaders, or by t he hope
of succeeding to the throne of his ancestors, sought for foreign a id first
fruitlessly at the court of Constantinople, and then at that of t he Persian
king. From the latter, Madicarib, son of the original supplian t, at last
obtained an order to empty the prisons of the convicts fit f or war. With an
army drawn front this source, he embarked in eight ship s, six of which safely
reached the port of Aden. The Persian and Abyssini an armies met, and Wahraz
the convict chief decided the struggle by killi ng Masruk the Abyssinian
viceroy. This happened about 575 A.D. 38.

Embassies from the tribes on the revival of the Himyar dynasty
In the person of MADIKARIB, who was installed as the ruler of Yemen and t he
vassal of the Persian king, the Himyarite dynasty seemed again to re-ap pear.
The Arab tribes sent deputations to congratulate him on the auspicio us
occasion, and among them is named Abd al Mottalib, the grandfather of M
ahomet. But the story is accompanied by so many extravagant anticipatio ns of
the Prophet as to involve it altogether in suspicion 39.

The Abyssinians finally expelled, A.D. 597
There is reason to believe that the Abyssinians still maintained a strugg le
with the resuscitated Himyar government, and were not finally subdued t ill
the year 597. Then, after having maintained themselves for seventy-t wo years,
they were effectually crushed by a second Persian army under t he same Wahraz,
and Yemen sank into a simple dependency of Persia. Badra n, one of the early
successors of Wahraz, is said to have given in his adh esion to Islam while
Mahomet was yet alive.

Qays, was the one whom Mu'awiya tempted to kill al-Hasan. So she killed h im
with poison.

Offensive War to Spread Islam
Muhammad and his successors initiated offensive wars against peaceful coun
tries in order to impose Islam by force as well as to seize the abundan ce of
these lands. Their objective was to capture women and children a nd to put an
end to the poverty and hunger from which Arab Muslims suffere d. So, Islam was
imposed upon Syria, Jordan, Palestine (Jerusalem), Egyp t, Libya, Iraq, Iran,
all of North Africa, some parts of India and Chin a, and later Spain.

Undoubtedly, the concept of an offensive war to spread the faith is a genu ine
Islamic concept; it is known as a Holy War for the sake of God. We wi ll see
what Muslim scholars have explicitly determined that this is the es sence of
Islam. They also indicate that if sufficient military power is av ailable to
Islamic countries, they ought to attack all other countri es in order to force
them to embrace Islam, or pay the poll tax and be sub ject to Islamic rule.
Muhammad (as well as all the Caliphs who succeeded h im) called for holy wars
. All scholars and lawyers acknowledge that.

Those who say that the Islamic wars were always defensive do not understa nd
Islam and have not read sufficient history. It should be evident that o
ffensive wars to spread Islam are the heart of the entire religion of Isla m.
They embody the meaning of "Striving for the cause of God"-holy w ar to make
the Word of God supreme over the whole world. Our study wi ll be filled with
objective quotes from the statements of scholars, alo ng with a throng of true
stories.