Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
8. Rising above Events
~ 179 ~
Hauzah ibn ‘Ali al-Hanafi. Rivalry between the
Persian and Roman empires was intense, and their
respective vassals in Arabia would participate in
the wars fought between them. Ghasasina, for
instance, would side with the Romans and Hirah
with the Persians. So it was that Arab blood would
flow in pursuit of the super powers’ aims.
In those times Yemen was far larger than it is today.
It contained several small tribal governments, the
largest of which had its capital at San’a’. It was
there that Najran was situated. Foreign rule in
Yemen had commenced around A.D. 343, when the
Romans sent Christian missionaries to the region.
These missionaries met with great success in
Najran, and most of the country’s inhabitants
converted to Christianity.
Though this was a religious event, the Romans’
rivals in Persia perceived it as a political threat. It
seemed to them as if the Roman Empire was
seeking to establish a foothold in the southern
region of Arabia. The Persians allied with the
Jewish tribes who had settled in Yemen after being
expelled from Syria by the Romans in A.D. 70.
