Tafsir of Ad-Dukhan 44:37

"Are they better" in terms of power and protection, "or the people of Tubba‘?" Tubba‘ is the Great Tubba‘ al-Himyari. His name is As‘ad—with a hamza—and in some books, Sa‘d without it. His kunya (patronymic) is Abu Karb, and he was a righteous man.

‘A’isha said: "Tubba‘ was a righteous man. Do you not see that Allah, the Exalted, condemned his people but did not condemn him?" Ibn ‘Asakir narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas: "Do not be confused regarding the matter of Tubba‘, for he was a Muslim." Ahmad, al-Tabarani, Ibn Abi Hatim, and Ibn Mardawayh narrated from Sahl ibn Sa‘d al-Sa‘idi that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Do not revile Tubba‘, for he had submitted to Islam (became a Muslim)."

Ibn ‘Asakir and Ibn al-Mundhir narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas who said: "I asked Ka‘b about Tubba‘, for I hear Allah, the Exalted, mentioning the 'people of Tubba‘' in the Quran, but He does not mention Tubba‘ himself. He replied: 'Tubba‘ was a man from the people of Yemen, a victorious king. He marched with armies until he reached Samarkand, then returned and took the road to the Levant. He captured some rabbis there and set off with them toward Yemen. When he drew near his kingdom, word spread among the people that he intended to demolish the Ka‘bah. The rabbis said to him: "What is this that you have in mind? This House belongs to Allah, the Exalted, and you will not be granted authority over it." He said: "If this House belongs to Allah, then I am the most entitled to honor it." So he submitted there and then, entered into the state of ihram, entered it while consecrated, performed his rites, and then returned to Yemen. Upon arriving to his people, their nobles entered to see him and said: "O Tubba‘, you are our leader and the son of our leader; you left us following one religion and have returned following another! So choose one of two things for us: either you leave us and our kingdom and worship whatever you wish, or you abandon the religion you have introduced." There was fire among them in those days that descended from the sky. The rabbis said at that time: "Place the fire between you and them." The people all agreed to place it between them. The rabbis and their scriptures were brought, as were the idols and their attendants, and they were all brought forward to the fire, with men standing behind them with swords. The fire roared like the sound of thunder and cast out its rays. The idolaters recoiled, while the fire moved forward and burned the idols and their attendants. The others remained safe. Some people submitted, and some surrendered. They remained like that during the lifetime of Tubba‘. But when death came to Tubba‘, he appointed his brother as his successor and perished. [His people] killed his brother and reverted to disbelief in one stroke.'"

In another narration from Ibn ‘Abbas: When Tubba‘ returned from the East—after having "hiyyara" al-Hirah, meaning he built it and organized its affairs, and Hiyyara with a ha (unpointed) and a silent ya is a city near Al-Hirah—and built Samarkand, which is a well-known city in the non-Arab lands... It is said that he destroyed it or intended to destroy the city, for he had left behind his two sons when he traveled, and they were killed by treachery, so he resolved to destroy it and exterminate its people. He gathered the Ansar, and they went out to fight him. They fought him during the day and hosted him at night. This impressed him, and he said: "These people are noble." While he was in that state, Ka‘b and Asad—two cousins from Qurayzah, who were rabbis—came to him and informed him that he would be prevented from what he wanted, for this was the place of migration for a Prophet from Quraysh named Muhammad (ﷺ), and his birth would be in Makkah. Their words turned him away from what he intended. Then they invited him to their religion, so he followed them and honored them. They left the city accompanied by a group of Jews. On the way, a group from Hudhail said to him: "Shall we guide you to a house containing treasure of pearls, chrysolite, gold, and silver in Makkah?" The Hudhail wanted to destroy him, for they knew that no one ever intended harm toward it (the Ka‘bah) except that they perished. He mentioned this to the two rabbis, who said: "We do not know of any house on earth that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has taken for Himself except this one. So take it as a mosque, perform your rites beside it, and shave your head." The people intended nothing but his destruction, so he honored it and clothed it—he was the first to clothe the House—and he had the hands and feet of that group from Hudhail cut off, their eyes gouged out, and they were crucified.

In another narration, when the two rabbis said what they said, he asked them: "And you two, what prevents you from doing so?" They replied: "By Allah, it is indeed the house of our father Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and it is as we told you, but its people have stood between us and it with the idols they have erected around it, and with the blood they shed in the filth of polytheism." He recognized their truthfulness and sincerity, so he circumambulated the House, sacrificed, shaved his head, and stayed in Makkah for six days, according to some accounts, slaughtering for the people, feeding them, and giving them honey to drink. It is also said that he intended to destroy the House but was struck with a great ailment, so he refrained from it and clothed it.

Ibn ‘Asakir narrated from Ibn Ishaq that Tubba‘ saw in his dream that he should clothe the House, so he clothed it in khasf (coarse matting). Then he was shown in a dream that he should clothe it with something better, so he clothed it in ma‘afir. Then he was shown in a dream that he should clothe it with something better than that, so he clothed it in wasa'il (striped Yemeni garments). Thus, according to what has been mentioned to me, he was the first to clothe it and ordered his governors from Jurhum to do so, commanded its purification, and provided it with a door and a key. In another narration, he also said: "Do not bring blood or dead bodies near it, and do not let a menstruating woman near it." In Nihayat al-Athir, it says in the hadith that Tubba‘ clothed the House in musuh (haircloth), but the House shook it off and tore it from itself. Then he clothed it in khasf, but it did not accept it. Then he clothed it in anta‘ (leather spreads).

In another passage, it is said that the first to clothe the Ka‘bah with a full covering was Tubba‘; he clothed it in anta‘, then wasa'il. Khasf is in the form of maf‘ul from khasf, meaning joining one thing to another, and what is meant is something woven from palm leaves, as is apparent. It is also said that here it means very coarse garments, by analogy. Ma‘afir are Yemeni garments attributed to Ma‘afir, a tribe there, with an additional mim. Wasa'il are red, striped Yemeni garments. Musuh is the plural of misah, garments made of coarse hair. Anta‘ is the plural of nit‘, which are spreads made of leather.

Ibn Sa‘d and Ibn ‘Asakir narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka‘b who said: "When Tubba‘ came to Madinah and stayed in its vicinity, he sent for the rabbis of the Jews and said: 'I will destroy this town until no Judaism remains, and the matter will return to the religion of the Arabs.' Shamul the Jew, who was the most learned among them at the time, said to him: 'O King, this is a town to which a Prophet from the descendants of Isma‘il will migrate; his birth is in Makkah, his name is Ahmad, and this is his place of migration...'—until he said—'And what is his description?' He replied: 'A man neither short nor tall, with redness in his eyes, he rides a camel, wears a coarse woolen cloak (shamlah), his sword is on his shoulder, and he does not care whom he meets until his affair prevails.' Tubba‘ said: 'There is no way to this town, and it was not destined for its destruction to be at my hands.'"

Abu al-Riyashi mentioned that he believed in the Prophet (ﷺ) seven hundred years before he was sent. It is also said that there were a thousand years between him and his birth, peace be upon him. Both statements indicate that it was before the mission of ‘Isa, peace be upon him. Ibn Mardawayh narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas who said: "Do not say anything but good about Tubba‘, for he performed Hajj to the House and believed in what ‘Isa ibn Maryam brought," which indicates it was after the mission of ‘Isa, peace be upon him; the first (opinion) is more famous.

From the hadith of ‘Abbad ibn Ziyad, it is narrated that when the Jews informed him that a Prophet would emerge in Makkah whose destination would be this town—meaning Madinah—and his name would be Ahmad, and they informed him that he (Tubba‘) would not live to see him, he said to the Aws and Khazraj: "Stay in this town; if he emerges among you, then support him. If he does not emerge, then enjoin your children to do so." He said in his poetry: I have been told that the Messenger of the King will truly emerge In the land of the Haram. If my lifespan were extended to his time, I would be his minister and cousin.

In Al-Bahr, instead of the first verse: "I bear witness to Ahmad that he is a Messenger from Allah, the Creator of the souls." It also contains a narration from Ibn Ishaq and others that he also wrote a letter in which he said: "After this, I have believed in you and in your Book which was sent down to you, and I am upon your religion and your Sunnah. I have believed in your Lord and the Lord of everything, and I have believed in all the laws of Islam that came from your Lord. If I reach you, then that is good and fortunate; if I do not reach you, then intercede for me and do not forget me on the Day of Resurrection, for I am from your first followers and those who follow you before your arrival, and I am upon your religion and the religion of your father Ibrahim, peace be upon him." Then he sealed the letter and inscribed upon it: "To Allah belongs the command before and after." He addressed it: "To Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah, the Prophet of Allah and His Messenger, the Seal of the Prophets and Messenger of the Lord of the worlds, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, from the First Tubba‘." He handed it to a nobleman of the Aws and Khazraj and ordered him to deliver it to the Prophet (ﷺ) if he met him.

It is said that he built a house for him in Madinah to live in when the Prophet arrived, and that this house was the house of Abu Ayyub Khalid ibn Zayd. The poem and the letter reached him, and they were from the descendants of that man to whom he had first entrusted them. When the Prophet (ﷺ) appeared, they delivered the letter to him. When it was read to him, he said: "Welcome to Tubba‘, the righteous brother," three times. It has come down that the Prophet (ﷺ) performed the funeral prayer for him, and likewise for Al-Bara’ ibn Ma‘rur one month after his death, on the day of his (the Prophet’s) arrival in Madinah, as Al-Najm al-Ghayti said, and the funeral prayer had been made obligatory that year. That this is the "First Tubba‘" and "The Great Tubba‘" is mentioned in more than one book. ‘Abd al-Malik ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Badr mentioned in his explanation of Ibn ‘Abdun’s poem that this As‘ad is the "Middle Tubba‘," and he also mentioned three hundred and twenty years, and after him, ‘Amr ruled for sixty-four years. Ibn Qutaybah said that Hassan (was the one) who killed Zarqa’ al-Yamamah and annihilated the Jadis, and his reign was twenty-five years. History books are vocal about the predecessors of the Tabi‘ah, for "Tubba‘" is a title given to whoever rules Yemen absolutely, just as "Khaqan" is said for the ruler of the Turks, "Caesar" for Rome, and "Chosroes" for the Persians. Initially, one is not called by it unless he possesses Himyar and Hadhramaut—as in Al-Qamus—or unless he possesses Himyar, Saba’, and Hadhramaut, as mentioned by Al-Tayyibi. More than one person was characterized by this, as is not hidden from one who has encompassed the news of history.

As for the story that he demolished Samarkand, ‘Abd al-Malik mentioned a contradiction and attributed its demolition to Shamir ibn Ifriqis ibn Abrahah, one of the Tabi‘ah who was also long before the aforementioned Tubba‘. He said: "Shamir set out toward Iraq, then turned wanting China and entered the city of Sughd and demolished it. It was named Shamir-kand, meaning 'Shamir destroyed it,' and it was later Arabized to become 'Samarkand.'" The story of the building can be attributed to this Shamir, for kand in the language of the people of Azerbaijan and its surrounding areas, as is said, means "village." Thus, Samarkand means "the village of Shamir," which is more consistent with the building. The luminary of his era, Mulla Amin Effendi al-‘Umari al-Mawsili—may Allah, the Exalted, cover him with His mercy—mentioned in his book Sharh Dhat al-Shifa’ that the Tubba‘ mentioned previously is the son of Hassan, that he ruled the whole world, and that he is called Al-Ra’ish because he "feathered" (rasha) the people with gifts. Perhaps what he said is the opinion of some, for otherwise, Ibn Qutaybah said: "He is the son of Kalikarb."

In the explanation of Ibn ‘Abdun’s poem, it says that Al-Ra’ish is a title for Al-Harith ibn Badr, one of the Tabi‘ah, and he is a long time before the aforementioned As‘ad. He is also among those who mentioned our Prophet (ﷺ) in his poetry, saying: "And a great Prophet will rule after them, he will not permit the forbidden, he is called Ahmad. Would that I lived one year after his emergence." Then he ruled the whole world without being a Muslim. In short, the reports are confused regarding the matter of the Tabi‘ah, their circumstances, and the order of their kings. Indeed, the author of Tarikh al-Umam said: "There is no history more unsound than the history of the kings of Himyar, due to what is mentioned of the large number of their years with the small number of their kings, for their kings were twenty-six and their duration was two thousand and twenty." Some said their duration was three thousand and eighty-two, after whom Yemen was ruled by the Abyssinians. Allah, the Exalted, knows best the reality of the matter and the truth.

The established view here is that the mentioned Tubba‘ is As‘ad Abu Karb, that he was a believer in our Prophet (ﷺ), and that he was upon the religion of Ibrahim, peace be upon him. He was not a Prophet, and the story of his prophethood from Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, is not authentic. His reports of the mission of the Prophet (ﷺ) do not necessitate it, for he learned that from the Jewish rabbis, and they knew it from the heavenly scriptures. As for what is narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "I do not know whether Tubba‘ was a Prophet or not," it has not been proven. Yes, Abu Dawud and Al-Hakim narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "I do not know if Dhu al-Qarnayn was one or not," and there is nothing that indicates hesitation regarding his prophethood or lack thereof, for Dhu al-Qarnayn is not a Prophet, according to the correct opinion. Furthermore, it is apparent that the Prophet (ﷺ) knew later that he was not Dhu al-Qarnayn.

Some say: "The intended meaning of 'Tubba‘' here is not one man, but the kings of Yemen," which is contrary to the apparent meaning, and the reports deny it. The meaning of Tubba‘ is "the followed," so it is fa‘il in the sense of maf‘ul. This form comes for the subject, as the shadow is called taba‘ because it follows the sun. It is said that the kings of Yemen are called Aqyal from yuqil, as in "so-and-so follows his father" if he adopts his way, because they are followed. It is also said that their king was called Qayl because of the effectiveness of his words, and it is the diminutive of qil like kumayt.

"And those who were before them" (meaning before the people of Tubba‘, such as ‘Ad and Thamud, or before Quraysh; it is a generalization after a specification), "We destroyed them" (an initiating statement to explain the consequence of their affair, with which the disbelievers of Quraysh are threatened, or it is a circumstantial clause with an implied qad or without it from the hidden pronoun in the relative clause, or a predicate for the relative pronoun if it is considered the subject and not linked to what preceded it), "Indeed, they were criminals." This is an explanation for their destruction; i.e., We destroyed them because they were criminals. So let the disbelievers of Quraysh beware of destruction for their own crimes.