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Najashi

{{Short description|King of Aksum from 614 to 630}}

{{for|the Twelver Shi'ite rijāl scholar (c. 982–1058)|Ahmad ibn Ali al-Najashi}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = Nagasi

| title = Negus

| titletext =

| more =

| image = Hijra Abyssinia (Rashid ad-Din).jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = 1314 manuscript illustration by Rashid ad-Din.

| succession = King of Aksum

| moretext =

| reign = 614–630

| reign-type =

| coronation =

| cor-type =

| predecessor = Gersem

| pre-type =

| successor = 'Akla Wedem (unsure)

| suc-type = Successor

| regent =

| reg-type =

| birth_date = Around 560 C.E.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

| birth_place = Kingdom of Aksum

| death_date = {{Death date and age|630|560|df=yes}}{{sfn|Öztürk|2006|pp=476-477}}

| death_place = Negash, Kingdom of Aksum
(present-day Ethiopia)

| birth_name = As-hama{{sfn|al-Bukhari|2013|pp=174,179}}{{sfn|Öztürk|2006|pp=476-477}}

| father = Abjar (possibly Gersem)

| occupation = King of Aksum

| religion = Christianity, later Islam

}}

The Najashi ({{langx|ar|ٱلنَّجَاشِيّ|al-Najāshī}}) was the Arabic term for the ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum ({{langx|gez|ንጉስ|Aṣḥama|sovereign}}) who reigned from 614 to 630.{{sfn|al-Bukhari|2013|pp=174,179}} It is agreed by Muslim scholars that Najashi gave shelter to early Muslim refugees from Mecca, around 615–616 at Aksum.{{cite book |author1=M. Elfasi |author2=Ivan Hrbek |title=Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century |year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tw0Q0tg0QLoC&pg=PA560 |publisher=UNESCO |page=560 |isbn=978-9-2310-1709-4 }}{{cite book |author=Ibn Ishāq |title=Sīratu Rasūlillāh |editor-link=Alfred Guillaume |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |pages=150–153 |author-link=Ibn Ishāq}}

Reign

The Najashi reigned for almost 17 years from 614 to 630 CE.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} Not much is known about his personal life and reign{{sfn|Öztürk|2006|pp=476-477}} other than that during his reign, Muslims migrated to Abyssinia and met its ruler.

He died in 630. Some Muslim sources indicate that Muhammad prayed an absentee funeral prayerSahih Muslim, Chapter 11:The Book of Prayer - Funerals, No.951-953. ({{langx|ar|صَلَاة الْغَائِب‎|Ṣalāt al-Ġāʾib}}) in al-Baqi Cemetery, Medina{{sfn|Öztürk|2006|pp=476-477}} which is performed for the departed soul of a muslim.{{sfn|al-Bukhari|2013|p=179}}

Identification with historical Axumite king

Arabic sources state the king's name was "Ella-Seham", occasionally written as variant names "Ashama", "Asmaha", "Sahama" and "Asbeha".{{sfn|Sellassie|1972|p=185}} Ethiopian regnal lists record multiple kings named "Saham" or "Ella Saham", but all of them reigned before Kaleb (r. early 6th century) and are too early in the chronology for any of their reigns to coincide with the migration to Abyssinia.{{sfn|Dillmann|1853|pp=343-344, 346-347}}{{sfn|Budge|1928|pp=209-210, 259-261}} Ethiopian sources instead state that a different king named Adriaz was a contemporary of prophet Muhammad.{{sfn|Sellassie|1972|p=185}} An unpublished manuscript dates his reign to 603–623 E.C..{{sfn|Sellassie|1972|p=185}} According to Alaqa Taye Gabra Mariam, the Muslim migration took place in 620 E.C. and coincided with the reign of Aderaz.{{sfn|Gabra Maryam|1987|p=107}}

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFÖztürk2006}}

  • {{cite journal|first=Hussein|last=Ahmed|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44259282|title=Aksum In Muslim Historical Traditions|journal=Journal of Ethiopian Studies|volume=29|year=1996|pp=47–66}}
  • {{cite journal |last1=Atkins |first1=Brian |last2=Juel-Jensen |first2=Bent |title=The Gold Coinage of Aksum: Further Analyses of Specific Gravity, A Contribution to Chronology |journal=Numismatic Chronicle |year=1988 |issue=148}}
  • {{cite book |last1=al-Bukhari |first1=Imam |author-link=Muhammad al-Bukhari |translator=Muhammad Asad |title=Sahih al-Bukhari: The Early Years of Islam》Chapter:THE BEGINNINGS OF ISLAM; Section:XIV THE DEATH OF THE NEGUS |date=2013 |publisher=The Other Press |isbn=978-967-506-298-8 |pages=174, 179 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWyNAQAAQBAJ&q=Ashamah&pg=PA179 |access-date=21 August 2020}}
  • {{cite book|last=Budge|first=E. A.|title=A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia (Volume I)|publisher=Methuen & Co.|year=1928 |location=London|isbn=|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499166/mode/2up}}
  • {{cite journal|last=Dillmann|first=August|title=Zur Geschichte des abyssinischen Reichs|journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft|volume=7|pages=338–364|year=1853|language=German|url=https://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/titleinfo/20825}}
  • {{cite book|title=History of the People of Ethiopia|first=Alaqa Tayya|last=Gabra Maryam|language=Amharic, English|translator1=Grover Hudson|translator2=Tekeste Negash|year=1987|location=Uppsala|publisher=Centre for Multiethnic Research (Uppsala University – Faculty of Arts)|isbn=91-86624-12-1|issn=0281-448X}}
  • {{cite web|title=NECÂŞÎ ASHAME|first=Levent|last=Öztürk|year=2006|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/necasi-ashame|publisher=İslâm Ansiklopedisi|language=Turkish|access-date=January 25, 2025}}
  • W. Raven, "Some early Islamic texts on the negus of Abyssinia", Journal of Semitic Studies, 22 (1988), pp. 197–218
  • {{cite book |last=Sellassie |first=Sergew Hable |title=Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 |date=1972 |location=Addis Ababa}}

Category:7th-century monarchs in Africa

Category:Christian and Islamic interfaith dialogue

Category:Hijrah

Category:630 deaths