The
Negus

Now when the generals asked the Negus to hand over the muslim refugees to 'Amr ibn al-'As,

the Negus refused,

saying that as they had asked him for protection

he would not give them up without asking them

if what 'Amr said about them was true.

He told his generals that if it was true then he would give them back to their own people,

but if not then he would be their protector for as long as they wished.

So he gathered his bishops around him

alongside his generals,

and had the muslims brought into the court,

where he asked them to explain to him

why their religion had separated them from their people.

Now, when the refugees had been leaving Makkah,

the Messenger had appointed Jafar ibn Abu Talib to act as their leader and spokesperson,

for he was intelligent and eloquent,

so Jafar spoke up for the refugees.

He told the king how they had been a deeply ignorant people,

worshipping idols,

eating carrion,

and committing terrible cruelties,

while the strong devoured the weak.

And then God made one of their own people a Messenger,

someone they knew well,

someone they knew was honest and trustworthy,

and he called them to bear witness to the Oneness of God,

and to worship God alone,

and to reject what they and their fathers had worshipped

in the way of stones and idols.

And he said how the Messenger had told them to speak the truth,

to fulfil their promises,

to respect the ties of family

and the rights of neighbours,

and to refrain from crimes

and from bloodshed.

And how they should worship God alone,

setting nothing alongside God,

and to count as forbidden what God has forbidden

and permit what God has allowed.

And he explained

how it was for these reasons that their people had turned against them

and persecuted them,

to try to make them give up their worship of the One God

and return to the worship of idols.

And so they had come to the lands of the Negus

because they understood that here they would find protection,

and that the Negus would not let them suffer wrong.

The Negus was impressed by this,

and asked if he could hear some of these revelations,

and Jafar recited ayats 16-21 from Surah Mariam,

which had just been revealed before they left Makkah.

And when they heard the words,

the Negus and his bishops wept.

"This has truly come from the same source as that which Jesus brought",

he said.

Then, turning to 'Amr ibn al-'As he said

"You may go,

for by God I will not deliver them to you.

They shall not be betrayed".

But 'Amr still tried to persuade the Negus to hand over the refugees,

saying to him that they were insulting Jesus,

saying that he was no more than a slave.

With that, the Negus asked the Muslims what they thought about Jesus, son of Mary,

and Jafar replied that they only said of Jesus what their Messenger said to them,

that he is the slave of God,

and God's Messenger, and God's Spirit,

and God's Word cast into Mary the blessed virgin.

And with that, it is said that the Negus took a stick

and drew a line with it in the sand,

saying that the differences between them in this matter,

were no more than the width of that stick,

the thickness of that line,

and told them they were safe in his land,

as not for mountains of gold would he harm a single one of them.

And to the Makkan envoys he returned their gifts,

saying that he really had no use for them.