The Campaign of Ḥulubān: A New Light on the Expedition of Abraha

Huluban.pdf THE CAMPAIGN OF HULUBAN OF ABRAHA A NEW LIGHT ON THE EXPEDITION The record of the expedition of Abraha against the Ma'add and especially against the 'lmir b. Sa'sa'a deserves special mention. The record of this expedition found on an inscription on a rock in the vicinity of the well of al-Murayghan refers to a tribal division of Tamim. It is the only case - as yet - in which a tribal division of Tamim has been mentioned in an inscription. This inscription «( Ry 506 », found by the expedition of Professor G. Ryckmans, was published by him with a French translation and comments 1. It was published with a German translation and valuable comments by W. Caskel 2, rendered into English with notes and remarks by Sidney Smith 3 and by F. Beeston 4, who gave a penetrating analysis of the text. Of importance are the remarks and studies of J. Ryckmans 5. A comprehensive study of the inscription was given in Russian by A.G. Lundin 6. The inscription was partly translated into Arabic and furnished with notes by Jawad 'Ali 7. The text given by Sidney Smith was translated into Arabic by IQ.san 'Abbas 8. The rendering of F. Beeston of the inscription is here given in full : « By ,the power of the Merciful One and His Messiah, the king Abra:ha (etc.) wrote this inscription when he had raided Matadd in the spring razzia in the month .!l!!btn(and) when all the Ban'ii tAmir had revolted. Now 1Jheking sent 'BGBR with the Kindites and tAlites and BSR son of I;If?N with the Sa'dites and these two commanders of the army did battle and fonght, (namely) the Kindite column against the Bani