Al-Habasha (Abyssinia)

Summary

Al-Habasha are the Abyssinians of the Horn of Africa, the kingdom of Axum; theirs was the Negus to whom the Muslims emigrated twice, theirs was Abraha of the Elephant, and from them Bilal ibn Rabah — the hadith says «leave the Abyssinians as long as they leave you» ¹ ² ³.

Lineage and home

في النصوص: يذكر أهل السيرة الحبشة في موضعين: ملك النجاشي الذي آمن بالنبي ومات عليه في رواية مسلم، وجيش أبرهة الذي جاء بالفيل إلى مكة عام الفيل ⁴ ².

In Islam and history

في الإسلام: من الحبشة بلال بن رباح مؤذن النبي وأمه حمامة، وإليها هاجر المسلمون الأول مرتين فراراً بدينهم ¹ ³.

For younger visitors

Al-Habasha are the Abyssinians — theirs the just Negus, and Bilal the Prophet ﷺ's muezzin.

Sources

al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham

الإصابة في تمييز الصحابة — ابن حجر العسقلاني

al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.36-47

Tarikh al-Rusul wa-l-Muluk — al-Tabari

al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir

Taj Mahal

The mausoleum built by Shah Jahan at Agra for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, begun in 1632 and completed in 1654 according to Brookes, standing at the river edge of its garden above the Yamuna. The Encyclopaedia of Islam calls it the grandest of the Mughal dynastic mausoleums, a brick structure faced in inlaid white marble, and reports the main tomb finished in 1638-1639 and the whole complex in 1643.

At a glance