Tuban As'ad Abu Karib
تبّان أسعد أبو كرب
The Himyarite king through whom Judaism entered Yemen: he went to fight at Yathrib, adopted Judaism there and brought two rabbis of Banu Qurayza back to Yemen, where Judaism then spread; his son Yusuf Dhu Nuwas was the king of the Najran trench, in al-Raheeq al-Makhtum's account. In Ibn Zabala's version preserved by al-Samhudi, he came meaning to destroy the town until two rabbis of Qurayza — Suhayt and Munabba — told him it was protected, the future refuge of a prophet of the Ishmaelites named Ahmad, so he believed them and desisted, built each scholar a house and married him off, wrote a gold-sealed letter attesting his Islam and testifying to Ahmad to be passed to the Prophet ﷺ or whichever descendant met him, and built the Prophet a house that passed through heirs until it reached Abu Ayyub, a descendant of that scholar 1. The hadith says: 'Do not curse Tubba', for he had become Muslim.'
At a glance
- Roles
- Ruler
- Era
- Pre-Islamic Arabia
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Place in the story
Jewish (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Overview
His son Dhu Nuwas
When his son Yusuf, Dhu Nuwas, succeeded him in Yemen, he attacked the Christians of Najran and invited them to Judaism. When they refused, he dug the trench for them 2. See the trench of Najran and Judaism in the Arabian Peninsula.
What is not covered here
The story of Tubba' with Yathrib, and the reason for his going there, in Ibn Ishaq, has not yet been added from its source.
For young visitors
Tubban As'ad was an ancient king of Yemen who embraced Judaism when he visited Yathrib, and he took two Jewish scholars back with him to Yemen.
Connections
- Member of
- Himyar
- Ruler of
- Yemen
- Parent of
- Dhu Nuwas (Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar)
- Traveled to
- Medina
People and things also explored
Dhu Nuwas (Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar)· Judaism in Arabia before Islam· The First Abyssinian Occupation of Yemen· The letter of the kings of Himyar· The sending of Mu'adh ibn Jabal to Yemen and the Prophet's charge to him· Nasr· Muwatta 762· Muwatta 927
Sources
- Wafa al-Wafa bi-akhbar dar al-Mustafa — al-Samhudi (older print), p. 200-201
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, p.40
- Tafhim al-Quran — Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi, 6/297-298
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, 1/20-36
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Tuban As'ad Abu Karib”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/tuban-asad-abu-karib/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.