Note 89 — INTRODUCTION.
Reading edition
Also a Christian tribe in Yemen descended from the Kahtanite stock of the Bani Madhij, and collateral therefore with Bani Kinda. Two of the embassy, one of them being Akil or Abd-ul-Masih, the chief of the deputation, adopted Islam. The rest returned with a full guarantee from Mohammad for the preservation of their social and religious liberty. Further information regarding the Bani Háris of Najrán will be found at pp. 48 and 106 of this book.
"Kâtib al Wâckidi, p. 69. The subsequent history of the Najrán Christians is there traced. They continued in possession of their lands and rights under the treaty during the rest of Mohammad's life and the whole of Abu Bakr's Caliphate. Then they were accused of taking usury, and Omar expelled them from the land, and wrote as follows:—
"The despatch of Omar, the Commander of the Faithful, to the people of Najrán. Whoever of them emigrates is under the guarantee of God. No Moslem shall injure them;—to fulfil that which Mahomet and Abu Bakr wrote unto them.
"Now to whomsoever of the chiefs of Syria and Irâc they may repair, let such chiefs allot them lands, and whatever they cultivate therefrom shall be theirs; it is an exchange for their own lands. None shall injure or maltreat them; Moslems shall assist them against oppressors. Their tribute is remitted for two years. They will not be troubled except for evil deeds.
"Some of them alighted in Irâc, and settled in Najránia near to Cufa.
"That the offence of usury is alleged in justification of this measure appears to me to disprove the common tradition that a command was said to have been given by Mahomet on his deathbed for the Peninsula to be swept clear of all other religions but Islam."—Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. II, pp. 301-2.