io ARABIA INFELIX
Abraha, a theory supported by the fact that Abraha died of c a loathsome disease' shortly after his rettirn to Sanaa. Abraha5s two sons ruled after him iif succession—mere debauched tyrants whose yoke Yamen would not endure. Seif, a prince of Hamyar, appealed to the Emperojr Heraclius, who as head of a Christian State refused to help him against the representative of Christian Abyssinia. Seif managed to secure the aid of Khosru Anushirwan (Chosmes II.) of Persia by bluffing to him of the gold to be found in Yamen. A Persian expedition put an end to Abyssinian tyranny, but Seif was slain in the coup d'etat that occurred. Five Persian prefects were successively appointed, of whom the last, Badhan, submitted to Mohamed.
The Prophet, at his death, left Arabia under one rule and practically Moslem. Ali (Mohamed's nephew) had entered Yamen in the tenth year of the Hejrah (A.D. 628) with a strong force, to convert the population to Islam. This mission reached the shores of the Aden Gulf.
Said, the Christian bishop of Nejran,1 procured by gifts an audience with the Prophet, who granted him a document enacting that Moslems should defend the diocese, that Christians should not be compelled to fight for Islam or change their religion, and that their priests should be free of tribute which, in the case of the laity, should be reasonable. Also that Christian slaves should serve Moslems without having to* change their faith, and that the churches, closed by Ali's mission, should be re-opened. The earlier Khalifs are said to have granted similar diplomas.
1 Gregentius, a previous bishop of Dhafar (probably Yerim), had persuaded Abraha to cease his savage persecution of non-Christian Arabs. Gregentius had founded the Christian church in Nejran.