Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/116

'In the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful. The following is what the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, wrote to Najrân, at whose disposal^[1] were all their fruits, their gold, silver and domestic utensils, and their slaves, but which he benevolently left for them, assessing on them two thousand robes each having the value of one auḳiyah, one thousand to be delivered in Rajab of every year, and one thousand in Ṣafar of every year. Each robe shall be one auḳiyah; and whatever robes cost more or less than one auḳiyah, their overcost or deficiency shall be taken into consideration; and whatever coats of mail, horses, camels or goods they substitute for the robes shall be taken into consideration. It is binding on Najrân to provide board and lodging for my messengers^[2] for one month or less, and never to detain them for more than a month. It is also binding on them to offer as loan thirty coats of mail, thirty mares and thirty camels, in case of war in al-Yaman due to their rebelling. Whatever perishes of the horses or camels, lent to my messengers, is guaranteed by my messengers and is returned by them. Najrân and their followers^[3] are entitled to the protection of Allah and to the security of Muḥammad the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah, which security shall involve their persons, religion, lands and possessions, including those of them who are absent as well as those who are present, their camels, messengers and images.^[4] The state they previously held shall not be changed, nor shall any of their religious services or images be changed. No attempt shall be made to turn a bishop from his office as a bishop, a monk from his office as a monk, nor the sexton

 

1. The text here is probably corrupt; cf. Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, vol. iv, pp. 25 and 132; Yûsuf, p. 41.
2. Sent to bring the kharâj.
3. Ar. ḥâshiyah = Jews. Sprenger, vol. Hi, p. 502.
4. amthilah crosses and pictures used in churches.