RECORD OF THE ARRIVAL OF TOBA’ IN THE NOBLE CITY OF MEKKAH, AND HIS BEING MADE HAPPY WITH THE BLESS­ING OF THE FAITH BEFORE THE MISSION [OF MUHAMMAD].

The arrangers of the jewels of historical events have strung the pearls of eloquence upon the thread of order as follows: The prosperous and victorious king, the lord of conquest and of the two conjunctions,* surnamed Toba’ and called Wara’, who was distinguished above the sovereigns contemporaneous to him by his dignity, by the extent of his dominions, and by the multitude of his slaves, marched bent on conquest with an army, numerous as locusts, or drops of rain, from the residence of sovereignty and of the government of the world and passed through the country. When his victorious banners arrived in the neighbourhood of Mekkah, none of the inhabitants of the mother of cities came to wait upon him, or showed him civility by going to meet him. Therefore his royal temper became offended with their conceit and arrogance, whereon he determined to demolish the house of Allah, i.e., the Ka’bah; but in consequence of this intention the Omnipotent Sovereign afflicted him with a disease, the cure whereof baffled the skill of physicians, and being overpowered by suffering, Toba’ reached the boundaries of non-existence. By the persuasion, however, of one devoted to the Courts of Self-existence [i.e., to God] he had been made aware of the wickedness of his intention, abandoned it, repented, and recovered his health, whereon he made the greatest efforts to magnify and to honour the house of Allah. He ordered seven fine cloths and costly garments to be presented to the Ka’bah, and this custom of dressing the house of Allah has since that time become an established and approved rite among exalted personages and kings. After some days, Toba’ struck the drum of departure from Mekkah, and went to Madinah. It is well known that during the said journey he was accompanied by four thousand distinguished and learned men. When he arrived in Madinah, four hundred individuals, who were sages of theology, with the Jew Shamûl at their head as chief and leader, examined the site, the breadth and the length of the city, and said to each other: ‘We have been informed by the principal U’lâma, and by excellent philosophers, that this blessed locality will become the abode of exile of the seal of prophets, and that his holy spirit will also, from this delightful country, be received into the mausoleum of the heavenly spheres. It is our intention to establish in this land our furniture of permanency, because thus some of our offspring may enjoy the honour of kissing his feet and meeting him.’ After Shamûl had consulted and obtained the approval of Toba’, they all agreed to leave him and to settle in Madinah. When the king had become certain of the intention of those who were to remain, and of the pro­priety of their aspirations, he likewise desired to be of their number, lest he should be deprived of the great blessing [to wait for the advent of Muhammad, and possibly to meet him]. But the multitude of his victorious army, his auxiliary troops and allies, dissuaded him, therefore he issued orders to build a house for every one of that happy company, and to provide it with all necessaries. He also left a description of his own affairs, wherein he manifested his anxious desire to contemplate the beauty of the seal of prophets. This document he left with Shamûl, ordered him to guard it, and said: ‘In case the happiness of becoming acquainted with that founder of religion should fall to my lot, surrender this petition to his attendants; but if not, leave it to thy children, and order them to take care of it from generation to generation, until the time when it may be presented to his lordship the best of men.’ After this injunction Toba’ took leave of the dwellers in the city of love, and departed from Madinah. Those who had become aware of the secrets foreordained by Divine activity settled in that country, and the said letter was in the due course of the vicissitudes of time inherited by their descendants, until it became the property of Abu Aiub, the auxiliary who was the twenty-first descendant of Shamûl, the Jew. When the news of the advent, and the intention of his lordship, the best of existences, to proceed to Yathreb [Madinah] had become public, an individual, Abu Laili by name, was sent to him with the letter, and having met his lordship in the tribe of the Beni Salîm, the letter met with the noble acquiescence and exaltation of being accepted by the prophet, whose miraculously eloquent tongue thrice uttered the words: ‘Welcome, thou pious brother!’

The object of describing the above event was, to make it plain to the world that one thousand years and more before the mission Shamûl and Toba’ had predicted the advent of the seal of the prophets. Toba’ had been anxious to become a follower of his lordship, was ennobled by professing Islâm, and departed from this perishable world with a good reputation. Some have described the arrival of Toba’ at Madinah in another manner, which they consigned to their chronicles, but Allah knows best the true state of things.