Ashama an-Najashi (the Negus)

Ashama was the Najashi (Negus) of Abyssinia, "Najashi" being a title, like Caesar or Khusraw, not a personal name. His personal name was Ashama (أَصْحَمَة). He reigned during the early Meccan period of the Prophet's صلى الله عليه وسلم mission.

He was a Christian king. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم described him as Malikun ʿĀdil, a just king, specifically because he did not oppress his subjects and did not interfere in their religion. This allowed the first fifteen Muslim emigrants to live in Abyssinia in peace, worship Allah, and find refuge while Makkah remained hostile.

When Quraysh sent a delegation to demand the Muslims' extradition, the Najashi called for a public hearing. Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib represented the Muslim community and recited the opening of Sūrat Maryam, the Quran's account of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and of the birth of ʿĪsā عليه السلام. The Najashi wept and said he would not hand the Muslims over: "Not even for a mountain of gold." He returned the gifts the Quraysh delegation had brought.

The scholar's theory, presented by Yasir Qadhi and supported by the Hadith traditions about surviving pre-Nicene Christianity (see the story of Salmān al-Fārisī's journey): Ashama may have followed a form of Arian Christianity, which rejected the Trinity and held Jesus to be a created being rather than God, making Islām's message instantly recognizable to him. All Trinitarian branches of Christianity descend from the Council of Nicaea (321 CE). Pre-Nicene traditions reportedly survived in pockets of East Africa.

On his deathbed, Ashama is reported to have accepted Islām. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was informed by revelation and performed Ṣalāt al-Ghāʾib (the absentee funeral prayer) for him, the only narrated instance of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم doing this for a person not present. His grave remains a known location in Ethiopia to this day.