Abraha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abraha (died after 553) was a governor of the territories in Arabia for the Axumite Kingdom, and later king of modern Yemen.

Abraha was one of the commanders of king Kaleb's army sent to conquer southern Arabia around 520. Kaleb made Sumuafa' Ashawa' his viceroy for these territories, but after several years Abraha deposed Sumafa' with the help of the Axumite garrisons, and proclaimed himself king. Kaleb then made two attempts to suppress this revolt and recapture his territories in Arabia. The first campaign failed when his army of 3000 defected to Abraha; the second was defeated by Abraha's forces, at which point Kaleb acquiesced to Abraha's revolt (Procopius, Histories 1.20).

When Kaleb abdicated, Abraha made peace with his successor, promising to send tribute and acknowledge him his master.

Islamic tradition - in particular, tafsir (exegesis) of surat al-Fil - states that he perished in an invasion of Hejaz in 570, known as the Year of the Elephant. The traditions also say that Abraha specifically came with his forces of Elephants to destroy the Kaaba, which was frequented by Pagan Arabs as an ancient temple that patriarch Abraham and son Ishmael had built.