Sir William Muir gives the following account of the persecution:—
“Dzu Nowâs was a votary of Judaism, which he is said to have embraced on a visit to Medîna. This creed he supported with an intolerant and proselytizing adherence, which at last proved fatal to his kingdom. His bigotry was aroused by the prevalence and success of Christianity in the neighbouring province of Najrân; and he invaded it with a large army. The Christians offered a strenuous resistance, but yielded at length to the treacherous promise that no ill would be done to them. They were offered the choice of Judaism or death, and those who remained constant to the faith of Jesus were cruelly massacred. Deep trenches were dug and filled with combustible materials; the pile was lighted, and the Christian martyrs cast headlong into the flame. The number thus miserably burned, or slain by the sword, is stated at no less than twenty thousand.
“However much the account of this melancholy carnage may have been exaggerated, there can be no doubt of the cruel and bloody character of the tyrant’s administration in Najrân.
“News of the proceedings reached the Emperor Justin I., through his ambassador at Hîra, to which court Dzu Nowâs had exultingly communicated tidings of his triumph. One of the intended victims, Dous dzu Tholabân, also escaped to Constantinople, and holding up a half-burnt gospel, invoked, in the name of outraged Christendom, retribution upon the oppressor. The Emperor was moved, and indited a despatch to the Najâshi, or Prince of the Abyssinians, desiring him to take vengeance upon the barbarous Nimyarite. Immediately an armament was set on foot, and in a short time seventy thousand warriors embarked in thirteen hundred merchant ships or transports, crossed the narrow gulph which separates Yemen from Adulis. Dzu Nowâs was defeated. In despair, he urged his horse into the sea, and expiated in the waves the inhumanities of his career. The Abyssinian victory occurred in 525 A.D.” (Life of Mahomet, 1st ed., Intro., p. clxii.)
NAJSH (نجش). “Exciting; stirring up.” The practice of enhancing the price of goods, by making a tender for them without any intention of buying, but merely to incite others to offer a higher price. It is forbidden by Muḥammadan law. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 46.)
NAK͟Hʿ (نخع). The Banū ʾn-Nak͟hʿ, an Arabian tribe, the descendants of Qahlān, subdued by ʿAlī during the lifetime of Muḥammad, A.H. 10. Two hundred of this tribe came to tender their allegiance to the Prophet, it being the last deputation received by him. (Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed., p. 477.)
NAK͟HLAH (نخلة). A valley about midway between Makkah and at̤-T̤āʾif, famous as the scene of the first expedition planned by Muḥammad against Makkah in which blood was shed. (See Muir’s Life of Mahomet, new ed., p. 216 et seq.)
NĀKIḤ (ناكح). A legal term for a married man; a married woman is termed mankūḥah (منكوحة). The legal term for an unmarried person is ʾazab (عزب).
NAKĪR (نكير). One of the angels who interrogate the dead. [[MUNKAR AND NAKIR].]
NAMĀZ (نماز). The Persian and Hindūstānī term for ṣalāt, the Muḥammadan liturgical prayer. [[PRAYER].]