Sharhabil Yafar
King of Saba', Dhu Raydan, Hadramawt, Yamnat and their Arabs, on Tawdum and Tihamat
Reign428–457 CE
PredecessorHassan Yuha'min
SuccessorSharhabil Yaqaf or Lahi'ah Yanuf
Diedc. 465
Yemen
Names
Sharhabil Yafar ibn Abu Karib As'ad ibn Hassan Malikikarab Yuha'min
FatherAbu Karib
ReligionJudaism

Sharhabil Yafar (Arabic: شرحبيل يعفر) was a Himyari king who ruled between the years 428 until 457 CE. He was the youngest son of Abu Karib As'ad, and he shared power with his brother Hassan Yuha'min in 425 CE.[1] Amr is generally remembered for his contributions towards the historic Marib Dam.[1]

Biography

Not much is known about Sharhabil Yafar in his early life. However, there are inscriptions which attribute the reparations of Marib Dam to him.[1] In the year 454 AD, Sharhabil spent a large sum of money on the dam's reparations, which ended a few months later in 455 AD.[1] It is likely that Sharhabil Yafar was also an adherent to Judaism as it was the official state religion of Himyar after the rule of Abu Karib.[2]

Arabian legends

In the Arabian legends, it is related that Hassan Yuha'min fell into dispute with the Aqyals after he refused to share any war booty with them.[2][3] So, the Aqyals pressured Sharhabil, known as Amr in the legends, to kill him. But one of these Aqyals disagreed, and urged Amr not to follow their orders, but Amr ignored him.[2][3] Amr then waited for his brother to sleep, then entered his room and stabbed him to death.[2][3] But as a divine punishment, Amr suffered from permanent insomnia.[3]

Amr then ordered that the Aqyals all be beheaded in one room.[3] But he remembered the advice of one of them to not kill his brother, so he spared him.[3] The Aqyal whom he spared would eventually become the Himyari ruler 'Abd-kalal after Amr died.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "DASI: Digital Archive for the Study of pre-islamic arabian Inscriptions: Epigraph details". dasi.cnr.it. Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "إسلام ويب - البداية والنهاية - ذكر أخبار العرب - قصة تبع أبي كرب- الجزء رقم3". www.islamweb.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-01-01.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The History of Al-Tabari: The Sasanids, the Lakhmids, and Yemen. SUNY Press. p. 184-186. ISBN 9780791443569.
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