Seerat un Nabi by ibn Hisham page 35-36

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SIRAT IBN HISHAM · PART ONE · PAGES 35–36

The Prophetic Vision of Saif ibn Dhi Yazan: A King's Foretelling of the Final Prophet

A gripping historical account from one of Islam's earliest and most revered biographical sources

📖 SIRAT IBN HISHAM 🕌 EARLY ISLAMIC HISTORY ⏳ PRE-PROPHETIC ERA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction: What Is Sirat Ibn Hisham?
2. The Historical Setting: Arabia Before Islam
3. The King's Prophecy: Foretelling a Prophet
4. The Dream and the Vision Interpreted
5. The Conquest of Sudan and Abyssinia
6. The Chain of Narration: Nu'man ibn Mundhir
7. Historical and Spiritual Significance
8. Scholarly Footnotes

Long before the Revelation descended upon the hills of Mecca, voices from across Arabia — kings, soothsayers, and visionaries — spoke of a prophet who would come. Among the most extraordinary of these accounts is the story preserved in Sirat Ibn Hisham: the prophecy of Saif ibn Dhi Yazan, a Yemeni king who foretold the coming of the Final Messenger with astonishing precision.

Introduction: What Is Sirat Ibn Hisham?

Sirat Ibn Hisham is one of the oldest, most comprehensive, and most authentically transmitted biographies of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Compiled by the scholar Abu Muhammad Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham (died 218 AH / 833 CE), it builds upon the original work of Ibn Ishaq and preserves accounts, narrations, and historical records from the earliest generations of Islam.

The text is a treasure trove not only of the Prophet's life after Revelation, but also of the remarkable pre-prophetic era — a time when the world, unknowingly, stood on the threshold of a new spiritual age. The passage translated here, from pages 35 and 36 of Part One, contains one such extraordinary pre-prophetic account.

The Historical Setting: Arabia Before Islam

The events described in this passage take place in the Arabia of the Jāhiliyyah — the Age of Ignorance — a time before the final prophetic mission had begun. The Arabian Peninsula was a land of tribal confederacies, competing kingdoms, and profound spiritual restlessness. Soothsayers and diviners commanded enormous respect, and dreams were taken as omens with the utmost seriousness.

Yemen, in the south of Arabia, was home to great kingdoms. One of the most celebrated Yemeni rulers was Saif ibn Dhi Yazan, who had fought off Abyssinian (Ethiopian) occupation of his land with Persian military support. According to the narrative preserved in Sirat Ibn Hisham, this king was also a man of prophetic insight — someone who possessed, or had received, ancient knowledge about a coming prophet.

The story of Saif ibn Dhi Yazan represents a recurring theme in Islamic historical literature: that the coming of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was not a sudden or unexpected event, but was foreshadowed and foretold across many civilizations and traditions — from the scriptures of the People of the Book to the visions of Arabian kings.

The King's Prophecy: Foretelling a Prophet

The translated text opens mid-conversation, in what appears to be a record of the king's spoken prophecy. Saif ibn Dhi Yazan describes the future in vivid, almost breathtaking detail. He speaks of a prophet who will emerge from the land of Hijaz — a prophet whose coming will mark an era of transformation for all of Arabia and beyond.

"In between all these crawling creatures of the earth, I will conquer the lands of Abyssinia and gain victory over the regions of Jurash. All territories between these two regions will come under my dominion. The king then said: I swear by your father's oath — this is the very cause of my grief and sorrow."

— SIRAT IBN HISHAM, PART ONE, PAGE 35

The king continues with an extended prophetic description. He speaks of a government that will persist for seventy years — and then another seventy — before ultimately passing away. He describes the moral condition of the rulers who will succeed him and the spiritual state of the people who will live under them.

He speaks of a particular individual — a man from the lineage of Ghalib ibn Fihr ibn Malik ibn al-Nadr — whose descendants will hold authority until the end of time. He asks: "Who among you knows this person? Who can identify him from my description?" And the narrator records the profound silence that follows.

The Dream and the Vision Interpreted

Following the prophecy, the text records a remarkable exchange between a court figure known as Shiq and a king of Persia named Shapur ibn Khiraz. The episode involves the interpretation of a dream — and the interpretation is significant not for its astronomical imagery, but for what it reveals about the coming prophet.

The narrator relates: "After this, Shiq came to him. He told Shiq what he had told the other interpreter. Shiq said: 'I see that both interpretations are consistent with each other.' The narrator says: When Shiq told the king, the king replied: 'Both of your interpretations are in agreement — but one of you has stated something slightly different from the other.'"

"Shiq said: In the middle of the earth and the highlands, a creature of God will appear — one who will graze upon every fruitful land. The narrator says: When Shiq had finished, the king said: 'In this matter, there is no doubt or error.'"

— SIRAT IBN HISHAM, PART ONE, PAGE 35

The king then calls upon Shiq again, saying: "You have told the king through your dream that your father's oath is the cause of my profound grief and sorrow." Shiq responds: "I swear by the people of Sudan — those who are gentle and delicate, those who pursue conquest with zeal — all of them will gain victory, and Abyssinia will fall under their dominion. They will rule over all the great territories until the end of time."

Ibn Hisham notes with scholarly precision that the words "امض" (proceed) used here carry the meaning of "tears" in the language of Himyar, and that Abu Umar said these words carry the meaning of falsehood and error in interpretation.

The Conquest of Sudan and the Promise of Abyssinia

The second page of the translated text (page 36) continues with further elaborations of the prophecy. The king describes a future scene involving the sky and the earth speaking to one another — a classic motif in ancient Arabian prophetic discourse — where both heaven and earth bear witness to the truth of what is being foretold.

He describes a coming day of judgment — not in the eschatological sense, but in the worldly sense of political reckoning: a day when rulers will be called to account, when the living and the dead will hear a call, when the earth will tremble and the sky will answer. He asks: "What is the day of this judgment? To what day does it refer?" And the prophecy responds: "It is the day when mankind will be judged — on that day, the people of faith will return to the path of truth, and success and failure will each find their proper reward."

The recurring motif of Sudan and Abyssinia in these prophecies is historically significant. Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) was the land to which the early Muslims made their first migration (Hijra) under the protection of the Negus — a just Christian king. The mention of Abyssinian power in these pre-Islamic prophecies carries a remarkable resonance for those reading it in hindsight.

The king further declares: "The king said to Nu'man ibn Mundhir: I swear, what you see here — this gentle, tender conquest — will come to pass. And those conquerors will gain dominion over all the great territories, ruling over them as kings." The text then specifies that Shiq told the king: "In my dream, I saw swords drawn over the lowlands and the highlands of your territory — those of Sudan will gain dominion, and Abyssinia will fall before them."

The Chain of Narration: Nu'man ibn Mundhir

Page 36 then transitions to a detailed account of the chain of narration (isnad) through which this story was transmitted. This is characteristic of classical Islamic historical scholarship — not merely recording what was said, but carefully documenting who said it, to whom, and through which chain of transmission.

The text records that the king dispatched his trusted companions toward Iraq and then toward the kings of Persia. One of the Persian kings, whose name was Shapur ibn Khiraz, sent a letter back, settling his representatives at a place called Hira and entrusting his descendants — through Nu'man ibn Mundhir — to the care of that line.

The text specifies the chain: "Nu'man ibn Mundhir ibn Nu'man ibn Mundhir ibn Amr ibn Adiy ibn Nu'man ibn Rabi'ah ibn Nasr, the son of Nasr" — and notes that this was the lineage of the king of Hissan (a regional ruler).

Ibn Hisham said: "Ibn Khalaf told me the reports that were given to him in this chain of Nu'man ibn Mundhir ibn Mundhir."

— SIRAT IBN HISHAM, PART ONE, PAGE 36

Historical and Spiritual Significance

These two pages from Sirat Ibn Hisham represent far more than a collection of ancient political prophecies. They illuminate a worldview in which history is not random or chaotic, but purposeful — moving toward a divinely ordained conclusion.

The prophetic tradition preserved in this text suggests that the mission of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was not an isolated event in human history, but the culmination of a long chain of divine guidance. Kings, soothsayers, and visionaries across the Arabian Peninsula — from Yemen in the south to the courts of Persia in the east — were, in various ways, awaiting or speaking of a coming prophet.

Why This Text Matters Today

For scholars of Islamic history, this passage is valuable as an early example of what historians call the "signs of prophethood" (dalā'il al-nubuwwah) — the genre of literature that catalogues the pre-prophetic evidence for Muhammad's mission. For general readers, it offers a window into the rich, complex, and deeply spiritual world of pre-Islamic Arabia.

For believers, it is a reminder that the arrival of the final prophet was not accidental or incidental — it was anticipated, foretold, and woven into the fabric of human history long before the angel Jibreel descended upon the Cave of Hira.

This narration and others like it show that even before the prophetic mission, the Arabs were aware — through their own oral traditions and ancient records — of the coming of the Prophet ﷺ. When he appeared before them, these prophecies became living memory.

— AHMAD MAHMOOD (COMMENTARY NOTE, SIRAT IBN HISHAM)

SCHOLARLY FOOTNOTE (TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL ARABIC TEXT)

Note ①: This narration and similar reports seem to indicate that before the Prophet's mission ﷺ, the Arabs were already anticipating his arrival. When the Prophet ﷺ began to appear, the Arabs would narrate certain matters to the people. However, as some scholars note, the Prophet ﷺ sent for these soothsayers and their statements were read to him — so that their dreams and interpretations could be verified against the reality of his prophethood.

The author of this book notes that this is an important matter, since it provides further evidence from the Arabian oral tradition. Among the narrations mentioned are those associated with Parviz ibn Hurmuz, who in his dream saw a person of great nobility — and this dream caused both him and those around him immense fear and sorrow. By the time of Nu'man, the tradition had been well recorded, and scholars including Ahmad Mahmood have confirmed that many such accounts are well-preserved in the historical literature.

SIRAT IBN HISHAM

PROPHET MUHAMMAD ﷺ

ISLAMIC HISTORY

SEERAH

PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIA

SAIF IBN DHI YAZAN

PROPHETHOOD

ARABIAN PROPHECY

NU'MAN IBN MUNDHIR

SIGNS OF PROPHETHOOD

سیرت ابن ہشام

Translated from Sirat Ibn Hisham, Part One, Pages 35–36 · Classical Islamic Historical Literature