ABSTRACT
Some of the 101 Arabs returned to Makkah later, but the greater number of them remained in Abyssinia for many years. Ja‘far and several of them returned to Makkah in 629, two years after Muhammad had written dispatches to Heraclius, Chosroes, the Mukaukis, Governor of Egypt, and to ’Armah, king of Abyssinia, calling upon them to acknowledge him as the true Apostle of the One God. Heraclius made no answer, Chosroes tore up the dispatch in a rage, the Mukaukis in Egypt answered in a non-committal fashion and sent gifts to Muhammad, and ’Armah replied saying that he accepted Islam. Muhammad sent two dispatches to ’Armah at this time by the hands of 'Amr ibn Omeya, and the contents of the first of these were as follows :
“ In the Name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate. Muhammad, the Apostle of God, to the Nagashl Ashama (Ella Saham (?), son of Ella Gabaz), King of Abyssinia, [sends] greeting. Glory be to God, the Only One, the Holy One, the peaceful and faithful Protector. I testify that Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the Spirit and Word of God, and that He sent them down into Mary, the blessed and immaculate Virgin, and she conceived. He created
