We will discuss the letters and emissaries the prophet PBUH sent to various rule

s after Khaybar. Note these letters were not sent all at the same time. Rather t
here are various letters that have sent - some scholars have documented over 25
letters the prophet PBUH sent. And indeed each letter is not worth an entire lec
ture in and of itself, therefore typically scholars have dedicated one chapter r
oughly after Khaybar on all the letters the prophet PBUH sent - but keeping in m
ind these letters were sent at different times to various rulers. The main thing
is what lessons we can draw from the letters. It was after Hudaybiyya and most
likely it was before Khaybar the letters began.
The first letter was the letter to Najashi. The prophet PBUH sent him a letter a
round this time. This is not to be confused with Ja'fars dialouge. That happened
over 10 years ago. The letter most likely came when Ja'far left Absyinnia. And
the prophet PBUH sent him a letter and told him from 'Muhammad ibn Abdullah' to
'Najashi the emporer'. And the prophet PBUH informed him the islamic belief abou
t Isa AS - "I believe Isa AS is the messenger of Allah, his ruh". And he said "a
ccept Islam and you will be safe" and he concluded the letter with a verse from
al Imran "oh people of the book come to terms that are common between us" i.e. w
e worship Allah alone. And this was clearly the most successful of all his lette
rs because as we know he accepted Islam. There is some ambiguity as to when he a
ccepted Islam. Many assume it was when Ja'far gave him dawah. But the fact is if
he embraced Islam back then, why would the prophet PBUH send him a letter now 1
0 years later after Hudaybiyya. Thus it seems to be the case that Najashi was op
en and interested to Islam but not fully a muslim. And it's also interesting th
at at the end of the letter to Najashi the prophet PBUH did not write a threat t
hat "if you don't accept all of your people their sins will be on you". Whereas
in the letter to the emporer of Rome and Persia both of them got this dire warni
ng. That "if you don't accept you will carry the burden of all your people". Why
? Because the prophet PBUH most likely knew he was very close to Islam anyway.
According to At Thabari Najashi sent his own son, Arha ibn Ashama with 60 other
delegates (Najashi is only a title his name was Ashama) to Madinah to give the p
rophet PBUH gifts and announce Islam. And he said "if you want I will come to Ma
dinah". But according to At Thabari the boats drowned and this delegation never
arrived. 2.5 years later when Najashi passed away, the prophet PBUH announced to
the sahaba "your brother has died in Abyssinia and let us pray janazah for him"
. SO the one and only time janazah was prayed without a body being present was f
or Najashi. When can it be prayed? When a person dies and nobody prays janazah w
hen they died in their own lands.
The actual letter reported by ibn al Qiyyam:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
From Muhammad the Messenger of Allah to Negus, king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
Peace be upon him who follows true guidance. Salutations:
I entertain Allah s praise, there is no god but He, the Sovereign, the Holy, the S
ource of peace, the Giver of peace, the Guardian of faith, the Preserver of safe
ty. I bear witness that Jesus, the son of Mary, is the spirit of Allah and His W
ord which He cast into Mary, the virgin, the good, the pure, so that she conceiv
ed Jesus. Allah created him from His spirit and His breathing as He created Adam
by His Hand. I call you to Allah Alone with no associate and to His obedience a
nd to follow me and to believe in that which came to me, for I am the Messenger
of Allah. I invite you and your men to Allah, the Glorious, the All-Mighty. I he
reby bear witness that I have communicated my message and advice. I invite you t
o listen and accept my advice.
Peace be upon him who follows true guidance.

The second most famous letter is that to Ceaser, the emporer of Rome. This lette
r is in Bhukari and Muslim - fully authentic. Who is the ceaser of the the proph
et PBUHs time? It was Heraclius who reigned from 610 to 641CE. He was the empore
r of Rome and he was by and large viewed in a favourable light by both muslims a
nd non muslims historians. He has a glorious reign and is credited with major vi
ctories especially against the persians, the sassanids. Of course Surah Rum pred
icted this as we discussed during Badr. That the romans suffered a great defeat
at the hands of the persians: the roman emproer Khosrau had launched an attack a
gainst the romans which lasted 15-20 years. With this he managed to conquer most
of Iraq, Syria and even Damascus and Jeresullam. So the persians conquered Dama
scus and all these lands, including parts of Egypt. And it seemed the Roman empi
re was on it lasts legs, but then Allah reveal Surah Rum Verse 1 that "in a FEW
years the Romans will gain the upper hand". When this verse came down they were
on the brink of extinction, but Heraclius regrouped his troops, regained all of
these lands right up until 628CE - he reached the capital of the Sassanid empire
, Tesafan. And eventually Khosrau has to flee from his life; he dies a few days
later and Khosrau's son takes over. And he died 27th Feb 628CE, the 7th year of
the Hijrah. This is all happening when the prophet PBUH is alive.
So Heraclius was a scholar of christianity. And christian scholars mention many
sources which back this up. The most famous issue of theology was that he tried
to unify the two major factions of christianity of his time: the Monophysites an
d Dyophysites. This was 1500 years ago. And Ceaser tried to combine both strands
of Christianity, and in doing so he brought forth a new theology that was in be
tween the two. He tried to comprimise to allow both groups to unite. But he clea
rly was not a skilled theologian since there is NO comprimise when it comes to t
heology. So his new theology was not accepted by either group. And the whole iss
ue was over 'Jesus Christ is he man or God'? And this was the primary question f
or the first 400-500 years after Isa AS 'died'. So Heraclius tried to bring fort
h a new theology and it lasted for a while but died away.
As for the letter of the propeht PBUH to Heraclius it's mentioned in a lot of de
tail. The propeht PBUH sent Dihya to Bosra (where the Quraysh would go to trade)
. So the propeht PBUH sent a letter to the governer of Bosra so that he would se
nd it to the Ceaser. And it so happened Heraclius was visiting Jerusalem at the
time anyway. So the propeht PBUH sent a letter through Bosra and because Ceaser
was in Jerusalem which is close by, it arrived to him quickly. And here we begin
the narration that Abu Suffyan narrates in Bhukari the conversation between Abu
Suffyan and Heraclius. We went over this in detail before. Abu Suffyan narrates
he was trading in Syria in Bosra when a crier comes out and says "you are being
called to Jerusalem". He dosen't know what is going on but lo and behold he is
being called to the presence of the emporer himself. And this is an amazing stor
y. Abu Suffyan, from Quraysh, is standing in the palace of Ceaser in front of Ce
aser himself. And Ceaser calls his delegates, an Arab translator and then poses
questions to Abu Suffyan. And Abu Suffyan is there with his group aswell. So Her
aclius asks all the arabs present: "who is the closest to you to this man claimi
ng to be a prophet?" So Abu Suffyan says "I am". So Heraclius says "sit in front
of me". This is amazing - it shows us his wisdom. He knows these people are ene
mies and are still pagan. So how do you extract information from an enemy and kn
ow it is the truth? Look at Heraclius tactics - he used them against themself. H
e divided the group between Abu Suffyan in the front, and the rest of his collea
gues at the back. He says to Abu Suffyan "I will ask you questions" and he says
to the group behind him "If he lies, motion to me". So Abu Suffyan was forced to
tell the whole truth. He knows it he lies someone will snitch on him. So he sai
d "walahi had it not been I would have been accused as a liar I would have lied"
. Note he's still a pagan.
So Heraclius asks 'What is his family status amongst you?'

Abu Suffyan replied, 'He belongs to a good (noble) family amongst us.'
Heraclius further asked, 'Has anybody amongst you ever claimed the same (i.e. to
be a Prophet) before him?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'No.'
He said, 'Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'No.'
Heraclius asked, 'Do the nobles or the poor follow him?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'It is the poor who follow him.'
He said, 'Are his followers increasing decreasing (day by day)?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'They are increasing.'
He then asked, 'Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion become displ
eased and renounce the religion afterwards?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'No.'
Heraclius said, 'Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim (to
be a Prophet)?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'No. '
Heraclius said, 'Does he break his promises?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'No. We are at truce with him but we do not know what he wi
ll do in it.' And Abu Suffyan said "I could not find opportunity to say anything
against the prophet PBUH except that".
Heraclius asked, 'Have you ever had a war with him?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'Yes.'
Then he said, 'What was the outcome of the battles?'
Abu Suffyan replied, 'Sometimes he was victorious and sometimes we.'
Heraclius said, 'What does he order you to do?'
Abu Suffyan said, 'He tells us to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worsh
ip anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He
orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations w
ith our Kith and kin.'
Heraclius then explained all of his questions:"I asked you about his family and
your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Apostles
come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whe
ther anybody else amongst you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negati
ve. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this ma
n was following the previous man's statement. Then I asked you whether anyone of
his ancestors was a king. Your reply was in the negative, and if it had been in
the affirmative, I would have thought that this man wanted to take back his anc
estral kingdom." I further asked whether he was ever accused of telling lies bef
ore he said what he said, and your reply was in the negative. So I wondered how

a person who does not tell a lie about others (or gold or silver) could ever tel
l a lie about Allah." Note Heraclius himself is giving dawah to Abu Suffyan. It'
s amazing. He contiues: "I, then asked you whether the rich people followed him
or the poor. You replied that it was the poor who followed him. And in fact all
the Apostle have been followed by this very class of people." And again this is
a given - anything that attracts the elite something is wrong with it. The truth
is accepted by those who have nothing whereas the rich have the most to lose.
He continues "Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasi
ng. You replied that they were increasing, and in fact this is the way of true f
aith, till it is complete in all respects. I further asked you whether there was
anybody, who, after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his
religion. Your reply was in the negative, and in fact this is (the sign of) tru
e faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I as
ked you whether he had ever betrayed. You replied in the negative and likewise t
he Apostles never betray. Then I asked you what he ordered you to do. You replie
d that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship any th
ing along with Him and forbade you to worship idols and ordered you to pray, to
speak the truth and to be chaste. If what you have said is true, he will very so
on occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it (from the scriptures) that
he was going to appear but I did not know that he would be from you (arabs)". S
ubhanAllah they were expecting a final prophet but not from the Arabs. And he co
ntinues "if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and
if I were with him, I would certainly wash his feet.' Heraclius then asked for
the letter addressed by Allah's Apostle.
The letter reported by At-Tabari:
"In the name of God the Beneficent, the Merciful: From Muhammad son of Abdullah
to Heraclius the Great of the Romans. Peace be upon him, he who follows the righ
t path. Furthermore I invite you to submit your will to God; submit your will to
God and you will be safe, and God will double your reward, and if you reject, y
ou bear the sins of persecuting Greeks.
'And people of the scripture! Come to a word common to you and us that we worshi
p none but God and that we associate nothing in worship with Him, and that none
of us shall take others as Lords beside God. Then, if they turn away, say: Bear
witness that we are Muslims.'"
Abu Sufyan then added, "When Heraclius had finished his speech and had read the
letter, there was a great hue and cry in the Royal Court. So we were turned out
of the court. I told my companions that 'the question of Ibn-Abi-Kabsha) (a dero
gatory term for the Prophet Muhammad) has become so prominent that even the King
of Bani Al-Asfar (Byzantine) is afraid of him'. Then I started to become sure t
hat he (the Prophet) would be the conqueror in the near future till I embraced I
slam (i.e. Allah guided him to Islam)." So this was the first time Islam firmly
entered his heart in the palace of the Ceaser. He realised it must be the truth.
And there is no question he converted right at the end, so as Allah says those
who converted at the end after the conquest are not the same as those before. We
also learn the prophet PBUH sent a letter to the Ceaser during the battle of Ta
buq. Most likely it was a seperate letter and it could be the same but we are no
te sure. And it's mentioned in Musnan Ahmed (not Bhukari) that Heraclius respond
ed back to this letter by sending an emmisary to the prophet PBUH. He found an a
rab from the tribe of Tanuq. We don't know his name, but he is called 'the one f
rom Tanuq'. And in seerah literature it's called 'the hadeeth of the tanuqi'. He
haned a letter to him and said "I am actually sending you as a spy. I want you
to monitor three things:
1. Does he mention the letters that he sends to me and the other kings?
2. Does he mention the night when my letter will be read to him - see what his r

esponse is.
3. See if he has something strange on his back (seal of the prophets).
So the Tanuqi came to the prophet PBUH; the prophet PBUH asked him "who are you"
, he send "I am from Tanuq and the ceaser has sent me". And the prophet PBUH sai
d "you should embrace the religion of your forefather Abraham and become a musli
m". And the man said "I'll think about it and here is a letter from Ceaser". So
the prophet PBUH did not even open the letter and he just had a conversation wit
h the Tanuqi. And the Tanuqi reports that the prophet PBUH said "I sent my lette
r to Kisra the emporer of Persia but he tore it up so Allah will tear his kingdo
m up. And I sent my letter to Ceaser and he protected it so Allah will protect h
is kingdom". So this is check one (first point). Then the prophet PBUH opened up
the letter and in it the Ceaser asked a question: "Your messenger tolds us your
book mentions a Jannah as broad as the skies and Earth. So where is Jahannam?"
And the prophet PBUH responded "SubhanAllah you are asking Allah to outwit him?
Where do you think the night goes when the day comes?" So he responded with 'lay
l' i.e. night so this was check two. Then the Tanuqi stayed a day or two waiting
to see if he could look at the back of the prophet PBUH; finally he says "Ok I'
ll go back and tell the Ceaser I saw two of the three signs" so he went to the p
rophet PBUH he said "Oh Muhammad I will now go back to the ceaser and I'm leavin
g now". So the prophet PBUH said "wait" turned around, lowered his shirt and sai
d "go and tell your ceaser what you have seen". So the man returned with all thr
ee checks.
From the western tradition, they do not mention any of these letters much less t
he details of the three signs etc. But we learn the Ceaser realised this is true
and the prophet PBUH is a true prophet. Bhukari returns to the narration of the
Ceaser. Note Bhukari does not mention the story of the Tanuqi. Bhukari has two
stories: the first is with Abu Suffyan, then the Tanuqi incident happens, and no
w this is the second story. And it goes as follow: Heraclius was the head of the
christians of Rome. And one of the narrators mentions when he woke up one day,
he woke in an angry/sad mood. One of the priests asked him "why are you in such
a mood?" Heraclius said "I've seen a dream and my astrologers foretold a very ev
il sign. That is, a leader has appeared of a new people and these people circumc
ise themselves". So they said "what is there to worry about? The only group who
practice circumcision are the jews. And go and send another command and irritiat
e them (of course anti semitism has always existed among christianity)" i.e. cla
mp them down. Before Ceaser could inact such a rule, Dihya al Kalbi arrived in h
is court with a message from the prophet PBUH. And Heraclius said "go check is D
ihya circumcised or not". Now the arabs by and large did not circumcise themselv
es. This only began in Islam. Some of them did, some of them didn't but it certa
inly was not a custom. And so Dihya was examined and lo and behold he is circumc
ised. After seeing this Heraclius got concerned so he wrote a letter to his frie
nd (most likely) John IV - and Bhukari does not mention but one theory is it is
this man who writes the three signs to Heraclius. That these three signs "go tes
t the prophet with these three signs". Then Heraclius sends the Tanuqi with thes
e three signs, and he comes back and all three are checked. So he realises this
is a true prophet.
Now Bhukari continues: when the Tanuqi came back, he called all the senators and
says to them "what do you think if I embrace Muhammads faith". They start revol
ting and say "there's no way you will be our emporer etc" but Heraclius says "I
was just testing you I will never leave Christianity". And so he dies a christia
n pagan, and in fact he dies a miserable death in the middle of a coup. He was a
live when the muslim conquers Jerusalem - in less than 7 years these massive emp
ires were literally conquered by bedouins from the desert. He is speaking from J
erusalem in control of an empire that stretches for 300 miles, yet he says to Ab
u Suffyan "if you are saying the truth, he will control the land beneath my feet
" and it happened as he said within 7 years. He sees the carving up of the Roman
empire, Damascus, Syria, Jerusalem - all of those goes to the muslim. So this i

s Ceaser.
How about the emporer of Persia? His name was Khosrau. And he had a title of 'AParwiz' referred to as A-Parvez in our times (this is where the pakistani name '
Parvez' comes from). And this Khosrau reigned from 590 to 628 and he was the las
t of the great sassanid kings. After him the sassanid empire never regained its
glory. He was the final 'great' emporer. After having conquered Damascus, Jerusa
lem, half of Egypt etc he saw his entire empire crumble before his very eyes and
within less than a decade the Sassanid empire was wiped off the face of Earth a
s if it never existed. And there's no question this is an amazing event in human
history; this mightly civilisation and empire which threatened to extinct Rome
literally dissapears within a few years. And it embraces Islam fully so much so
Zoroastrianism is no longer practiced. Historians by and large have painted him
as a very cruel, lustful, sensual emporer. Books mention he had 3000 concubines,
and people hated him for his cruelty. And the prophet PBUH sent him a letter th
rough the ruler of Bahrain. Now Bahrain at the time of the prophet PBUH wasn't j
ust an island. So the prophet PBUH sent Abdullah bin Hudhafa As-Sahmi to the ruler
of Bahrain to pass on to Khosrau.
At Tabari mentions the context of the letter:
In the Name of Allh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allh to Chosroes, king of Persia
Peace be upon him who follows true guidance, believes in Allah and His Messenger
and testifies that there is no god but Allah Alone with no associate, and that
Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. I invite you to accept the religion and cal
l of Allah. I am the Messenger of Allah sent to all people in order that I may i
nfuse fear of Allah in every living person, and that the charge may be proved ag
ainst those who reject the Truth. Accept Islam as your religion so that you may
live in security, otherwise, you will be responsible for all the sins of the Mag
ians.
Now Khosrau was very arrogant and he mocked the letter, scoffed at it and tore u
p the letter in front of Abdhullah bin Hudhafa. When the news reached back to th
e prophet PBUH, the prophet PBUH said "He tore up my letter? Allah will tear his
kingdom up every tearing". It's an extra emphasis and indeed this is what happe
ned. The emporer sent a message to one of his governers by the name of Bathaan he was a governer of a city more towards Yemen. So he said to Bathaan "send som
e spies to Madinah and find out more informaton about this man. If you are able
to bring him back physically then do so". So Bathaan chose two of his trusted em
essaries and they went to Madinah with a letter - this was just a ruse, the main
mission was to get information about the prophet PBUH and Islam. And when they
arrived in Madinah they were terrified and the prophet PBUH said "wait and come
back to me the next day". The next day they came and they brought the letter aga
in - the prophet PBUH didn't even open it. Rather he said "go back to your rub (
Bathaan)". Note they called their emporers 'Lord' i.e. rub. So the prophet PBUH
said "go back to your rub and tell him my rub has killed his rub (i.e. Khosrau)
and that his son has taken over". Now the two were completely in shock and they
went back to Bathaan. By the time they got back, they discovered the news Khosra
u had fled and his son had executed a coup d'etat, and his son sent an army to i
mprison his own father. In the meantime his son made a truce with the Romans so
they didn't attack; and thus Khosrau's own son killed him a cruel death. Western
sources say this happened 28th Feb 628CE. And this corresponds exactly with whe
n this happened in the seerah. That is Jumadal Ula 7AH. For those who deny the s
eerah or hadith, you cannot fabricate this stuff. It's impossible to pinpoint su
ch a thing. And as the prophet PBUH predicted, Allah obliterated the Persian emp
ire within a few years. And such an implosion has never before occured. Such a h
uge empire is destroyed. For 350 years the Romans and Persians were at war but n

one of them vanished. Within 10 years of the muslims coming the Persian empire w
as destroyed.
What happened to Bathaan? He embraced Islam after realising what the prophet PBU
H predicted came true, as did the two emissaries who he sent to the prophet PBUH
. The prophet PBUH then sent them another letter and told them about the rules o
f jizia. That if anyone accepts Islam they are apart of the believers; if not th
en let them pay the jizia.
There were other letters written. Of the most famous is the letter to the Muqawq
is of Egypt, Jurayj ibn Mina, and it's reported this was the letter:
"To Muqawqis, Vicegerent of Egypt
Peace be on him who has taken the right course. Thereafter, I invite you to acce
pt Islam. Therefore, if you want security, accept Islam. If you accept Islam, Go
d, the Sublime, shall reward you doubly. But if you refuse to do so, responsibil
ity about the Blood of the Arians shall be yours.
O people of the Book! Leaving aside all matters of difference and dispute, agree
on a matter which is equally consistent between you and us and it is that we sh
ould not worship anyone except God and that we should neither associate anyone w
ith Him, nor make anyone else as our god.
If you refuse it, you must know that we, in all circumstances, believe in Onenes
s of God.
Seal: God's Prophet Muhammad"
And Muqawqis was polite: he sent back gifts, cloth and dul-dul which was to beco
me the mule of the prophet PBUH. And he sent back Maria and the prophet PBUH is
said to have remarked: "the kabeeth has protected his kingdom (by his politeness
), but Allah will not allow his kingdom to last".
And the prophet PBUH also sent many other letters; notably to Umaan after the co
nquest of Mecca and they actually accepted Islam. He also sent letters to other
provinces; scholars have listed over 20 letters. One of them being to Musaylama
al Khazab i.e. the Banu Hanifah. And they said "we will embrace Islam only if yo
u share the power with us". But the prophet PBUH responded "Power and this Earth
only belongs to Allah".
Benefits of the letters
1. Most of these letters did not have major signifcant impacts. Even Najashi - o
nly he embraced Islam, his people didn't. But there is the clear intention to ma
ke the message of Islam a global message. And it's amazing within one decade, ev
ery single land he wrote a letter to was a land of Islam. It's an amazing realit
y. So what's happening is the prophet PBUH is making the Islamic empire an inter
national empire and nation. It's worthy of dialogue with Ceaser, Najashi, Khosra
u etc.
2. Let us notice whom he did not send letters to. There were civilisations beyon
d Perisia, Rome, Absyinnia etc. There is Africa, China etc. Why didn't the proph
et PBUH send them any letters? Simple - there is no direct contact with them.
3. Clearly, the response of the rulers have some type of theological weight for
us. The prophet PBUH sent to Khosrau "he tore my letter up, Allah will tear his
kingdom up".
4. Look at the letters themselves: each letter is very short, succinct, to the p

oint. It's one paragraph. Each begins with 'Bismillah'. Each begins 'From so and
so TO so and so". This is an ettiquite people use today. And each explains the
message of Islam is 4-5 sentences. Simple and to the point.
5. Notice as well each letter is catered to the one being written to. They aren'
t the same. The one written to Najashi is different to that of Ceaser. It has th
e verse of Al-Imraan in it. But the letter to Khosrau dosen't have this verse. W
hy? He isn't among the people of the Book. In Najashi's case the prophet PBUH ex
plains Islamic theology regarding Isa AS.
6. Also, when the prophet PBUH wrote his first letter, he was told "the emporers
do not accept letters from other rulers unless the ruler himself stamps it and
seals it with wax". So you have to seal a letter with wax to make it clear no on
e has read it. So the prophet PBUH was told these are the international laws. Wh
at did he do? Made a ring and sealed the letters with wax. This is simple eviden
ce to show there is nothing haraam about imitating the norms of culture and west
ern customs. Islamic culture by and large is not 'islamic' i.e. dialogues, cloth
es, cuisine etc is all open - you follow what society is doing. Notice aswell th
e prophet PBUH addresses the rulers with their highest names and this was also a
part of the ettiquite.
7. One fiqh point: the prophet PBUH said 'take jizia from the mijus'. This creat
es contraversy: two madhabs have said jizia can only be taken from the people of
the book i.e. jews and christians. Whereas hanafi and maliki believe it can be
taken from anybody. The evidence shows this position is the stronger one. Mijus
are not among the people of the book yet the prophet PBUH tells the ruler jizia
should be taken from them.
8. Final point: recall the prophet PBUH said to Ceaser 'if you reject the sins o
f the arisiyoon will be on you'. Now, term 'arisiyoon' is not an arabic word. So
people struggled what did the prophet PBUH mean by this? In our times, a famous
scholar from India, Al Nadawi, says "arisiyoon means the followers of Aris, and
Aris is the followers of Arias, and Arias is an infamous christian theologian w
ho died 336CE". And Arias preached a very different version of christianity that
lines up far closer with Islam. The Arias heracy became so widespread when Cons
tantine embraced Christianity he gathered a council in Narseea. And in Narseea,
in the year 325CE they debated for weeks and came forth on a creed. The main poi
nt of the creed was refuting Arias. And the 'Arias heracy' was made official tha
t all people who followed him were exiled. And in the creed it's said "anyone wh
o has the books of Arias shall be burned and killed". So the writings of Arias a
re non existant now. Clearly his teachings are closer to Islam. The fact that th
e prophet PBUH is writing 2.5 centuries later, referring to christians as 'arisi
yoon'. This seems to be correct, why? Because to Khosrau the prophet PBUH said '
if you reject the sins of the majus will be on you'. And he said to Ceaser 'if y
ou reject the sins of the arisiyoon will be on you'. So it's as if the prophet P
BUH is saying "the arisiyoon are the closest to Islam; if you allow them to hear
my message they will embrace. But if you deny them to hear this message, the gr
oup that will for sure convert, you will be responsible for them". And this of c
ourse is amazing simply because no Arab could have known about arisiyoon. And no
te, Peter the Venerable writes a refutation about the Quran. And in it he says '
Muhammad is the successor to Arias'. So he sees in Islam echos of Arias's theolo
gy. And of course the Islamic position that Isa AS is not divine or the son of G
od. So no doubt Arias thought similarly.