Najashi

Armah (Ge'ez: አርማህ), also known as An-Naǧāshī (Arabic: ٱلنَّجَاشِي‎), was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum who reigned from 614–631 CE. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign.[1] It has been suggested that it was either he or more probably his father who gave shelter to the Muslim emigrants around 615–616 at Axum.[2]

King of Axum
PredecessorGersem
SuccessorKwestantitos
Personal Information
BornAsham
Around 560 CE
Kingdom of Axum
Died631(631-00-00) (aged 70–71)
Kingdom of Axum
ReligionChristianity, later Islam

Accounts

Confirmed Muslim sources indicate that the Islamic prophet Muhammad prayed an absentee funeral prayer (Arabic: صَلَاة الْغَائِب‎‎, romanized: Ṣalāt al-Ġāʾib) which is performed upon a dead Muslim if they die in a place with no Muslims to pray for the dead. This is one of the justifications provided by Muslims that Al-Najashi died as a Muslim.[3]

Scholar of ancient Ethiopia, Stuart Munro-Hay (1947–2004), stated that either Armah or Gersem was the last Axumite king to issue coins. Bronze coins from the reign of Armah depict him as a full-length figure enthroned, with Christian cross motifs throughout.[4]

Artifacts

Armah's silver coins have an unusual reverse, showing a structure with three crosses, the middle one gilded. Munro-Hay quotes W.R.O. Hahn as suggesting that this is an allusion to the Holy Sepulchre, as a reference to the Persian capture of Jerusalem in 614.[5]

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References
  1. A letter to Antoine d'Abbadie, dated 8 January 1869, mentions a coin of this ruler. Rubenson, Sven, ed. (2 September 2000). Acta Aethiopica, Vol. III: Internal Rivalries and Foreign Threats, 1869–1879. Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-765-80728-9.
  2. M. Elfasi; Ivan Hrbek (1988). Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century. UNESCO. p. 560.
  3. https://sunnah.com/search/?q=negus
  4. Markowitz, Mike (22 July 2014). "The Coinage of Aksum". CoinWeek. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  5. Munroe-Hay, Stuart C. (24 June 1991). Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 91. ISBN 0748601066.
  • Atkins, Brian; Juel-Jensen, Bent (1988). "The Gold Coinage of Aksum: Further Analyses of Specific Gravity, A Contribution to Chronology". Numismatic Chronicle (148).
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