Allah Calls Trinitarian Christians Believers

The Quran makes the blunder of Allah calling the Martyrs of Najrān Trinitarian Christians believers. Those that were thrown in the ditch by Dhū Nuwās, the Jewish Himyarite ruler of Yemen in the early sixth century, were executed precisely because they confessed the deity of Christ and the Holy Trinity. Contemporary and near-contemporary Christian records preserve their words, explicitly affirming “one God in three persons” and declaring that “Christ is God, the Son of God.” Even South Arabian inscriptions from the same period invoke the Merciful, His Messiah, and the Holy Spirit together. Yet the Quran (Surah 85:4-8) refers to these very martyrs as upright and faithful, praising them as the true “People of the Book” who were persecuted for their faith in God.

This presents a striking theological problem for Islam: if Allah himself endorses the faith of the Najrān martyrs, then he validates the confession of the Trinity and the full divinity of Christ. In other words, the Quran inadvertently testifies to the truth of the very doctrines it elsewhere condemns.

“By the sky full of constellations, and the promised Day (of Judgment), and the witness and what is witnessed! Condemned are the makers of the ditch the fire (pit), filled with fuel when they sat around it, watching what they had (ordered to be) done to the believers, who they resented for no reason other than belief in Allah the Almighty, the Praiseworthy-(the One) to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and earth. And Allah is a Witness over all things. Those who persecute the believing men and women and then do not repent will certainly suffer the punishment of Hell and the torment of burning.” – Quran 85:1-10

In Quran.com’s commentary on 85:2-9 (4), we are given a breakdown of the surah’s context. While the authenticity of the story itself remains uncertain, the references to historical events, figures, and locations provide enough material to entangle Islam in yet another historical dilemma.

The Story of the Sorcerer, the Monk, the Boy and Those Who were forced to enter the Ditch

Verse 4 refers to the People of the Trench. Their story is recounted in a Hadith reported by Imam Muslim as follows: There was an infidel king who lived in bygone times. He had a soothsayer, or, according to some narrations, a magician. The infidel king is identified as the ruler of Yemen. His name, according to Ibn Abbas ؓ, was Yusuf Dhu Nuwas, and he lived about seventy years before the birth of the Holy Prophet ﷺ. The soothsayer or magician [occult teacher] said to the king that he should be given an intelligent boy, so that he could train him in the skill of foretelling or the black magic. Accordingly, the king sent a boy, Abdullh Ibn Tamir by name, to be trained by the soothsayer or magician [occult teacher]. Whenever the boy went to his teacher, he had to pass by a Christian monk. He followed the true religion of Isa علیہ السلام and worshipped Allah. Since the religion of Isa علیہ السلام was the true religion in those days, the monk was, in fact, a Muslim. The boy sat with the monk and was very much impressed by his teachings. As a result, he frequented the monk’s house and sat with him for long hours before proceeding to his teacher, and ultimately embraced Islam. Allah had blessed him with such a strong faith that he was prepared to bear any pain and persecution for the sake of Allah. His teacher used to beat him for his coming late. On his way back from the occult teacher, he would spend some time again with the monk and used to go home late. The family would then beat him up for being late. But he was so keen to have the company of the monk that he managed to sit regularly with the monk without fear of persecution. Through the blessings of this, Allah had gifted him with many miracles [karamah]. Once it happened that the boy saw a lion has blocked the path and prevented people from passing. They were perturbed. He picked a stone and prayed: “O Allah! If the religion of the monk is true, then kill this beast with this stone [so that people may pass]. And if the soothsayer or magician is true, then the beast must not die with my stone.” So praying, he aimed at the lion and it died instantly. The news spread among the people that the boy possesses wonderful knowledge. A blind man heard about this and came up to him. He requested him to restore his sight. The boy conceded on the condition that he embraces Islam. The blind man agreed. The boy prayed and Allah restored his sight. The blind man became Muslim. The king came to know about these incidents, and he got the boy, the monk and the blind were apprehended. They were brought before the king. He got the blind and the monk killed, and ordered that the boy be taken to the summit of a mountain and be thrown from there. But those who had taken him up there fell and died. The boy went home safely. Then the king ordered to have him drowned in the sea. The boy escaped safely, while the people who took him to the sea were drowned. The boy then himself told the king how to kill him. He told him to take an arrow from his quiver and place it in his bow, and reciting, بِاِسمِ اللہِ رَبِّی “in the name of Allah, my Lord” they should shoot. They did that and the boy finally died. In this way, the boy gave his life away but seeing this, the entire nation of the king cried out spontaneously: “We believe in Allah.” At this, the king was greatly enraged and, after consultation with his cabinet, ordered for deep trenches to be dug and filled with fire. An announcement was then made that the people must renounce their faith in Allah. If they refuse, they would be thrown into the fiery furnace. Eventually, a woman carrying her infant child was brought to a trench, but she hesitated. Allah granted speech to her child who said: “O mother, be steadfast, because you are certainly on the truth.” In this way, many people were burned. According to some reports, about twelve thousand people were burned to ashes and, according to other reports, the number is put more than this. Consequently, Divine wrath descended on the People of the Trench and fiery furnace.

Maarif ul Quran

Reference in verse 4 is made to this incident after taking an oath. In a narration of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq, it is reported that the place where the boy Abdullah Ibn Tamir was buried had to be dug up for some important reason during the time of Sayyidna Umar ؓ. It was found that the body of Abdullah Ibn Tamir was intact, and he was sitting up. His hand was placed on his hip joint, where the arrow struck him. Someone moved his hand out from that place, and his wound started bleeding. When the hand was placed back in its position, the bleeding stopped. There was a ring in his finger which had the inscription: اللہُ رَبِّی “Allah is my Lord.” The governor of Yemen informed Sayyidna Umar ؓ about this, and he wrote back in reply: “Bury the body back as it was with his finger-ring.” [Ibn Kathir] Special Note: Ibn Kathir, with reference to Ibn Abi Hatim, writes that the incidents of ‘trenches of fire’ took place many times in history in different parts of the world. Then Ibn Abi Hatim specifies three particular incidents: [1] a trench in Yemen. [This incident took place during the period of fatrah (the interval between `Isa علیہ السلام and the Holy Prophet ﷺ, about seventy years before the advent of the Prophet ﷺ]; [2] a trench in Syria; and [3] a trench in Iran. He further states that the incident the Qur’an refers to here in Surah Buruj is the first one that occurred in Najran, the trench of the kingdom of Yemen, because that was in Arabia.

Maarif ul Quran 85:2-9 (Quran.com) (Bold and italics are mine)

Ibn Kathir

Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar related this story in his book of Sirah in another way that has some differences from that which has just been related. Then, after Ibn Ishaq explained that the people of Najran began following the religion of the boy after his murder, which was the religion of Christianity, he said, “Then (the king) Dhu Nuwas came to them with his army and called them to Judaism. He gave them a choice to either accept Judaism or be killed, so they chose death. Thus, he had a ditch dug and burned (some of them) in the fire (in the ditch), while others he killed with the sword. He made an example of them (by slaughtering them) until he had killed almost twenty thousand of them. It was about Dhu Nuwas and his army that Allah revealed to His Messenger”

Ibn Kathir on Quran 85:1-10, Quran.com (Bold, are mine)

(Surely, those who persecuted the believing men and the believing women, then did not repent,…85:10) This verse describes the torment of the wrong-doers who burned the Muslims in the fire pit only on account of their faith. The description points out two things: [ 1] فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ them there is the torment of Jahannam) and [ 2] وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ (and for them there is the torment of burning). The second sentence may be treated as explicative of the first sentence, a statement for emphasis. It signifies that they will be put into Hell and will have to suffer eternal torment of the fire. Another possible interpretation is that the second statement describes the wrong-doers’ torment in this world, as is narrated in some reports. The believers, who had been cast in fire pits, were spared the torture of fire, in that the souls of the believers were taken out before the fire could touch them. Only their dead bodies were lying in the fiery furnace. After that the fire flared up so high that it spread out wildly through the city and burned all those who were watching the fun of burning the Muslims. Only Yusuf Dhu Nuwas managed to run away, and threw himself into the sea in order to save himself from the rage of the fire, but he got drowned and died. [ Mazhari ].

Attached to the torment of Hell and the torment of burning for the wrong-doers is the restrictive phrase: ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا (then did not repent). That is, this torment is for those who did not repent of their deed and did not offer taubah. Thus this part of the verse invites people to repent. Sayyidna Hasan ؓ states: “Look at Allah’s compassion and benevolence. They burned Allah’s friends alive, yet He invites them towards repentance and forgiveness.”

https://quran.com/85:10/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran

Ibn Abbas

(Lo! they who persecute) those who burn and torture with fire (believing men) men who are true in their faith (and believing women) who are true in their faith (and repent not) from their idolatry and disbelief, (theirs verily will be the doom of hell) in the Hereafter, (and theirs the doom of burning) in the Fire; and it is also said: in the life of the world, for Allah had burned them with the Fire. These were people from Najran, and it is said from Mosul, who tortured and consequently killed a group of believers with fire in attempt to make them renounce their religion. The name of the king of these people is Yusuf, and it is said his name is Dhu’l-Nuwas. – Abbas – Tanwîr al-Miqbâs min Tafsîr Ibn ‘Abbâs (Quran x)

Sahih Muslim

With both of these commentaries and tafsīr, we are presented with a dramatic narrative in which a young boy emerges as the protagonist and the King of Yemen, Dhu Nuwas, is portrayed as the antagonist. While the historicity of the story itself is uncertain, the accounts provide enough historical references to identify the setting, the figures involved, and the shared faith of those persecuted. The monk, the boy, and the people whom the king oppressed all held to the same belief Christianity. According to the Ma‘ariful Qur’an commentary, this persecution took place about seventy years before the birth of Muhammad, in the early 6th century. Dhu Nuwas ordered fiery trenches to be dug and cast Christians into them if they refused to renounce their faith. Thus, the account situates the Qur’an’s reference to the “People of the Trench” within the broader context of Christian martyrdom in Yemen, highlighting the conflict between the Jewish Himyarite king and the Christians of Najran.

All of this information, as we continue, further undermines Islamic theology and its claims to consistency. The historical record shows that these martyrs were Trinitarian Christians, openly confessing the faith that Islam later denies. Even if the Qur’an repeatedly argues against the doctrine of the Trinity, that does not erase the fact that its own tafsīr literature preserves accounts of Trinitarian believers. This leaves Islam facing yet another contradiction and historical dilemma: acknowledging the faith of those it simultaneously rejects.

Sahih Muslim 3005 recounts the same story mentioned above, though in less detail and more vague terms. Nonetheless, it still serves as another acknowledgment of the very same event.

All bold and and italics are mine bellow

The Life of Muhammd

THE REIGN OF DHŨ NUWÃS

They made him king and all the tribes of Himyar joined him. He was the last of the Yamani kings and the man who had the ditch made.” He was called Joseph and reigned for some considerable time. In Najran there were some people’ who held the religion of ‘Isã b. Maryam, a virtuous and upright people who followed the Gospel. Their head was named ‘Abdullah b. al-Thamir. The place where that religion took root was in Najrän, at that time the centre of the Arabs’ country; its people, and indeed the rest of the Arabs, were idolaters. A Christian by the name of Faymiyin had settled there and converted the people to his religion.” 

Guillaume, A., translator. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, pp.14. Oxford University Press, 1955.

In The Life of Muhammad, the summary reiterates earlier points, but the key detail worth noting is that Christians are distinguished from idolaters, a distinction Muslims themselves cannot deny. The irony for Muslim claims is striking.

The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume V

“…Dhu Nuwas until they caught up with him and told him, “The only fitting person to rule over us is yourself, since you have rid us of this abominable fellow.” They therefore made him king, and Himyar and the tribes of Yemen rallied round him.[485] He was the last of the kings of Himyar. He became a convert to Judaism (tahawwada), and the Himyarites followed him in this path. He adopted the name of Yusuf (i.e., Joseph) and reigned for a considerable Time. There were in Najran remnants of people who adhered to the religion of Isa (Jesus), followers of the Gospel, virtuous and upright. [487] They had a head, of this same faith, called Abdallah b. al-Thamir. The place where that faith originally took root was Najran, which at that time was in the center of the land of the Arabs; its people, like all the rest of the Arabs, were (originally) idol worshipers.”

al-Ṭabarī. The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume V: The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen. Translated by C. E. Bosworth, State University of New York Press, 1999, pp. 191–193.

Footnote:

[487] In Muslim eyes, Christianity had in general degenerated by the time of the Prophet’s coming, leaving only “remnants” such as those mentioned here. Cf. N&ldeke, trans. 177 n. 2.

Despite islamic beliefs in the footnote inserted. This is still an admission that these were Christians.

Tafsīr al-Jalālayn

[85:4]
perish, accursed be, the men of the ditch!, the pit in the ground,
[85:5]
of the fire (al-nāri is an inclusive substitution of it [al-ukhdūdi, ‘of the ditch’]), abounding in fuel, by which it
was fuelled,
[85:6]
when they sat by it, around the edge of the ditch on chairs,
[85:7]
and they themselves, to what they did to those who believed, in God, in the way of torturing them by
hurling [them] into the fire when they did not recant their faith, were witnesses, [they were themselves]
present [thereat]. It is reported [in a hadīth] that God saved the believers who had been thrown into the fire
by taking their souls before they fell into it, and that the fire then rose up and burnt all those [sitting]
around it.

al-Maḥallī, Jalāl al-Dīn, and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī. Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Translated by Feras Hamza, edited with an introduction by Ghazi bin Muhammad, Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, 2007, p. 737.

Jewish Encyclopedia

Dhu Nuwas in a war with the heathen king Aidug, whose commercial interests were injured thereby. Dhu Nuwas was defeated (521), but succeeded in reestablishing his kingdom. Soon, however, he entangled himself in a new difficulty. He made war against the Christian city Najran, in Yemen, which was a dependency of his kingdom; and on its capitulation, in spite, it is said, of his promise of immunity from punishment, he offered the citizens the alternative of embracing Judaism or being put to death. As they refused to renounce their faith, he executed their chief, Ḥarith (Aretas) ibn Kaleb, and three hundred and forty chosen men. Attacked from Abyssinia.

This event caused a great stir among the Christians; and the Roman emperor Justin I. requested the Negus Eleṭbaa of Ethiopia to march against the Jewish king. Accordingly an Ethiopian army crossed the Red Sea to Yemen. – Source

Martyrs of Najran: Martyrium s. Arethae et Sociorum (A.A.)

By Anthony Alcock

The Trinity and Christ as God

1. “Christ, the True God, who rules with the Father and the Holy Spirit…” (Martyrs of Najran; A.A.; p. 4)
2. “we defend ourselves and bear witness and confess the beautiful confession, in which we believe and were baptized in the Father and Son and Holy Spirit and we do not deny the incarnation. Jesus, who was blasphemed by you, one of the Holy Trinity” (Martyrs of Najran; A.A.; p. 8)
3. “Even if you kill us with fire and torture, we will not deny our faith in the Trinity. It is a reward for us to live and die as Christians.” The leading voice was that of Arethas, the teacher and instructor, the son of Khanef, who in his secular life was lord…” (Martyrs of Najran; A.A.; p. 8)
4. “The citizens (of Najran) replied: ‘We have been taught to venerate and worship Almighty God and his Word, through which everything has come to be, and his Holy Spirit, who breathes life into everything. We do not import multiple gods or recognize the reduction of monarchy but recognize rather one deity in three persons. We venerate and worship the same unique power as Abraham and others venerated.’” (Testimony of the citizens of Najran; Martyrs of Najran; A.A.; p. 5; translation of Martyrium s. Arethae et Sociorum; i.e., Acts of Harith)
5. “May it not happen, Christ king of heaven, Son of God, who sit(s) above the Cherubim and (is) glorified by the Seraphim, that we deny your kingdom and divinity.” (Testimony of Ruhm; Martyrs of Najran; p. 12)
6. “He did not blush when he (tried to persuade us) to renounce the Word of God, through whom everything in heaven and on earth was made, both visible and invisible…” (Testimony of Harith; Martyrs of Najran; p. 13)

The Description of the Ditch and Burning

Chapter Two
Martyrdom of 427 clerics, monks and virgins burned alive. The wives of leading citizens beheaded. Number of martyrs

6. On the following day he ordered the entire army to collect wood into a very large pyre, to cover the area of one stade, [34] and to cast into it all the priests, deacons and other servants of the church, as well as those living the solitary life, the canonesses and virgins, the chantresses who chanted night and day in the houses of God; all these, whether in the city or suburbs, were to be examined and burned, the intention being to frighten the remaining Christians. In total four hundred and twenty-seven were burned. Arethas, the most distinguished man.

Footnote:

[34] Approx. 190m

(Martyrs of Najran; A.A.; p. 4)

The Book of the Himyarites

1. “I will not deny but confess Him, that He is God, Son of God indeed.” (Testimony of Moses, a priest of Najran, at the burning of the church; The Book of the Himyarites; p. cx)
2. “Christ, God, come to our help. O, our Lord, Jesus Christ…” (women and children of Najran, as arrows rained down upon them, and as they lifted their hands to heaven; The Book of the Himyarites; Axel Moberg; p. cxx)
3. “We confess that Christ is God.” (Habsa’s friends, both named Hayya; The Book of the Himyarites; p. cxxv)
4. “But thou shalt know that not only will I not say that Christ was a man, but I worship Him and praise Him because of all the benefits He has shown me. And I believe that He is God, Maker of all creatures, and I take refuge in his cross.” (Habsa; The Book of the Himyarites; p. cxxiv)
5. “And I believe that He is God, Maker of all creatures, and I take refuge in His Cross.” (Habsa the martyr, on taking refuge in the salvation represented as by the cross; The Book of the Himyarites; p. cxxiv)
6. “For He is God, Son of God, Creator of the worlds.” (Ruhm; The Book of the Himyarites; Axel Moberg; p. cxxvii)

The Martyrs of Najran: New Documents

1. “Far be it from me that I should deny Christ, my God, Him in whom I believed, in whose name I was baptized and had my daughters also baptized…” (Ruhm; The Martyrs of Najran: New Documents; p. 58)
2. “everyone who does not confess that Christ is God and the true Son of God…” (Ibrahim, a Son of the Covenant; The Martyrs of Najran: New Documents; p. 61)

Saint Arethas

Saint Arethas then said: ” Hear me, Christians, Jews and Greeks, if any of my kinsmen or those looking at me denies Christ, he will be denied by the future judge of the living and the dead and, on the day of resurrection, there will be no communion between us. I wish and hereby specify that all my belongings be given to a holy church to be built after my death. Those of my children and relatives who remain firm in the immaculate faith and are not found lacking are my heirs. But among my possessions, I want the most beautiful to be given to the church.” (Martyrs of Najran; A.A.; p. 14)

Oxford University on Saint Arethas

In the work of Efthymios Rizos and Giovanni Hermanin de Reichenfeld, while we do not affirm their characterization of the Christian martyrs as a “cult,” we nonetheless draw on their research to demonstrate that Saint Arethas was indeed a Christian martyr of Najrān under the persecution of Dhū Nuwās.

Blasphemy Against Christ

II. The martyrdom of 427 clerics and monastics, and 227 women.

The king had their wives and children fettered in front of them. Ten virgins reproached the king for blaspheming against Christ, and he had them and another 227 women killed by the sword.”

Names and Locations according to Oxford

I. The Ethiopian invasion and the siege of Najran.

Meanwhile, a cruel Jew named Dounaan [Dhū Nuwās, 517-525/527] was king of the Homerites in the region called Saba or Arabia Felix [the Himyarite kingdom of Yemen]. The people of that region were pagans and barbarians who seemingly practised a form of Judaism, but in fact worshipped idols. The only exception was the city of Negran [Najrān] which was and still is Christian.

The Ditch

[20] When Dounaan saw that no-one was willing to apostatise, he ordered that they be beheaded at the ditch where the other martyrs had been killed, near a stream called Obedianos, and that their bodies be left unburied. Arethas was executed first. Before their own execution, his companions anointed themselves with his blood. They were all killed on 24 October.

ID: E06616 – Source 1 & 2

King Dhu Nuwas

1. “ye worship a mortal man, who, being of mankind, yet said about himself, that he was the son of God, the Merciful (Rahmana).” (King Dhu Nuwas; The Book of the Himyarites; Axel Moberg; p. cix)
2. “Among the women that we have brought together, I have not found even a single one that denies Christ, but they insist shamelessly, even more than their husbands, in their rebellious opinion, saying that Christ is God, Creator, Son of the Merciful (Rahmana)…” (King Dhu Nuwas; The Book of the Himyarites; p. cxix)

The rest are mentioned here: https://shuhada-najran.com/testimony/#1bab7857-728f-4cf3-8eb6-cb5f11286966-link 

Sources Mentioned:

Martyrs of Najran (A.A. – Anthony Alcock) – Martyrium S. Arethae et sociorum
Martyrs of Najran: New Documents (Shahîd)
Book of the Himyarites (Moberg)
Acts of Azqir (in Anglican Theological Review)

Procopius of Caesarea and Emperor Justinian

Procopius of Caesarea, a Christian historian writing under Emperor Justinian I (527–565), explicitly affirmed in his Persian Wars that “Jesus, the Son of God, was incarnate and lived among the men of Palestine,” even recounting His miracles such as raising the dead and healing the blind. This testimony shows that Procopius himself accepted Christ’s divinity and incarnation. At the same time, Justinian’s Codex legally enshrined Nicene–Chalcedonian orthodoxy throughout the empire, commanding reverence for the holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When Greatrex comments on the persecutions of Christians in Ḥimyar (Yemen) under Dhū Nuwās, he describes them not as vague monotheists but as part of the Christian world connected with both Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian communities.

Procopius of Caesarea

17.44 Τιμόστρατος δὲ ἦν ὁ Ῥουφίνου ἀδελφὸς καὶ Ἰωάννης ὁ τοῦ Λουκᾶ παῖς, οὓς δὴ ἀπέδοτο ὕστερον, πλοῦτον αὐτῶν οὐ φαῦλον οὐδὲ τὸν τυχόντα περιβαλλόμενος. ‘(The commanders) were Timostratus, the brother of Rufinus, and John, the son of Luke, whom indeed he subsequently ransomed, obtaining from them a treasure neither paltry nor trifling.’ See PLRE ii, Timostratus and Ioannes 70, on the two duces concerned. The former had served in the Anastasian war and subsequently in the East until his death in 527; nothing further is known of this John. The date of their capture is uncertain: it could be as early as 519/20, when a raid of al-Mundhir is attested, or 523, when another incursion took place. Their release was negotiated at the ‘Conference of Ramla’ in early 524 by the Roman envoy Abrames (Abraham), the father of Nonnosus. This meeting, which involved numerous church leaders, both Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonians, as well as al-Mundhir himself, was primarily concerned with the persecutions that had just taken place in southern Arabia, initiated by the new ruler there, Yūsuf, also referred to as dhū-Nuwās and Masrūq. He had hoped to induce al-Mundhir to follow his example, but the Naṣrid leader refused. See Nonnosus §3 (with commentary) and i.19–20h with Shahîd 1964, Greatrex 1998, 131, Beaucamp et al. 1999–2000, 50–3, Fisher 2011, 97–8, Edwell 2015, 230. Bowersock 2013, 87–91, offers a useful summary of events.

(Greatrex 243)

While the length of Marthad’īlān Yanūf’s reign is unknown, it is clear that the increasing prominence of Christianity in Ḥimyar elicited a vigorous counter-reaction. It is possible that already c.515 a certain Yūsuf (i.e. Joseph) As’ar Yath’ar, also referred to as dhū-Nuwās and Masrūq, made an attempt to seize power. Whether or not this was the trigger, in 518 or 519 the Axumite king Kālēb, also known as ’Ella ’Aṣbeḥa (Procopius’ Hellesthaeus) despatched an expedition to Ḥimyar to place a certain Ma‘dīkarib Ya‘fur on the throne. 

(Greatrex 263)

20.1 ἐπειδὴ Ὁμηριτῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀντιπέρας ἠπείρῳ ἔγνω πολλοὺς μὲν Ἰουδαίους ὄντας, πολλοὺς δὲ δόξαν τὴν παλαιὰν σέβοντας, ἣν δὴ καλοῦσιν Ἑλληνικὴν οἱ νῦν ἄνθρωποι, ἐπιβουλῇ μέτρον οὐκ ἐχούσῃ ἐς τοὺς ἐκείνῃ Χριστιανοὺς χρῆσθαι, ‘when he (Hellesthaeus, Kālēb) learned that the Homerites of the mainland opposite – many of whom were Jews, while many others revered the ancient faith, which people now call Hellenic – were plotting against the Christians there on a large scale’. On the Jewish elements in Ḥimyar, see i.19–20h: Procopius refers to the persecutions initiated by Yūsuf As’ar Yath’ar, also referred to as dhū-Nuwās and Masrūq: on his names see Fiaccadori in Berger 2006, 61 n.85, Robin 2008b, 11–12, 42–5, Gajda 2009, 84–5. Lib. Him. ch.39–40 (chapter headings, p.6a/civ) reports on how news of the persecutions was conveyed to the Ethiopians by a Ḥimyarite Christian called Umayya, cf. Hatke 2011, 337.

(Greatrex 294)

12.22 ὑπὸ δὲ τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ παῖς ἐν σώματι ὢν τοῖς ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ ἀνθρώποις ὡμίλει, ‘At that time Jesus, the Son of God, was incarnate and lived among the men of Palestine.’ As Brodka 2013a, 352–3, observes, this is another passage indicative of the Christian standpoint of Procopius. 

(Greatrex 487)Greatrex, Geoffrey. Procopius of Caesarea: The Persian Wars-A Historical Commentary. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

The Codex of Justinian

The link below is provided only to demonstrate that Emperor Justinian of Rome was a Christian Trinitarian, as evidenced by the writings of Procopius of Caesarea who served under him. This is not an endorsement of Justinian’s views on slavery, which I firmly reject. You can just command or ctrl + F “Trinity or Holy Trinity” and you will find sources.

https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/CJ1_Scott.htm

Books: