community
Najran
Najran (al-Ukhdud ruins), Saudi Arabia · Arabia & Arab frontier
17.477, 44.180
Approximate location.
Attested. The persecution is attested by near-contemporary Syriac sources and South Arabian inscriptions. Martyr numbers vary between sources.
Najran was the main Christian center of South Arabia. In about 523 the Himyarite king Yusuf As'ar (Dhu Nuwas), a convert to Judaism, killed many of its Christians, an event remembered in Syriac letters, the Book of the Himyarites, and later Arabic tradition. The killings led to an Aksumite invasion of Himyar.
Added from later research
enrichment · 6th-7th c.
Ka'ba of Najran and the delegation of 631
Pre-Islamic poetry (al-A'sha) and Arabic geographers describe the 'Ka'ba of Najran', a domed, richly decorated church of the Harith ibn Ka'b clan; some identify it with the martyrium of Arethas. Islamic tradition records a Christian delegation from Najran to Muhammad at Medina in about 631, ending in a treaty.
tradition. The Ka'ba of Najran and the delegation are known from Arabic tradition. The martyrdoms of 523 (in the batch 1 record) are attested.
Source stance: insider. Christian martyr literature (insider), with Himyarite royal inscriptions as an outside check.
People and groups named here
- al-Harith (Arethas) and the martyrs of Najran
- Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar (Dhu Nuwas)
- Simeon of Beth Arsham (letter-writer)
- Banu al-Harith ibn Ka'b
- Arethas (al-Harith, martyr of 523)
Sources
- Christian community of Najran (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Pleiades place 39286: Anagrana/Negram
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Arabia (section on Najran)
Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), public domain; New Advent. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Christianity in pre-Islamic Arabia (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.